CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.
THE CANNIBAL VILLAGE.
THE MARAE AND THE PRIEST--MOWNO AT HOME--CANNIBAL YOUNG LADIES--OLLA ANDHER FRIENDS.
"And there, with awful rites, the hoary priest, Beside that moss-grown heathen altar stood, His dusky form in magic cincture dressed, And made the offering to his hideous god."
"So then," said Browne, interrupting Arthur's narrative, "these twoparties of savages, instead of going to work, knocking each others'brains out, as one might naturally have expected, actually commencedentertaining one another with set speeches, very much like the mayor andaldermen of a city corporation receiving a deputation of visitors!"
"There is," replied Arthur, "an almost childish fondness of form andceremony among all the Polynesian tribes, as is seen at their highfeasts and festivals, their games, and religious rites. The chiefs andpriests are in the habit of making little orations upon a variety ofoccasions, when this is expected of them. Formerly there existed in theSociety Islands, a class of persons called Rautis, or orators of battle,whose exclusive business it was to exhort the people in time of war, andon the eve of an engagement. Even during the heat of conflict theymingled with the combatants, and strove to animate and inflame theircourage, by recounting the exploits of their ancestors, and urging everymotive calculated to excite desperate valour and contempt of death.Some very remarkable instances of the powerful effect produced by theeloquence of these Rautis are recorded, showing that they constituted aby no means useless or ineffective part of a native army. The islandersalmost universally have a taste for oratory, by which they are easilyaffected; and they hold those who excel in it in high estimation."
"It would appear then," said Browne, "that they are not such utterheathens after all; I should never have given them credit for so muchtaste and sensibility."
"You see, Browne," said Max, "what advantages you will enjoy over therest of us, when we get to Eiulo's island, as Johnny is confident we aredestined to do, one of these days. You shall then astonish the simpleinhabitants, with Pitt's reply to Walpole, or `Now is the winter of ourdiscontent,' and gain advancement in the state, by your oratoricalgifts. Who knows but you may rise to be prime-minister, or chief Rauti,to his majesty the king!"
"Pray, let Arthur proceed with his story," said Morton, laughing, "I seethat Johnny is beginning to grow impatient: he probably thinks it hightime for the cannibals to be introduced, and the fighting to commence."
"Well," resumed Arthur, "as soon as the speech-making was over, thenatives, who seemed thus far, quite friendly and inoffensive, cameforward once more, and we all went through the ceremony of rubbingfaces, with a great show of cordiality, though it was easy to perceivethat our party were still under the influence of secret fears andmisgivings.
"Barton and I, received more than our due proportion of thesecivilities, and from the wondering exclamations of our new acquaintancesas they examined the articles which composed our dress, and theirremarks to one another upon our complexion, I inferred that some of themat least, had never seen a white person before. Barton, in particular,attracted a large share of their attention, owing probably to acomplexion rather florid, and uncommonly fair, notwithstanding a twoyears' residence within the tropics, which, together with his light hairand blue eyes, afforded a striking contrast to the tawny skins and longblack elf-locks of the natives.
"The chief of the party, who had acted as spokesman, was called Mowno.He was a young man, with a handsome, boyish face, expressive ofgood-nature and indolence. Rokoa walked apart with him to makeinquiries, as I had no doubt, connected with the subject of hisbrother's fate. Meanwhile Barton produced a piece of tortoise-shell,and some pearls, which he exhibited to the natives, asking whether theyhad any articles of the kind; but after carelessly looking at them, theyshook their heads, and inquired what such things were good for;whereupon Barton, casting an annihilating glance at the disconcertedSinbad, significantly demanded of him what had become of those necklacesof pearls, worn by the natives of Angatan, and whether these simple,inoffensive people, were the gigantic cannibals, about whom he hadmanufactured such enormous lies.
"After Mowno had concluded his conference with Rokoa, he led us to alarge building near the beach, in a very ruinous and decayed state, andcompletely over-shadowed by aged tamanu-trees. It seemed, from its sizeand peculiar structure, to be a deserted marae, or native temple. Hethen sent away two of his people, who soon returned with severalclusters of cocoa-nuts, and some bananas, for our refreshment. Onlearning that the supply of water which we had taken in for our voyage,was nearly exhausted, he informed us that there was no spring or stream,nearer than his village, which was some two miles inland, and promisedto have a supply sent us during the day. They had come down to theshore, as we now learned, for the purpose of cutting mangrove roots,from which they make large and powerful bows, and the whole party soonleft us at the marae, and proceeded to the beach; in about an hour wesaw them depart inland, carrying fagots of these roots, without takingany further notice of us.
"It had fallen calm soon after sunrise, so that we could not for thepresent have resumed our voyage, had we been so inclined.
"About half an hour before noon, a number of the natives whom we hadseen in the morning, again made their appearance, with several largecalabashes of water, and a quantity of taro and bread-fruit for our use.Rokoa distributed among them some trifling presents, which they hastilyconcealed among the folds of their maros. A few moments afterwardsMowno himself emerged from the grove, attended by the remainder of theparty we had seen in the morning. There was now a further distributionof presents, when I perceived the reason why the first comers had sohastily concealed the trifles which had been given them. All presents,no matter on whom bestowed, seemed to be regarded as the especialperquisites of the chief, and a youth, who acted as Mowno's personalattendant, presently went round among the others, collecting and takingpossession of everything which he had seen them receive. This wassubmitted to without remonstrance, and apparently as a matter of course,though by no means cheerfully.
"Soon after this somewhat autocratic proceeding, Mowno turned abruptlyto Barton, and saying that he must now return to the village, invitedhim to go with him to visit it. Barton appearing to hesitate, the chiefpressed the matter so earnestly that his suspicions were aroused, and heperemptorily declined. Mowno's angry looks evinced his displeasure, andafter walking about for a quarter of an hour in sullen silence, withvery much the demeanour of a spoiled child thwarted in his whim, he atlength made a similar request of me, letting drop at the same time, someexpression to the effect that one of us _must_ go with him. FortunatelyRokoa, whose high spirit would have taken instant offence at the leastsemblance of a threat, did not hear this. I saw plainly, that for somereason, the young chief had set his heart upon having either Barton ormyself visit his village, and I suspected this was, in fact, the soleobject of his return. I observed, also, that his party was somewhatmore numerous, and much better armed than it had been in the morning,and I had no doubt that, rather than suffer himself to be baffled in hispurpose, he would resort to force to accomplish it.
"After a moment's reflection, I was pretty well satisfied that I hadnothing to fear from acceding to his request, believing, as I did, thatI understood the motive of it. I thought, too, that a refusal would inall probability lead to an instant hostile collision between the nativesand ourselves, and I finally resolved to accept, or more accuratelyspeaking, to yield to, the invitation. Having come to this conclusion,I told Mowno that I would go with him, upon the condition that I shouldreturn before night, to which he readily assented, showing extremesatisfaction at having finally succeeded in his wishes. I gave nocredit to the alleged cannibal propensities of the islanders, and wasinclined from what I had already seen, to think much more favourably ofthem than the event justified. I supposed that the curiosity of thepeople of the village had been excited by the reports of those who hadseen us in the morning, respecting the pale-faced strangers, and
thatMowno's only object in insisting as he did, on having Barton or myselfgo with him, was to gratify some aged chief who was too infirm to comedown to the shore to see us, or did not want to take the trouble ofdoing so."
"Well, was you right in your conjecture?" inquired Browne.
"Yes, partially at least; there was, I think, no unfriendly motive asfar as Mowno was concerned. What designs others of the natives may haveentertained I will not at present undertake to say. But instead of somesuperannuated chief, it was the curiosity of Mowno's young wife that wasto be gratified. On hearing his account of the white strangers, she haddespatched him forthwith back to the shore, to bring them to thevillage; which commission, it seemed, he was resolved faithfully toexecute, at every hazard."
"Really," said Browne, "civilisation must have made some considerableprogress in Angatan, if the savages there make such docile andcomplaisant husbands."
"This was not an ordinary case," replied Arthur; "in the first place,Mowno was an uncommonly good-natured sort of a savage; then he had avery pretty, persuasive little wife, and he had not yet been long enoughmarried, to have entirely merged the zeal and devotion of the lover, inthe easy indifference, and staid authority of the husband; but this isanticipating.
"When I informed Rokoa of the young chief's invitation, and myacceptance of it, he refused to consent to my going, except upon thecondition that he should accompany me, and share whatever danger mightattend the step. Mowno acquiesced in this arrangement, though I thoughthe didn't seem to be altogether pleased with it. Barton, also, onlearning that Rokoa and myself had concluded to go to the village,resolved to accompany us. Mowno was impatient to have us set out atonce, and Rokoa having given some directions to the crew, as to theirconduct during our absence, we hastily made our preparations, and in afew moments after the matter had been decided upon, the whole party leftthe shore and entered the forest. A quarter of an hour's walk broughtus to a flourishing bread-fruit plantation, which we passed throughwithout seeing a single dwelling, or any indications of inhabitants.This was bounded by a wild ravine, crossing which, we entered a denseand gloomy grove, composed almost entirely of the sacred miro, and oneother kind of tree, the branches of which sprang horizontally from thetrunk, in a series of whorls, one above another, twisting round fromleft to right, and clothed with broad leaves of so dark a green as toseem almost black. Near the centre of this grove, we came suddenly upona large marae, built principally of loose stones, overgrown with mossand lichens. It was a spacious, uncovered inclosure, the front of whichconsisted of a strong bamboo fence, while the three remaining sides wereof stone. Within the inclosure, at one side, was a small building,probably the priest's dwelling, and in the centre arose a solidpyramidal structure, on the terraced sides of which were ranged themisshapen figures of several gigantic idols. In front of this, andbetween four rude tumuli of broken coral, was a low platform, supportedby stakes, and resembling the altars used for human sacrifices, duringthe ancient reign of heathenism in Tahiti. Beneath this platform, oraltar, was a pile of human skulls; and suspended from the trees, werethe shells of enormous turtles, and the skeletons of fishes. Ahideous-looking old man, whom I supposed to be the priest, sat in thedoor of the small building, within the inclosure, and looking intentlyat me, made strange faces as we passed by. His skin was sallow, andsingularly speckled, probably from some cutaneous disease; he had noeyebrows, and his eyes were small and glittering like those of a snake;in his countenance there was a mingled expression of cunning and crueltythat made me shudder. When we were nearest to him in passing, he struckhimself violently on the breast, and cried out in a strong but dissonantvoice, pointing with his long, skeleton fingers, towards the youngchief:--`Mowno, son of Maloa, rob not the servant of Oro of a priest'sshare!' so at least, I understood the words which he uttered; but thenatives hurried on, without seeming to pay any attention to him."
"That would have frightened me mortally," interrupted Johnny. "I shouldhave thought that they were going to make a cannibal feast of me, andthat the wicked old priest was speaking for his share."
"Well, I confess that some notion of the sort flashed across my mind fora moment. The dark grove, the great idolatrous looking marae, with itsheathen altar, and monstrous images; the pile of skulls; the hideous oldman and his strange words; all tended to suggest vague but startlingsuspicions. But another glance at the open and friendly countenances ofour guides reassured me. In answer to a question in regard to thebuilding which we had just passed, Mowno said, with a natural andindifferent air, that it was the house of Oro, where a great solemnitywas soon to be celebrated; and although I did not allude to the skulls,he added that they were a part of the remains of the priests, who hadbeen buried within the inclosure, and which were now, in accordance withan established custom, placed beneath the altar. The dark wood wasbounded by a charming valley, with a brook running through it, and I wasglad to escape from its gloomy shade, into the cheerful light. Weforded the shallow stream, which was so clear that every pebble in itsgravelly bed was visible, and found ourselves at the foot of a long,green slope. Before us, lying partly in the valley, and stragglinghalf-way up the ascent, was a pretty village. The neat and light-builtnative dwellings dotted the side of the slope, or peeped out from amongembowering trees along the banks of the brook, in the most picturesquemanner. The thatching of the cottages, bleached to an almostsnowy-whiteness, offered a pleasing contrast to the surrounding verdure.Troops of children were pursuing their sports in every direction. Somewere wading in the stream, sailing tiny boats, or actively spatteringone another with water, a recreation which they could enjoy without anyfear of that damage to clothing, which would have rendered itobjectionable in more highly civilised communities. Others again, (manyof them scarcely old enough to walk, as one would suppose), wereswimming about in the deeper places, like amphibious creatures. Somewere swinging on ropes of sennit, suspended from the branches of thetrees, and a few were quietly sitting in the shade, making bouquets andwreaths of wild-flowers. Among them all, there was not a singledeformed or sickly-looking child. I did not observe any grown persons,most of them probably being at that hour asleep in their houses. Inpassing through the village, our escort closed around us in such amanner as to screen us from observation, and we reached the top of theslope without seeming to have attracted notice. Here Mowno dismissedall his attendants except two, and we then struck into a fine avenue ofwell-grown trees, running along the crest of the hill, and leading to alarge native house, of oval form, prettily situated upon a green knoll,and over-shadowed by wide-branching bread-fruit trees. This, Mownoinformed us, was his dwelling. At a short distance from the house,beneath a fan-palm, was a group of young girls, so entirely absorbed inthe congenial task of arranging one another's abundant tresses, andadorning themselves with flowers, that they did not observe ourapproach. Mowno seemed intent upon some playful surprise, and laughingsoftly to himself like a pleased child, he motioned us to hide ourselvesin a thicket of young casuarinas. From our ambush he pointed out to usone of the group beneath the palm, having several white buds of thefragrant gardenia in her hair, and a garland of the rosa cinensis abouther neck; when satisfied that he had drawn our attention to the rightperson, he gave us to understand, with an air of great complacency, thatshe was `Olla,' his wife. While thus engaged, we were suddenlydiscovered, being betrayed by Mowno's gaudy tiputa, seen through thefoliage by the quick eye of his better half, who immediately sprang upwith a clear, ringing laugh, scattering a lapful of flowers upon theground, and came running like a fawn towards him; the rest of us stillkeeping concealed. She was very pretty, graceful as a bird in everymovement, and had a singularly pleasing expression of countenance.
"On witnessing the greeting which she bestowed upon Mowno, Bartonwhispered me that he ought to consider himself a happy savage, and to dohim justice, he seemed to be of the same opinion himself. She commencedtalking at once, with wonderful vivacity, pouring forth a continuoustorrent of words, with little gushes of
laughter interspersed here andthere by way of punctuation, and making no longer or more frequentpauses than were absolutely necessary for the purpose of taking breath.Notwithstanding her amazing volubility, I could understand enough ofwhat she said, to perceive that she was inquiring after `the pale-facedyouths,' and presently she appeared to be scolding her husband in apretty lively strain, for having failed to bring them with him accordingto his promise. It was amusing to witness Mowno's ludicrous strugglesto look grave, while he made feigned excuses, and explanations of ourabsence. His demeanour resembled more that of a boy, whose head hasbeen turned by becoming, for the first time, the actual and uncontrolledowner of a watch, or a fowling-piece, than of a stern warrior, or savagechief. He could not, with all his efforts, maintain sufficient gravityand self-possession, to carry out the jest, poor as it was, which he hadundertaken; but kept glancing towards our hiding-place, and finally,burst into a boisterous explosion of laughter; when Olla, peeping intothe thicket, caught sight of us, and instantly darted away with a prettyhalf-scream, and rejoined her companions. Mowno now beckoned us forth,and we approached the group, whereupon they made a show of scamperingoff into the grove, but apparently thought better of it, and concludedto stand their ground. At first, they seemed actually afraid of Bartonand myself, peeping cautiously at us over one another's shoulders from asafe distance. Presently, one, more enterprising than the rest,ventured so far as to reach out her hand, and touch Barton on the cheek,when, finding that no disastrous consequences immediately followed thisact of temerity, they gradually laid aside their apprehensions, andpressing around us, soon became sufficiently familiar to try a varietyof highly original and interesting experiments upon our complexion andclothing. These, though somewhat annoying, were accompanied byquestions and observations so irresistibly ludicrous, that we soon foundit entirely out of the question to preserve any sort of gravity, and asthe whole troop always joined in our laughter without stopping tounderstand its cause, or instantly led off of themselves, upon theslightest provocation, the woods resounded with peals of merriment.
"One of these damsels, after examining Barton's fair skin, and flowingyellow locks, gravely communicated to a companion, her conviction thatwe had come from the moon. A second stoutly maintained our earthlyorigin, and attributed our paleness to the influence of some strangesickness; while a third, being of a sceptical and suspicious turn ofmind, suddenly seized Barton by the wrist and spitting upon the skirt ofher pareu, commenced scrubbing his hand with great vigour, to seewhether the colours were fast. Our tight-fitting garments; too, seemedto puzzle them exceedingly, and we were listeners to an animated debate,upon the question whether they were a natural or an artificial covering;the young lady who upheld the theory of our lunar origin, incliningstrongly to the opinion, that like the feathery coat of birds, ourclothing was a part of ourselves. But the sagacity and penetration ofthe one who had endeavoured to wash the paint from Barton's hand, soonenabled her to discover the unsoundness of this doctrine, and, in orderthe more triumphantly to refute it, she insisted upon pulling off myjacket, and trying it on herself. Finding that nothing less wouldsatisfy her, I resigned the garment, when having succeeded, with someassistance, in getting into it, and buttoning it up as far as waspracticable, she snatched Barton's cap to complete her costume, andcommenced parading up and down the avenue, the admiration and envy ofher companions. I fully expected that Barton's coat would next be putin requisition, and he whispered me that he stood in momentary dread,lest the now awakened spirit of investigation and experiment, shouldprompt our new friends to still more embarrassing extremes.
"This, however, proved to be a groundless apprehension, for theircuriosity was presently diverted into a new channel by Olla, whosuddenly demanded to know my name. I accordingly repeated it, and sheendeavoured several times to pronounce it after me, but without success.The `th' seemed to constitute an insuperable difficulty, which,however, she finally evaded, by softening `Arthur' into `Artua,' andthis, singularly enough, was what Rokoa had always been in the habit ofcalling me. He and Barton were now called upon for their names, and inreturn, we were favoured with the liquid and vowelly appellatives, bywhich our ingenuous and communicative acquaintances were respectivelydesignated. Barton assumed the alias of Tom, which was straightwaymetamorphosed into `Tomma.'
"While this exchange of names was going on, an old woman came from thehouse, and delivered some message to Olla, which from the repetition ofthe words `poe, poe,' I conjectured to be a summons to dinner. Mownoleading the way, we now proceeded towards the dwelling. It wassurrounded by a strong, but neat hedge of the ti-plant some three and ahalf feet high, with an ingeniously contrived wicker gate opposite thedoor. A path strewn with marine shells, and fragments of white coral,led from the gate to the door. The space within the inclosure waschiefly devoted to the cultivation of yams and other vegetables, butOlla showed me a little plot of ground, near the house, which she saidwas her own garden. It was tastefully arranged, and carefully kept, anda considerable variety of flowers, all of which she had herselftransplanted from the woods, were there in full bloom. Most conspicuousamong them was the native jasmine, and a species of wood-pink, both ofwhich were fragrant. The building itself was a model of a nativedwelling, and since we are to-morrow to try our own skill inhouse-building, I will endeavour to describe it. It was of an ovalshape; the sides were inclosed with handsome mats, with spaces left forthe admission of light and air. The roof was composed of a firm anddurable thatch of pandanus leaves, strung upon small reeds, laid closelytogether, and overlapping one another from the eaves to the ridge-pole.
"From the inside, the appearance was the neatest and prettiestimaginable, the whiteness of the straight and slender rafters of peeledhibiscus, contrasting well with the ceiling of shining brown leaveswhich they sustained. The furniture of the house consisted of a numberof large sleeping-mats, five or six carved wooden stools, and two narrowtables, or rather shelves, of wicker-work, fastened against the wall atopposite sides of the room. Upon one of these were arranged a number ofcalabashes, carved wooden dishes, cocoa-nut drinking-cups, and otherdomestic utensils. Upon the other was a native drum, several clubs andspears, a long vivo or native flute, and a hideous-looking wooden imagewith four arms and a bunch of red feathers fastened to what wasdoubtless meant for its head. The rafters were ornamented with braidedand coloured cords wound round them, the ends of which hung down severalfeet, and sustained a number of weapons and various other articlessuspended by them.
"At the farther end of the room, a woman was pounding taro, orbread-fruit, in a wooden mortar; another, apparently very old andinfirm, was sitting upon a low stool near the wall, swaying her bodyslowly from side to side, and making a low, monotonous noise. Iobserved that Olla frequently looked towards the latter, with a mournfulexpression of countenance. When we first entered the house, she wentand sat down by her side, and talked with her in a low tone, and whenshe turned away, her eyes were full of tears. The old woman did notevince any corresponding emotion, but muttered something feebly andindistinctly, as if replying to what Olla had said, of which I coulddistinguish the words, `It is best, child; Malola is very old; she issick and weak; she cannot work; it is time she should be buried out ofthe way.' I instantly suspected that this unhappy creature was to bedestroyed by her own friends, on account of her age and infirmities,according to a most horrible and unnatural, but too prevalent custom. Ihad once been present at a scene of this kind, without the slightestpossibility of successful interference, when a native woman had beenstrangled; her own son, pulling at one end of the tappa which encircledhis mother's neck. In that case, the victim, instead of submittingquietly and willingly to her fate, (as is most usual), suddenly lost hercourage at the moment of reaching the grave, beside which she was to bestrangled, and opposed a frantic and desperate resistance to hermurderers. Her heart-rending cries; her fearful struggles; and, morethan all, the horrid indifference and cruelty of her executioners, haveleft upon my mind an indelib
le impression. I now resolved that if mysuspicions proved just, I would make an earnest effort to prevent therepetition of so inhuman a deed, and from what I had already seen of themild disposition of Mowno, I was inclined to believe that there wasgreat hope of success in such an endeavour.
"Rokoa, on hearing the conversation above mentioned, had given me asignificant glance, which sufficiently explained to me how he understoodit. A very few moments sufficed to confirm my worst suspicions: Ilearned that the aged female who had spoken of herself as Malola, wasMowno's aunt and that she was, with her own full consent and approval,to be destroyed in a few days. From the manner in which Olla alluded toit, while I inferred that such acts were by no means uncommon amongthese people, I at the same time clearly perceived, that custom andeducation had not stifled or perverted in her gentle nature, at least,the ordinary feelings and impulses of humanity, and that she anticipatedthe deed with terror and loathing. I determined to watch for anopportunity to converse with Mowno, and discover, if possible, whetherthe cruel insensibility, implied in countenancing such a practice, couldreally be concealed beneath so smooth and pleasant an aspect.
"Meanwhile, the meal, to which we had been summoned, was spread underthe shade trees beside the house. It consisted of baked fish, served upin banana leaves, roasted yams, poe-poe, a preparation of bread-fruit,and an excellent kind of pudding, made of cocoa-nut-pulp and taro. Itwas easy to perceive that Olla, with all her playfulness and girlishvivacity, was a notable housekeeper."
"Let me interrupt you a moment, to ask a single question," said Max."Did you get the recipe for making that pudding from Mrs Mowno?--if so,please impart the same for the general good, and I will try my hand atit the first convenient opportunity."
"Heathen!" exclaimed Browne, "can you think of nothing but gormandising?Pray, Arthur, proceed."
"And bring on those cannibals forthwith," added Morton, "for unless youdo so, Johnny will despair entirely of any fighting, and go to sleep."