Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

  Noon came, and nothing more was heard from the deserters. MeanwhileDoctor Long Ghost and myself lounged about, cultivating anacquaintance, and gazing upon the shore scenery. The bay was as calmas death; the sun high and hot; and occasionally a still glidingcanoe stole out from behind the headlands, and shot across the water.

  And all the morning long our sick men limped about the deck, castingwistful glances inland, where the palm-trees waved and beckoned theminto their reviving shades. Poor invalid rascals! How conducive tothe restoration of their shattered health would have been thosedelicious groves! But hard-hearted Jermin assured them, with an oath,that foot of theirs should never touch the beach.

  Toward sunset a crowd was seen coming down to the water. In advance ofall were the fugitives--bareheaded--their frocks and trousers hangingin tatters, every face covered with blood and dust, and their armspinioned behind them with green thongs. Following them up, was ashouting rabble of islanders, pricking them with the points of theirlong spears, the party from the corvette menacing them in flank withtheir naked cutlasses.

  The bonus of a musket to the King of the Bay, and the promise of atumblerful of powder for every man caught, had set the wholepopulation on their track; and so successful was the hunt, that notonly were that morning's deserters brought back, but five of thoseleft behind on a former visit. The natives, however, were the merehounds of the chase, raising the game in their coverts, but leavingthe securing of it to the Frenchmen. Here, as elsewhere, theislanders have no idea of taking part in such a scuffle as ensuesupon the capture of a party of desperate seamen.

  The runaways were at once brought aboard, and, though they lookedrather sulky, soon came round, and treated the whole affair as afrolicsome adventure.

  CHAPTER VI.

  WE TOUCH AT LA DOMINICA

  FEARFUL of spending another night at Hytyhoo, Captain Guy caused theship to be got under way shortly after dark.

  The next morning, when all supposed that we were fairly embarked for along cruise, our course was suddenly altered for La Dominica, orHivarhoo, an island just north of the one we had quitted. The objectof this, as we learned, was to procure, if possible, several Englishsailors, who, according to the commander of the corvette, hadrecently gone ashore there from an American whaler, and were desirousof shipping aboard one of their own country vessels.

  We made the land in the afternoon, coming abreast of a shady glenopening from a deep bay, and winding by green denies far out ofsight. "Hands by the weather-main-brace!" roared the mate, jumping upon the bulwarks; and in a moment the prancing Julia, suddenlyarrested in her course, bridled her head like a steed reined in,while the foam flaked under her bows.

  This was the place where we expected to obtain the men; so a boat wasat once got in readiness to go ashore. Now it was necessary toprovide a picked crew--men the least likely to abscond. Afterconsiderable deliberation on the part of the captain and mate, fourof the seamen were pitched upon as the most trustworthy; or ratherthey were selected from a choice assortment of suspicious charactersas being of an inferior order of rascality.

  Armed with cutlasses all round--the natives were said to be an uglyset--they were followed over the side by the invalid captain, who, onthis occasion, it seems, was determined to signalize himself.Accordingly, in addition to his cutlass, he wore an old boardingbelt, in which was thrust a brace of pistols. They at once shovedoff.

  My friend Long Ghost had, among other things which looked somewhatstrange in a ship's forecastle, a capital spy-glass, and on thepresent occasion we had it in use.

  When the boat neared the head of the inlet, though invisible to thenaked eye, it was plainly revealed by the glass; looking no biggerthan an egg-shell, and the men diminished to pigmies.

  At last, borne on what seemed a long flake of foam, the tiny craftshot up the beach amid a shower of sparkles. Not a soul was there.Leaving one of their number by the water, the rest of the pigmiesstepped ashore, looking about them very circumspectly, pausing nowand then hand to ear, and peering under a dense grove which sweptdown within a few paces of the sea. No one came, and to allappearances everything was as still as the grave. Presently he withthe pistols, followed by the rest flourishing their bodkins, enteredthe wood and were soon lost to view. They did not stay long; probablyanticipating some inhospitable ambush were they to stray any distanceup the glen.

  In a few moments they embarked again, and were soon riding pertly overthe waves of the bay. All of a sudden the captain started to hisfeet--the boat spun round, and again made for the shore. Some twentyor thirty natives armed with spears which through the glass lookedlike reeds, had just come out of the grove, and were apparentlyshouting to the strangers not to be in such a hurry, but return andbe sociable. But they were somewhat distrusted, for the boat pausedabout its length from the beach, when the captain standing up in itshead delivered an address in pantomime, the object of which seemed tobe, that the islanders should draw near. One of them stepped forwardand made answer, seemingly again urging the strangers not to bediffident, but beach their boat. The captain declined, tossing hisarms about in another pantomime. In the end he said something whichmade them shake their spears; whereupon he fired a pistol among them,which set the whole party running; while one poor little fellow,dropping his spear and clapping his hand behind him, limped away in amanner which almost made me itch to get a shot at his assailant.

  Wanton acts of cruelty like this are not unusual on the part of seacaptains landing at islands comparatively unknown. Even at the Pomotugroup, but a day's sail from Tahiti, the islanders coming down to theshore have several times been fired at by trading schooners passingthrough their narrow channels; and this too as a mere amusement onthe part of the ruffians.

  Indeed, it is almost incredible, the light in which many sailorsregard these naked heathens. They hardly consider them human. But itis a curious fact, that the more ignorant and degraded men are, themore contemptuously they look upon those whom they deem theirinferiors.

  All powers of persuasion being thus lost upon these foolish savages,and no hope left of holding further intercourse, the boat returned tothe ship.

  CHAPTER VII.

  WHAT HAPPENED AT HANNAMANOO

  ON the other side of the island was the large and populous bay ofHannamanoo, where the men sought might yet be found. But as the sunwas setting by the time the boat came alongside, we got our offshoretacks aboard and stood away for an offing. About daybreak we wore,and ran in, and by the time the sun was well up, entered the long,narrow channel dividing the islands of La Dominica and St. Christina.

  On one hand was a range of steep green bluffs hundreds of feet high,the white huts of the natives here and there nestling like birds'nests in deep clefts gushing with verdure. Across the water, theland rolled away in bright hillsides, so warm and undulating thatthey seemed almost to palpitate in the sun. On we swept, past bluffand grove, wooded glen and valley, and dark ravines lighted up farinland with wild falls of water. A fresh land-breeze filled oursails, the embayed waters were gentle as a lake, and every wave brokewith a tinkle against our coppered prow.

  On gaining the end of the channel we rounded a point, and came fullupon the bay of Hannamanoo. This is the only harbour of any noteabout the island, though as far as a safe anchorage is concerned ithardly deserves the title.

  Before we held any communication with the shore, an incident occurredwhich may convey some further idea of the character of our crew.

  Having approached as near the land as we could prudently, our headwaywas stopped, and we awaited the arrival of a canoe which was comingout of the bay. All at once we got into a strong current, which sweptus rapidly toward a rocky promontory forming one side of the harbour.The wind had died away; so two boats were at once lowered for thepurpose of pulling the ship's head round. Before this could be done,the eddies were whirling upon all sides, and the rock so near that itseemed as if one might leap upon it from the masthead. Notwithstandingthe speechless fright of the captain, and the hoarse shouts
of theunappalled Jennin, the men handled the ropes as deliberately aspossible, some of them chuckling at the prospect of going ashore, andothers so eager for the vessel to strike, that they could hardlycontain themselves. Unexpectedly a countercurrent befriended us, andassisted by the boats we were soon out of danger.

  What a disappointment for our crew! All their little plans forswimming ashore from the wreck, and having a fine time of it for therest of their days, thus cruelly nipped in the bud.

  Soon after, the canoe came alongside. In it were eight or ten natives,comely, vivacious-looking youths, all gesture and exclamation; thered feathers in their head-bands perpetually nodding. With them alsocame a stranger, a renegade from Christendom and humanity--a whiteman, in the South Sea girdle, and tattooed in the face. A broad blueband stretched across his face from ear to ear, and on his foreheadwas the taper figure of a blue shark, nothing but fins from head totail.

  Some of us gazed upon this man with a feeling akin to horror, no waysabated when informed that he had voluntarily submitted to thisembellishment of his countenance. What an impress! Far worse thanCain's--his was perhaps a wrinkle, or a freckle, which some of ourmodern cosmetics might have effaced; but the blue shark was a markindelible, which all the waters of Abana and Pharpar, rivers ofDamascus, could never wash out. He was an Englishman, Lem Hardy hecalled himself, who had deserted from a trading brig touching at theisland for wood and water some ten years previous. He had gone ashoreas a sovereign power armed with a musket and a bag of ammunition, andready if need were, to prosecute war on his own account. The countrywas divided by the hostile kings of several large valleys. With oneof them, from whom he first received overtures, he formed analliance, and became what he now was, the military leader of thetribe, and war-god of the entire island.

  His campaigns beat Napoleon's. In one night attack, his invinciblemusket, backed by the light infantry of spears and javelins,vanquished two clans, and the next morning brought all the others tothe feet of his royal ally.

  Nor was the rise of his domestic fortunes at all behind theCorsican's: three days after landing, the exquisitely tattooed handof a princess was his; receiving along with the damsel as herportion, one thousand fathoms of fine tappa, fifty double-braidedmats of split grass, four hundred hogs, ten houses in different partsof her native valley, and the sacred protection of an express edictof the Taboo, declaring his person inviolable for ever.

  Now, this man was settled for life, perfectly satisfied with hiscircumstances, and feeling no desire to return to his friends.

  "Friends," indeed, he had none. He told me his history. Thrown uponthe world a foundling, his paternal origin was as much a mystery tohim as the genealogy of Odin; and, scorned by everybody, he fled theparish workhouse when a boy, and launched upon the sea. He hadfollowed it for several years, a dog before the mast, and now he hadthrown it up for ever.

  And for the most part, it is just this sort of men--so many of whomare found among sailors--uncared for by a single soul, without ties,reckless, and impatient of the restraints of civilization, who areoccasionally found quite at home upon the savage islands of thePacific. And, glancing at their hard lot in their own country, whatmarvel at their choice?

  According to the renegado, there was no other white man on the island;and as the captain could have no reason to suppose that Hardyintended to deceive us, he concluded that the Frenchmen were in someway or other mistaken in what they had told us. However, when ourerrand was made known to the rest of our visitors, one of them, afine, stalwart fellow, his face all eyes and expression, volunteeredfor a cruise. All the wages he asked was a red shirt, a pair oftrousers, and a hat, which were to be put on there and then; besidesa plug of tobacco and a pipe. The bargain was struck directly; butWymontoo afterward came in with a codicil, to the effect that afriend of his, who had come along with him, should be given ten wholesea-biscuits, without crack or flaw, twenty perfectly new andsymmetrically straight nails, and one jack-knife. This being agreedto, the articles were at once handed over; the native receiving themwith great avidity, and in the absence of clothing, using his mouth asa pocket to put the nails in. Two of them, however, were first madeto take the place of a pair of ear-ornaments, curiously fashioned outof bits of whitened wood.

  It now began breezing strongly from seaward, and no time was to belost in getting away from the land; so after an affecting rubbing ofnoses between our new shipmate and his countrymen, we sailed awaywith him.

  To our surprise, the farewell shouts from the canoe, as we dashedalong under bellied royals, were heard unmoved by our islander; butit was not long thus. That very evening, when the dark blue of hisnative hills sunk in the horizon, the poor savage leaned over thebulwarks, dropped his head upon his chest, and gave way toirrepressible emotions. The ship was plunging hard, and Wymontoo, sadto tell, in addition to his other pangs, was terribly sea-sick.

  CHAPTER VIII.

  THE TATTOOERS OF LA DOMINICA

  FOR a while leaving Little Jule to sail away by herself, I will hereput down some curious information obtained from Hardy.

  The renegado had lived so long on the island that its customs werequite familiar; and I much lamented that, from the shortness of ourstay, he could not tell us more than he did.

  From the little intelligence gathered, however, I learned to mysurprise that, in some things, the people of Hivarhoo, though of thesame group of islands, differed considerably from my tropical friendsin the valley of Typee.

  As his tattooing attracted so much remark, Hardy had a good deal tosay concerning the manner in which that art was practised upon theisland.

  Throughout the entire cluster the tattooers of Hivarhoo enjoyed nosmall reputation. They had carried their art to the highestperfection, and the profession was esteemed most honourable. Nowonder, then, that like genteel tailors, they rated their servicesvery high; so much so that none but those belonging to the higherclasses could afford to employ them. So true was this, that theelegance of one's tattooing was in most cases a sure indication ofbirth and riches.

  Professors in large practice lived in spacious houses, divided byscreens of tappa into numerous little apartments, where subjects werewaited upon in private. The arrangement chiefly grew out of asingular ordinance of the Taboo, which enjoined the strictest privacyupon all men, high and low, while under the hands of a tattooer. Forthe time, the slightest intercourse with others is prohibited, and thesmall portion of food allowed is pushed under the curtain by anunseen hand. The restriction with regard to food, is intended toreduce the blood, so as to diminish the inflammation consequent uponpuncturing the skin. As it is, this comes on very soon, and takessome time to heal; so that the period of seclusion generally embracesmany days, sometimes several weeks.

  All traces of soreness vanished, the subject goes abroad; but onlyagain to return; for, on account of the pain, only a small surfacecan be operated upon at once; and as the whole body is to be more orless embellished by a process so slow, the studios alluded to areconstantly filled. Indeed, with a vanity elsewhere unheard of, manyspend no small portion of their days thus sitting to an artist.

  To begin the work, the period of adolescence is esteemed the mostsuitable. After casting about for some eminent tattooer, the friendsof the youth take him to his house to have the outlines of thegeneral plan laid out. It behoves the professor to have a nice eye,for a suit to be worn for life should be well cut.

  Some tattooers, yearning after perfection, employ, at large wages, oneor two men of the commonest order--vile fellows, utterly regardlessof appearances, upon whom they first try their patterns and practisegenerally. Their backs remorselessly scrawled over, and no morecanvas remaining, they are dismissed and ever after go about, thescorn of their countrymen.

  Hapless wights! thus martyred in the cause of the Fine Arts.

  Beside the regular practitioners, there are a parcel of shabby,itinerant tattooers, who, by virtue of their calling, strollunmolested from one hostile bay to another, doing their workdog-cheap for the mult
itude. They always repair to the variousreligious festivals, which gather great crowds. When these areconcluded, and the places where they are held vacated even by thetattooers, scores of little tents of coarse tappa are left standing,each with a solitary inmate, who, forbidden to talk to his unseenneighbours, is obliged to stay there till completely healed. Theitinerants are a reproach to their profession, mere cobblers, dealingin nothing but jagged lines and clumsy patches, and utterly incapableof soaring to those heights of fancy attained by the gentlemen of thefaculty.

  All professors of the arts love to fraternize; and so, in Hannamanoo,the tattooers came together in the chapters of their worshipfulorder. In this society, duly organized, and conferring degrees,Hardy, from his influence as a white, was a sort of honorary GrandMaster. The blue shark, and a sort of Urim and Thummim engraven uponhis chest, were the seal of his initiation. All over Hivarhoo areestablished these orders of tattooers. The way in which the renegado'scame to be founded is this. A year or two after his landing therehappened to be a season of scarcity, owing to the partial failure ofthe breadfruit harvest for several consecutive seasons. This broughtabout such a falling off in the number of subjects for tattooing thatthe profession became quite needy. The royal ally of Hardy, however,hit upon a benevolent expedient to provide for their wants, at thesame time conferring a boon upon many of his subjects.

  By sound of conch-shell it was proclaimed before the palace, on thebeach, and at the head of the valley, that Noomai, King ofHannamanoo, and friend of Hardee-Hardee, the white, kept open heartand table for all tattooers whatsoever; but to entitle themselves tothis hospitality, they were commanded to practise without fee uponthe meanest native soliciting their services.