A HUNDRED years ago, Raratonga had six thousand native inhabitants, and was a very flourishing heathen country, where cannibalism4 was all the fashion, murder of shipwrecked sailors a common custom, and raids upon neighbouring islands the chief diversion. There is no doubt that the Raratongan of those days compared none too well with the Tahitian, who at the worst never was an habitual5 cannibal, and was almost always friendly to strangers. Williams was the first missionary6 to arrive in the earlier part of the last century, and the complete conversion7 of the island was rapid; the Raratongan in a few years was no longer cannibal, no longer warlike, had become hospitable8 and friendly to travellers, had learned to wear clothes (a good deal more than he wanted or should have had, but the missionary of the early days really did not know what a fatal thing he was doing, when he enforced the wearing of white man’s raiment on the unclothed native, and thereby9 taught him to catch cold, and die of chest diseases). The island had (and has) a large school for the training of mission teachers, and a church and mission house not to be matched in the Pacific for magnificence, and was on the whole a model of most of the virtues10, compared with what it once had been. There were, and are, drawbacks to the missionary rule, but these have been discussed so freely in almost every book of Pacific travel ever written, that I do not feel it necessary to say over again what has so often been said before. The missionaries11 certainly civilised the islands, and made them safe to live in. Concurrently12 with this desirable result, others not so desirable took place, the fruit, in some cases, of irresponsible authority exercised by semi-educated men; in others, of the inevitable13 fate that follows the introduction of civilisation14 to primitive15 races. The Raratongan, like all the other brown folk of the islands, was asked to leap, almost at once, the gulf16 between utter savagery17 and comparative civilisation, that had taken his instructors18 all the time between the Roman Conquest and the end of the Dark Ages to overpass19. With the docility20 of the true Polynesian, he did his best to comply. It was not his fault—and not, one must fairly say, the fault of the missionary either, save in a minor21 degree—that the effort meant death to him.
There are not nineteen hundred Raratongans living now in the fertile little country that used to support six thousand of their ancestors. There are not enough babies in the island to carry on the population at half its present level, in the future. Not one of the “chief” families, of whom there are a dozen or so, has any living children at all. Consumption is common, and on the increase; more serious diseases are commoner still. A Raratongan seldom lives to be very old, and he almost always dies without resistance or regret. The islanders are happy and sunny in their own quiet way, but the backbone22 of life has been broken for them, and in the promise of the future, grey or golden, they have no share. To-day is theirs, but they have no to-morrow.
The Arikis, or chiefs, to whom the principal power once belonged, and who still retain much importance, regret this state of affairs in an amiable23, fatalistic way, but do not trouble themselves very much over it. They are for the most part of the opinion of Sir Boyle Roche about the claims of posterity24; and anyhow, they have their fruit trading to think about, and the next public dancing and singing party, and the last illegal beer-brewing up in the hills—so the decadence25 of their country sits lightly on their minds.
These Arikis are one and all inferior to the ruling sovereign, Queen Makea, who still contrives26 to retain a great deal of quiet power in her shapely old hands, in spite of the fact that she is nominally27 deposed28, and her country owned by New Zealand. I had not been in Raratonga more than a day or two, when my hosts took me to call upon the queen, intimating that she would feel hurt if the newcomer was not presented to her.
We walked through the blazing sun of the tropic afternoon, down the palm-shaded main street of Avarua town, to the great grassy29 enclosure that surrounds the palace of the queen. One enters through a neat white gate; inside are one or two small houses, a number of palms and flowering bushes, and at the far end, a stately two-storeyed building constructed of whitewashed30 concrete, with big railed-in verandahs, and handsome arched windows. This is Makea’s palace, but her visitors do not go there to look for her. In true South Sea Islander fashion, she keeps a house for show and one for use. The islander, though he aspires31 when “civilised,” to own a big concrete house, “all same papalangi” (white man), does not really like living in a building that shuts out the air. He discovered the fresh-air system long before it was thought of by the folk who discovered him, and his own houses are always made of small poles or saplings, set without any filling, so that the whole building is as airy as a birdcage, and almost as transparent32. In this he lives, while the big concrete house, with its Auckland made tables, chairs, and beds, and the red and blue table-cloths, and horrible gilt33 lamps fringed with cut glass lustres, and shrieking35 oleograph of King Edward in his coronation robes, is kept strictly36 for show, and perhaps for an occasional festival, such as a wedding party. It is an odd custom, but sensible, on the whole.
Makea’s favourite house is a pretty little reed and thatch37 villa38 several miles out in the country. When she is in town, she makes some concession39 to state by living in a small one-storeyed cottage, with a thatch and a verandah, and not much else, close beside her big palace. We found her at the cottage when we called, sitting on the verandah upon an ironwood couch, and petting a little turtle of which she is very fond. It seems a curious sort of creature to adore, but an elderly lady must have her little pet of some kind. In other climes, it is a pug, a parrot, or a cat. Here, the little turtle is considered chic40, so the queen has one, the turtle having been always considered a perquisite41 of royalty42 in the old days, when the chiefs had the best of everything, even down to the choicest tit-bits of the roasted enemy, while the commonalty had to put up with what they could get.
I was introduced to the queen, who shook hands politely, and sent one of her handmaids for chairs. These being brought, my hostess and I sat down, and the latter conversed43 with Makea in Raratongan, translating a few conventional politenesses from myself, and conveying others to me in return. The queen wanted to know how I liked the island, if I had really come all the way from England, as she had heard, whether I was not afraid to travel so far alone, how long I hoped to stay, and so forth44. All the time, as we talked, her keen black eyes were scanning me silently, rapidly, comprehensively, and making their own judgment45, quite independently of the conversation and its inevitable formalities. And I, on my side, was gazing, I fear with some rudeness, at the very remarkable46 figure before me.
Makea, since the death of her husband, Prince Ngamaru, a few years ago, has laid aside all vanities of dress, and wears only the simplest of black robes, made loose and flowing from the neck in island fashion. She is supposed to be at least seventy years of age, and she is extremely stout47, even for her height, which is well over six feet. Yet a more impressive figure than this aged48, deposed, uncrowned sovereign, in her robe of shabby black, I have never seen. Wisdom, kindliness49, and dignity are written large on her fine old face, which has more than a touch of resemblance to the late Queen Victoria. And oh, the shrewdness, the ability, the keen judgment of men and things, that look out from those brown, deep-set eyes, handsome enough, even in old age, to hint at the queen-like beauty that once belonged to this island queen!
Makea was always known as a wise, just, and very powerful sovereign. She ruled over the whole Cook group, and her word was law everywhere, even to the Prince Consort50, the warlike Ngamaru, who to the very last retained some traces of his heathen upbringing, and used to be seen, in the island councils of only a few years ago, making the horrible cannibal gesture which signifies in unmistakable pantomime, “I will tear the meat from your bones with my teeth!” at any other council member who presumed to disagree with him. Their married life was a happy one, in spite of the prince’s violent character, and when he died, the widowed queen took all her splendid robes of velvet51, silk, and satin, gorgeously trimmed with gold, tore them in fragments, and cast them into his grave, so that he might he soft, as befitted the prince who had been loved so well by such a queen.
Makea holds much of the real power in her hands to-day, for all that the islands are the property of the British Crown, and administered by a Commissioner52. The Raratongan is submissive to chiefs by nature, and the queen, though uncrowned, is still reverenced53 and feared almost, as much as of old. It is firmly believed that she possesses the mystic power known as “mana” among the Maori races, and this, as it gives the owner power to slay54 at will, is greatly feared. The word is almost untranslatable, meaning, perhaps, something like “prestige,” “kudos,” or the old English “glamour.” It includes, among other gifts, second sight to a certain extent, the power to bring good or evil luck, and the ability already mentioned to deal death at will.
This last may sound like fiction. It is nothing of the sort, it is plain, bald fact, as any one who has ever lived in the islands can testify. There is nothing more commonly known in the South Seas than the weird55 power possessed56 by kings and heroes to slay with a word, and instances of its exercise could be found in every group.
Makea does not use it now, so they say. She is old: like aged folks in other places, she wants to “make her soul,” and it can readily be imagined that the mission authorities do not approve of such heathen proceedings57. Still, there is not a native in Raratonga who does not believe that she could strike him dead with a wish, any day in the week, if she chose: and there are not a few who can tell you that in the days long ago, she exercised the power.
“Makea, she never rude, because she great chief,” said a relation of the royal family to me one day. “She never say to any one, ‘You go die!’ I think. She only saying, some time, ‘I wish I never seeing you again!’ and then the people he go away, very sorry, and by-n’-by he die—some day, some week, I don’ know—but he dyin’ all right, very quick, you bet!”
The power to die at will seems to be a heritage of the island races, though the power to live, when a chief bids them set sail on the dark seas of the unknown, is not theirs. Suicide, carried out without the aid of weapons or poisons of any kind, is not at all uncommon58. A man or woman who is tired of life, or bitterly offended with any one, will often lie down on the mats, turn his face, like David of old; to the wall, and simply flicker59 out like a torch extinguished by the wind. There was once a white schooner captain, who had quarrelled with his native crew; and the crew, to pay him out, lay down and declared they would die to spite him.... But this is about Makea the Queen, not about the godless brutal60 captain, and the measures he took to prevent his men from taking passage in a body across the Styx. They didn’t go after all, and they were sore and sorry men when they made the island port, and the captain, who was a very ill-educated person, boasted far and wide for many a day after that, that he would exceedingly well learn any exceedingly objectionable nigger who offered to go and die on him again—and that is all that I must say about it, for more reasons than one.
The queen, after a little conversation, punctuated61 by intervals62 of fanning and smiling (and a more charming smile than Makea’s, you might search the whole South Seas to find), sent a girl up a tree for cocoanuts, and offered us the inevitable cocoanut water and bananas, without which no island call is complete. Afterwards, when we rose to go, she sent a handmaid with us to take us over the palace, of which she is, naturally, very proud, though she never enters it except on the rare occasion of some great festival.
The palace proved to be as uninteresting as the queen herself was interesting and attractive. It had a stuffy63, shut-up smell, and it was furnished in the worst of European taste, with crude ugly sofas and chairs, tables covered with cheap-jack Manchester trinkets, and staring mirrors and pictures—partly sacred art, of a kind remarkably64 well calculated to promote the cause of heathenism, and partly portraits, nearly as bad as those one sees in the spring exhibitions at home. There were two or three saloons or drawing-rooms, all much alike, on the lower storey. Upstairs (it is only a very palatial65 island house that owns an upstairs) there were several bedrooms, furnished with large costly66 bedsteads of mahogany and other handsome woods, and big massive wardrobes and tables—all unused, and likely to remain so. The place was depressing on the whole, and I was glad to get out of it into the cheerful sun, although the heat at this hour of the afternoon was really outrageous67.
[[Illustration: 0165]
Another afternoon, I drove out to see Queen Tinomana, a potentate68 only second to Makea in influence. Tinomana, like Makea, is a dynastic name, and is always borne by the high chief, man or woman, who is hereditary69 sovereign of a certain district. The present holder70 of the title is a woman, and therefore queen.
What a drive it was! The roadway round the island is celebrated71 all over the Pacific, and with justice, for nothing more lovely than this twenty-mile ribbon of tropic splendour is to be found beneath the Southern Cross. One drives in a buggy of colonial pattern, light, easy-running, and fast, and the rough little island horse makes short work of the miles of dazzling white sandy road that circle the shores of the bright lagoon72. On one side rises the forest, green and rich and gorgeous beyond all that the dwellers73 of the dark North could possibly imagine, and opening now and then to display picture after picture, in a long gallery of magnificent mountain views—mountains blue as the sea, mountains purple as amethyst74, mountains sharp like spear-heads, towered and buttressed75 like grand cathedrals, scarped into grey precipices76 where a bat could scarcely cling, and cloven into green gorges77 bright with falling streams. On the other, the palms and thick undergrowth hardly veil the vivid gleam of the emerald lagoon lying within the white-toothed barrier reef, where all day long the surf of the great Pacific creams and froths and pours. By the verge78 of the coral beach that burns like white fire in the merciless sun, the exquisite79 ironwood tree trails its delicate tresses above the sand, so that, if you leave the carriage to follow on the road, and walk down by the beach, you shall catch the green glow of the water, and the pearly sparkle of the reef, through a drooping80 veil of leafage fine as a mermaid’s hair. Sometimes the buggy runs for a mile or two through thick woods of this lovely tree, where the road is carpeted thickly with the fallen needles of foliage81, so that the wheels run without sound, and you may catch the Eolian harp-song of the leaves, sighing ceaselessly and sadly
Of old, unhappy, far-off things,
when the evening wind gets up and the sun drops low on the lagoon.
The myths of the Pacific are marvellous in their way, but they pass over unnoticed much that could not have escaped the net of folk-lore82 and poetry in Northern lands. That the lovely ironwood, a tree with leaves like mermaid’s locks, and the voice of a mermaid’s song in its whispering boughs83, should stand bare of legend or romance on the shores of a sea that is itself the very home of wonder, strikes the Northern mind with a sense of strange incongruity84. But the soul of the islands is not the soul of the continents, and the poet of the Pacific is still to be born.
Sometimes, again, the little buggy rattles86 over white coral sand and gravel87, on a stretch of road that is fairly buried in the forest. The sun is cut off overhead, and only a soft green glow sifts88 through. The palm-tree stems sweep upward, tall and white, the gigantic “maupei” rears aloft its hollow buttressed stems, carved out into caverns89 that would delight the soul of a modern Crusoe, and drops big chestnuts90, floury and sweet, upon the road as we pass. The “utu,” or Barringtonia Speciosa, one of the most beautiful of island trees, towers a hundred feet into the warm glow above, its brilliant varnished91 leaves, nearly a foot long, and its strange rose and white flowers, shaped like feather-dusters, marking it out unmistakably from the general tangle92 of interlacing boughs, and crowding trunks and long liana ropes, green and brown, that run from tree to tree. If you were lost in the bush, and thirsty, one of those lianas would provide you with waters, were you learned enough in wood lore to slash93 it with your knife, and let the pure refreshing94 juice trickle95 forth. You might gather wild fruit of many kinds, too, and wild roots, mealy and nourishing, or dainty and sweet. And at night, you might creep into your hollow tree, or lie down on the warm sand of the shore, with nothing worse to fear than a mosquito or two.
There are no wild beasts in any of the Pacific Islands, save an occasional boar, which always lives remote from men in the hills, and is much readier to run away than to annoy. There are no poisonous snakes, either, tarantulas, or deadly centipedes and scorpions96. I cannot honestly say that the two latter creatures do not exist, but they very seldom bite or sting any one who does not go barefooted, and their venom97 is not deadly, though painful.
On almost every tree, as we rattle85 along through the forest, my hostess and I can see the beautiful bird’s-nest fern, looking like a hanging basket of greenery. We have not time to stop to-day, but we shall have to go out some other afternoon and cut down a few of the smaller ones for table decoration, for there is a dinner party coming off, and we are short of pot plants for the rooms. Young palms, most graceful98 of all green things, shoot up like little fountains in the clearings, some of the smaller ones still’ root-bound by the large brown nut from which they have sprung. One would never think these dainty ball-room palms were related in any way to the stately white columns-spiring high above them, for the full-grown palm is all stem and scarcely any top, in comparison, while the young palm, a mass of magnificent spreading fronds99, rises from a short bulb-like trunk that suggests nothing less than further growth.
The drive is six good miles, but it seems only too short. In a very little while, we have reached Queen Tinomana’s village—a picturesque100 little grassy town, with brown thatched huts, and white concrete cottages washed with coral lime, and gay red and yellow leaved ti trees standing101 before almost every door—and the queen’s own palace, a handsome two-storeyed house, quite as fine as Makea’s, stands up in front of us.
Passing by this piece of European splendour, we go to draw a more likely covert102, and ere long flush our quarry103 in a little creeper-wreathed cottage, hidden behind bushes of deliciously scented104 frangipani and blazing red hibiscus. The queen is on the verandah, seated, like Makea, on an ironwood sofa of state. She sits here most of the day, having very little in the way of government to do, and no desire to trouble her amiable head with the white woman’s laborious105 methods of killing106 time. Sometimes she plaits a hat to amuse herself, being accomplished107 in this favourite Raratongan art—a sailor hat with a hard crown and stiff brim, and a good deal of neat but lacy fancy work in the twisting of the plait. Sometimes she receives friends, and hears gossip. Sometimes, she sleeps on the sofa, and wakes up to suck oranges and fall asleep again. The strenuous108 life is not the life beloved of Tinomana, nor (one may hint in the smallest of whispers) would her much more strenuous sister queen encourage any developments in that direction.
It is well, under the circumstances, that both are suited by their respective r?les, otherwise the somewhat difficult lot of the Resident Commissioner might be rendered even more trying than it is.
Tinomana is not young, and she is not lovely now, though one can see that she has been beautiful, as so many of the soft-eyed island women are, long ago. She has had her romance, however, and as we sit on her verandah, drinking and eating the cocoanut and banana of ceremony, the grey-haired white man who is husband of the queen tells the story to me of her love and his, just as it happened, once upon a time.
In 1874 the Cook Islands were an independent group, governed by their own chiefs, or Arikis. The Arikis had much more power in those days than they are now allowed to exercise. They could order the execution of any subject for any cause; they could make war and end it: and no ship dared to call at the islands without their permission. They owned, as they still own, all the land, and their wealth of various kinds made them, in the eyes of the natives, millionaires as well as sovereigns.
“Women’s rights” were a novelty to England thirty years ago, but in the Cook Islands they were fully109 recognised, even at that early period. The most powerful of the Arikis was Makea—then a girl, now an elderly woman, but always every inch a queen, and always keeping a firm hand on the sceptre of Raratonga. Any Cook Islands postage-stamp will show Makea as she was some ten years ago. In 1874 Makea and her consort, Ngamaru, were making plans for the marrying of Tinomana, a young Raratongan princess closely related to Makea. Tinomana would shortly become an Ariki, or queen, herself, and her matrimonial affairs were, in consequence, of considerable importance.
What the plans of Raratonga’s rulers for Tinomana may have been matters little. Tinomana was pretty, with splendid long black hair, large soft brown eyes, an excellent profile, and a complexion110 little darker than a Spaniard’s. She was also self-willed, and could keep a secret as close as wax when she so desired. She had a secret at that time, and it concerned no South Sea Islander, but a certain good-looking young Anglo-American named John Salmon111 (grandson of a Ramsgate sea-captain, Thomas Dunnett), who had lately landed at Raratonga from the trading schooner Venus, and had been enjoying a good deal of the pretty princess’s society, unknown to the gossips of the island. It was a case of love at first sight; for the two had not been more than a few days acquainted when they came privately112 to James Chalmers, the famous missionary, then resident in Raratonga, and begged for a secret marriage.
James Chalmers refused promptly113 to have anything to do with the matter, and furthermore told Tinomana that he would never marry her to any white man, no matter who it might be. In his opinion such a marriage would be certain to cause endless trouble with the other Arikis—apart from the fact that Queen Makea was against it. So the lovers went away disconsolate114. Raratonga was keeping holiday at the time, because a great war-canoe was to be launched immediately, and a dance and feast were in preparation. But Tinomana and her lover were out of tune115 with the festivities, and no woman in the island prepared her stephanotis and hibiscus garlands for the feast, or plaited baskets of green palm leaves to carry contributions of baked sucking-pig and pineapples, with as heavy a heart as the little princess.
On the day of the feast an idea came to Salmon. There were two schooners116 lying in Avarua harbour. One, the Coronet, had for a captain a man named Rose, who was as much opposed to Salmon’s marriage as Chalmers himself. The Humboldt schooner, on the other hand, had a friend of Salmon’s in command. From him some help might be expected. Salmon visited him secretly, found that he was willing to assist, and arranged for an elopement that very night. Tinomana was willing; nobody suspected; and the feast would furnish a capital opportunity.
There was no moon that evening, happily for the lovers, for the smallest sign would have awaked the suspicions of the watching Coronet. When the feast had begun, and all Raratonga was making merry with pig and baked banana, raw fish and pineapple beer, Tinomana contrived117 to slip away and get back to her house. Womanlike, she would not go without her “things”; and she took so long collecting and packing her treasures—her silk and muslin dresses, her feather crowns, her fans and bits of cherished European finery from far-away Auckland—that the suspicions of a prying118 girl were aroused. Out she came, accompanied by two others—all handmaidens to Tinomana—and charged the princess with an intention to elope. Tinomana acknowledged the truth, and ordered the girls to hold their tongues, offering them liberal rewards. This was not enough, however; the three girls demanded that Tinomana, in addition to buying their silence, should shield them from the possible wrath119 of the great Makea by taking them with her. She was forced to consent; and so, when the impatient lover, lurking120 in the darkness near the harbour, saw his lady coming at last, she came with three attendants, and almost enough luggage to rival Marie Antoinette’s encumbered121 flight to Varennes.
Eventually, however, the party put off in a canoe, the girls lying flat in the bottom, with Tinomana crouching122 beside them and Salmon holding a lighted torch, which he waved in the air as they went. For the boat had to pass close by the Coronet, and Captain Rose, somehow or other, had become suspicious, and young Salmon knew he would think nothing of stopping any boat that could not give an account of itself. So Salmon took the torch, to look like a fishing-boat going out with spears and torches to the reef, and, paddling with one hand while he held the light aloft with the other, he passed the Coronet safely, knowing well that his face would be unrecognisable at a distance of fifty yards or so in the wavering shadow of the flame.
Beyond the reef lay the Humboldt waiting. Tinomana and her maids and her luggage were swung up the side with small ceremony; Salmon hurried after, and a small but welcome breeze enabled the schooner to slip out to sea unnoticed in the dark. She made for Mangaia, another of the Cook Islands, some hundred and fifty miles away, and reached it in a couple of days. But the Humboldt had hardly made the land when the dreaded123 Coronet appeared on the horizon, carrying every stitch of sail, and with her decks, her “Jacob’s-ladder,” and her very yardarms crowded by furious Raratongans. The fugitives124 were caught!
At first they had not been missed. The islanders were feasting and drinking, the Arikis were unsuspicious, and the Coronet had seen only a fishing-canoe with a solitary125 man on board gliding126 out to the reef. But with the morning light came the knowledge that Tinomana was absent from her palace, that Salmon had not come home, and that the Humboldt was gone. Raratonga was enraged127, and all the more so because pursuit appeared for the moment to be impossible. They knew that the Humboldt had probably made for Mangaia; but the breeze had died away, and the Coronet, her sails flapping idly against her rakish masts, lay helpless in harbour. Some brilliant spirit, however, proposed that the schooner should be towed out, in the hope of catching128 a breeze beyond the reef; and half a dozen great whaleboats, manned by powerful arms, were harnessed to the Coronet’s bows. Out she came through the opening in the foaming129 coral reef, with screaming and splashing and tugging130 at oars131, into the blue, open sea, and beyond the shelter of the peaky, purple hills. The breeze was met at last, the boats cast off and dropped astern, and the Coronet, carrying half Raratonga on board, set sail for Mangaia.
Once within the range of the Humboldt the Coronet lowered a boatful of armed men, and the latter made for the schooner lying-to under the shelter of the Mangaian hills. Captain Harris, of the Humboldt, however, ordered his crew to shoot down the first man who attempted to board, and the attacking boat thought better of it. Beaten by force they tried diplomacy132, in which they were more successful. They told Captain Harris that all his cargo133 of valuable cotton, lying on the wharf134 at Raratonga ready for shipment, would be destroyed unless he gave the princess back. This meant absolute ruin, and the captain had to submit. Salmon told Tinomana that it was best to give in for the present, as they were caught; but that the parting would be only for a time. And back to Raratonga went the disconsolate princess, bereft135 of her lover and her stolen wedding, and with the anticipation136 of a good scolding to come from the indignant Arikis.
For some months after this disaster Salmon wandered about from island to island, living now in Raiatea, now in Flint Island, now in Mauke—always restless and always impatient. At last he judged the time had come to make a second attempt, and tried to obtain a passage to Raratonga.
Schooner after schooner refused to take him, but finally a little vessel137 called the Atalanta braved the wrath of the Arikis and brought him back. During his absence time had worked in his favour, and the opposition138 to the marriage was now much weaker. The Arikis received him coolly and fined him twenty pounds’ worth of needles, thread, and tobacco for his late excursion, but they no longer refused to let him see Tinomana. The missionary, however, still objected to the marriage, and as he was the only clergyman available for the ceremony it seemed as if things, on the whole, were “getting no forrader.”
At this juncture139 the great Makea stepped in, and with the charming variability common to her sex, took the part of the lovers against all Raratonga as strongly as she had before opposed their union. She was not then in Raratonga, but in another of the Cook Islands, Atiu. From thence she sent the schooner Venus to Raratonga, ordering the captain to fetch Tinomana and Salmon to Atiu, where the local missionary would marry them, or Makea would know the reason why.
Raratonga—obstinate Raratonga!—still refused to give its princess to a foreign adventurer, though it trembled at the thought of defying the Elizabethan Makea. A band of warriors140 came down to the harbour to see that Salmon did not get on board the ship. As for Tinomana, they did not dare to oppose her departure, when the head of the house had actually summoned her. But the princess had no notion whatever of going alone. Salmon was smuggled141 on board in the dusk and hidden under a bunk142. A pile of mats and native “pareos,” or kilts, was placed over him, and there, in the heat of the tropic night, he lay and sweltered, while the Venus swung to her cable and the warriors hunted the ship and found nothing. When they went off, baffled, the schooner put to sea. A Raratongan vessel, still suspicious, chased her to Atiu, but Makea informed the pursuing crew that it would be bad for their health to land on her property unasked; and, as this great Pacific Queen had, and has, the reputation of keeping her word when it is passed, the Raratongans did not dare to set foot on shore. This time it was they who went home disconsolate.
And so the young couple were married “and lived happily ever after.” Tinomana and her consort now reside at Arorangi, Raratonga, in their long, low house, set among frangipani trees and oranges, and covered with flowering tropical creepers, and seldom or never occupy their palace. Tinomana’s five children are dead; she herself is growing old, but the memory of those long-past years of adventure and romance is still with her. Her life glides143 quietly and dreamily by, within the sound of the humming ocean surf, under the shadow of the purple Raratongan hills. She has had her day, and there remain the quiet sunset and the softened144 twilight145, before the time of dark.
The queen had little to say to us, for she does not speak English, nor is she shrewdly curious about men and things outside of sleepy Raratonga, like her sister sovereign, Makea. She smiled a good deal, and said some polite things about my dress, which illustrated146 a new fashion, and seemed to interest her more than anything else connected with the call. I had brought a gift with me for Tinomana, a silk scarf of a peculiarly screaming blue, and I presented it before I took my leave with some politenesses that the royal consort rapidly translated for me. The queen was much pleased with the gift, and began trying its effect on several different hats at once. Then we had some more cocoanut water and said good-bye, and drove home again in the yellow sunset.
The crabs were getting noisy as we passed along a soft bit of sandy road close by the shore. They are fairly active all day, and at night seem to wake up a little more completely than before. One can hear them rattling147 and scratching loudly all over the stones and rubbish about the shore; the ground is riddled148 with their holes—as we pass, they dart149 in at their front doors as swiftly as spiders, and stand looking cautiously round a comer till the threatening apparition150 is gone. They are not nice things, these crabs—they are tall and spindly and insectlike in build, with a scrawny body set on eight spider-like legs, and ugly, sharp, thin claws. They live on the land, but haunt the beach a good deal, because of the débris to be found there, and they are such nasty feeders that not even the natives will eat them, which is saying a good deal.
They have an uncanny fancy for coming into houses. If your residence is not raised up on a good Verandah, which they cannot surmount151, you may be alarmed some night by a ghostly tapping and ticking on the floor, like nothing you have ever heard or dreamed of before, and while you are wondering fearfully what the sound may be, you will suddenly become aware of something clumsy and noisy scrambling152 among the mosquito curtains of your bed. At this, if you are of common human mould, you will arise hastily, tangling153 yourself up in the curtains as you do so, and call loudly for a light. And when one is brought, behold154 the offender155 scuttling156 hastily away on eight long thin legs into the outer dark, without stopping to make an explanation or an apology. You are so annoyed that you put on a dressing-gown and follow him out on the verandah, a stick in your hand and murder in your heart; but just as you reach the steps, there is a loud “flump” on the floor, and a centipede as big as a sausage, with a writhing157 black body and horrible red legs and antennae158, flashes past the edge of your sweeping159 draperies. At this you give it up, and get back to your mosquito curtains.
You are just falling asleep, when——— Good Heavens! what is it?
Surely nothing but a burglar could have made that fearful noise in the outer kitchen!—a burglar, or a madman, or both in one. It sounds as if some one were beating somebody else with an iron bucket. Perhaps it may be only a native dog chasing a cat. Up go the curtains once more, letting half the mosquitoes in the island in, and off the wretched traveller sets for the kitchen, accompanied by a brave but pallid160 hostess, who says she is extremely sorry her husband would choose this week for going away from home.
There he is! there is the author of the noise—a black, bristly, incredibly hideous161 hermit162 crab2 as big as a biscuit—out of his shell, and fighting like grim death in an empty kerosene163 tin, with another crab nearly as big, and quite as vicious. Number one has got too big for the secondhand univalve shell he lived in, and is touring the country trying to replace it. Number two, also out-growing his clothes, has got half a broken sardine164 box in the kerosene tin (which acts as ash-bucket to the house), and he thinks it is the loveliest new shell he has ever seen. So, unluckily, does the other crab, and they are in the act of putting it to ordeal165 by combat, when we invade the scene of the battle, and rudely shake the crabs and the shells and the sardine tin all off the end of the verandah together.
“What on earth brings crabs into people’s houses?” you ask amazedly, as you go back to bed again. It seems an insane action for any sensible crab, considering that we are half a mile from the sea.
“Pure cussedness,” says my friend wrathfully. “They even climb up the verandah posts, and sit among the flowers. ‘What for? Spite, I think; there isn’t anything more ill-natured in the world than a hermit crab.”
If it is not a moonlight night, now, we get to sleep at last, but if it is, and the oranges are ripe———
Well, that is the time the “mor kiri-kiris” choose to perform their orisons; and when they are playing the devil with the holy peace and calm of midnight on the roof, not even a fourth mate newly come off his watch, could sleep below.
“Here, you blank, blank, blank, unspeakable, etcetera, let go that orange!”
“I shan’t, blank your double-blank limbs and wings! I got it first!”
“Then just look out, you mangy, fox-faced, clumsy-winged beast, for I’ll rip the inside out of your rotten carcase with my claws.”
“Like to see you!” (somewhat muffled166 with stolen orange).
“You will!”
Shriek34, shriek, yell, howl, scream.
“You’ve bitten my toe off, you trebly-blanked vermin!”
“Meant to!”
“Clear off!”
“Won’t!”
“Come on again, then!”
“Pax! pax! here’s the great pig with fur on its head that lives in the house, coming out with a gun. I’m off.”
“So am I, but we’ll go back again the moment it goes in.” That is the way one sleeps in the orange season, in a place that happens to be popular with the “mor kiri-kiri,” or flying-fox—a bat with a furry167 body as big as a cat’s, long sharp white teeth, a head exactly like a fox, and the crustiest disposition168 of anything living on the island.
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1
schooner
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| n.纵帆船 | |
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crab
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| n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气 | |
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crabs
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| n.蟹( crab的名词复数 )；阴虱寄生病；蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 ) | |
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cannibalism
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| n.同类相食；吃人肉 | |
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habitual
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| adj.习惯性的；通常的，惯常的 | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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hospitable
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| adj.好客的；宽容的；有利的，适宜的 | |
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thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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concurrently
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| adv.同时地 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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civilisation
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| n.文明，文化，开化，教化 | |
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primitive
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| adj.原始的；简单的；n.原(始)人，原始事物 | |
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gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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19
overpass
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| n.天桥，立交桥 | |
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docility
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| n.容易教，易驾驶，驯服 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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backbone
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| n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气 | |
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amiable
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| adj.和蔼可亲的，友善的，亲切的 | |
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posterity
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| n.后裔，子孙，后代 | |
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decadence
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| n.衰落，颓废 | |
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26
contrives
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| （不顾困难地）促成某事( contrive的第三人称单数 )； 巧妙地策划，精巧地制造（如机器）； 设法做到 | |
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27
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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28
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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29
grassy
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| adj.盖满草的；长满草的 | |
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30
whitewashed
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| 粉饰，美化，掩饰( whitewash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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aspires
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| v.渴望，追求( aspire的第三人称单数 ) | |
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32
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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33
gilt
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| adj.镀金的；n.金边证券 | |
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34
shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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35
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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36
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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37
thatch
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| vt.用茅草覆盖…的顶部；n.茅草(屋) | |
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38
villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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39
concession
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| n.让步，妥协；特许(权) | |
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40
chic
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| n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的 | |
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41
perquisite
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| n.固定津贴，福利 | |
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42
royalty
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| n.皇家，皇族 | |
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43
conversed
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| v.交谈，谈话( converse的过去式 ) | |
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44
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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45
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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46
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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48
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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49
kindliness
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| n.厚道，亲切，友好的行为 | |
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50
consort
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| v.相伴；结交 | |
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51
velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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52
commissioner
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| n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员 | |
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53
reverenced
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| v.尊敬，崇敬( reverence的过去式和过去分词 )；敬礼 | |
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54
slay
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| v.杀死，宰杀，杀戮 | |
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55
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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56
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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57
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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58
uncommon
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| adj.罕见的，非凡的，不平常的 | |
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59
flicker
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| vi./n.闪烁，摇曳，闪现 | |
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60
brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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61
punctuated
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| v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物 | |
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62
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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63
stuffy
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| adj.不透气的，闷热的 | |
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64
remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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65
palatial
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| adj.宫殿般的，宏伟的 | |
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66
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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67
outrageous
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| adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的 | |
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68
potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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69
hereditary
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| adj.遗传的，遗传性的，可继承的，世袭的 | |
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70
holder
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| n.持有者，占有者；(台，架等)支持物 | |
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71
celebrated
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| adj.有名的，声誉卓著的 | |
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72
lagoon
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| n.泻湖，咸水湖 | |
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73
dwellers
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| n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 ) | |
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74
amethyst
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| n.紫水晶 | |
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75
buttressed
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| v.用扶壁支撑，加固( buttress的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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76
precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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77
gorges
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| n.山峡，峡谷( gorge的名词复数 )；咽喉v.（用食物把自己）塞饱，填饱( gorge的第三人称单数 )；作呕 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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exquisite
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| adj.精美的；敏锐的；剧烈的，感觉强烈的 | |
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80
drooping
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| adj. 下垂的，无力的 动词droop的现在分词 | |
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81
foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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82
lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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83
boughs
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| 大树枝( bough的名词复数 ) | |
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84
incongruity
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| n.不协调，不一致 | |
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85
rattle
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| v.飞奔，碰响；激怒；n.碰撞声；拨浪鼓 | |
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86
rattles
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| （使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧 | |
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87
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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88
sifts
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| v.筛( sift的第三人称单数 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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89
caverns
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| 大山洞，大洞穴( cavern的名词复数 ) | |
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90
chestnuts
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| n.栗子( chestnut的名词复数 )；栗色；栗树；栗色马 | |
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91
varnished
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| 浸渍过的，涂漆的 | |
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92
tangle
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| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
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93
slash
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| vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩 | |
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94
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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95
trickle
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| vi.淌，滴，流出，慢慢移动，逐渐消散 | |
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96
scorpions
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| n.蝎子( scorpion的名词复数 ) | |
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97
venom
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| n.毒液，恶毒，痛恨 | |
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98
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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99
fronds
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| n.蕨类或棕榈类植物的叶子( frond的名词复数 ) | |
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100
picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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101
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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102
covert
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| adj.隐藏的；暗地里的 | |
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103
quarry
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| n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找 | |
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104
scented
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| adj.有香味的；洒香水的；有气味的v.嗅到(scent的过去分词) | |
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105
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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106
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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107
accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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108
strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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109
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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110
complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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111
salmon
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| n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的 | |
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112
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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113
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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114
disconsolate
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| adj.忧郁的，不快的 | |
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115
tune
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| n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整 | |
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116
schooners
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| n.（有两个以上桅杆的）纵帆船( schooner的名词复数 ) | |
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117
contrived
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| adj.不自然的，做作的；虚构的 | |
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118
prying
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| adj.爱打听的v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的现在分词 )；撬开 | |
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119
wrath
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| n.愤怒，愤慨，暴怒 | |
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120
lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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121
encumbered
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，拖累( encumber的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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122
crouching
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 ) | |
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123
dreaded
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| adj.令人畏惧的；害怕的v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的过去式和过去分词) | |
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124
fugitives
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| n.亡命者，逃命者( fugitive的名词复数 ) | |
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125
solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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126
gliding
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| v. 滑翔 adj. 滑动的 | |
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127
enraged
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| 使暴怒( enrage的过去式和过去分词 )； 歜； 激愤 | |
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128
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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129
foaming
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| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
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130
tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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131
oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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132
diplomacy
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| n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕 | |
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133
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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134
wharf
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| n.码头，停泊处 | |
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135
bereft
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| adj.被剥夺的 | |
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136
anticipation
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| n.预期，预料，期望 | |
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137
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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138
opposition
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| n.反对，敌对 | |
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139
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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140
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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141
smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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142
bunk
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| n.(车、船等倚壁而设的)铺位；废话 | |
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143
glides
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| n.滑行( glide的名词复数 )；滑音；音渡；过渡音v.滑动( glide的第三人称单数 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔 | |
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144
softened
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| （使）变软( soften的过去式和过去分词 )； 缓解打击； 缓和； 安慰 | |
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145
twilight
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| n.暮光，黄昏；暮年，晚期，衰落时期 | |
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illustrated
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| adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词 | |
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147
rattling
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| adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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148
riddled
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| adj.布满的；充斥的；泛滥的v.解谜，出谜题(riddle的过去分词形式) | |
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149
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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150
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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151
surmount
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| vt.克服；置于…顶上 | |
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152
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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153
tangling
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| （使）缠结， （使）乱作一团( tangle的现在分词 ) | |
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154
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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155
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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156
scuttling
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| n.船底穿孔，打开通海阀（沉船用）v.使船沉没( scuttle的现在分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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157
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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158
antennae
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| n.天线；触角 | |
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159
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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160
pallid
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| adj.苍白的，呆板的 | |
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161
hideous
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| adj.丑陋的，可憎的，可怕的，恐怖的 | |
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162
hermit
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| n.隐士，修道者；隐居 | |
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163
kerosene
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| n.(kerosine)煤油，火油 | |
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164
sardine
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| n.[C]沙丁鱼 | |
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165
ordeal
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| n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验 | |
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166
muffled
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| adj.（声音）被隔的；听不太清的；（衣服）裹严的；蒙住的v.压抑，捂住( muffle的过去式和过去分词 )；用厚厚的衣帽包着（自己） | |
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167
furry
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| adj.毛皮的；似毛皮的；毛皮制的 | |
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168
disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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