The Coral Island: A Tale of the Pacific Ocean

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER XXIV.

  Bloody Bill is communicative and sagacious--Unpleasantprospects--Retrospective meditations interrupted by volcanic agency--Thepirates negotiate with a Feejee chief--Various etceteras that arecalculated to surprise and horrify.

  It was many days after the events just narrated ere I recovered a littleof my wonted spirits. I could not shake off the feeling for a long timethat I was in a frightful dream, and the sight of our captain filled mewith so much horror that I kept out of his way as much as my duties aboutthe cabin would permit. Fortunately he took so little notice of me thathe did not observe my changed feelings towards him, otherwise it mighthave been worse for me.

  But I was now resolved that I would run away the very first island weshould land at, and commit myself to the hospitality of the nativesrather than remain an hour longer than I could help in the pirateschooner. I pondered this subject a good deal, and at last made up mymind to communicate my intention to Bloody Bill; for, during severaltalks I had had with him of late, I felt assured that he too wouldwillingly escape if possible. When I told him of my design he shook hishead. "No, no, Ralph," said he, "you must not think of running awayhere. Among some of the groups of islands you might do so with safety,but if you tried it here you would find that you had jumped out of thefryin' pan into the fire."

  "How so, Bill?" said I, "would the natives not receive me?"

  "That they would, lad; but they would eat you too."

  "Eat me!" said I in surprise, "I thought the South Sea islanders neverate anybody except their enemies."

  "Humph!" ejaculated Bill. "I s'pose 'twas yer tender-hearted friends inEngland that put that notion into your head. There's a set o'soft-hearted folk at home that I knows on, who don't like to have theirfeelin's ruffled, and when you tell them anything they don't like--thatshocks them, as they call it--no matter how true it be, they stop theirears and cry out, 'Oh, that is _too_ horrible! We can't believe that!'An' they say truth. They can't believe it 'cause they won't believe it.Now, I believe there's thousands o' the people in England who are sichborn drivellin' _won't-believers_ that they think the black fellowshereaway, at the worst, eat an enemy only now an' then, out o' spite;whereas, I know for certain, and many captains of the British andAmerican navies know as well as me, that the Feejee islanders eat notonly their enemies but one another; and they do it not for spite, but forpleasure. It's a _fact_ that they prefer human flesh to any other. Butthey don't like white men's flesh so well as black. They say it makesthem sick."

  "Why, Bill," said I, "you told me just now that they would eat _me_ ifthey caught me."

  "So I did; and so I think they would. I've only heard some o' them saythey don't like white men _so well_ as black; but if they was hungry theywouldn't be particular. Anyhow, I'm sure they would kill you. You see,Ralph, I've been a good while in them parts, and I've visited thedifferent groups of islands oftentimes as a trader. And thorough goin'blackguards some o' them traders are. No better than pirates, I can tellyou. One captain that I sailed with was not a chip better than the onewe're with now. He was tradin' with a friendly chief one day, aboard hisvessel. The chief had swam off to us with the things for trade tied a-top of his head, for them chaps are like otters in the water. Well, thechief was hard on the captain, and would not part with some o' histhings. When their bargainin' was over they shook hands, and the chiefjumped over board to swim ashore; but before he got forty yards from theship the captain seized a musket and shot him dead. He then hove upanchor and put to sea, and as we sailed along shore, he dropped six black-fellows with his rifle, remarkin' that 'that would spoil the trade forthe next comers.' But, as I was sayin', I'm up to the ways o' thesefellows. One o' the laws o' the country is, that every shipwreckedperson who happens to be cast ashore, be he dead or alive, is doomed tobe roasted and eaten. There was a small tradin' schooner wrecked off oneof these islands when we were lyin' there in harbour during a storm. Thecrew was lost, all but three men, who swam ashore. The moment theylanded they were seized by the natives and carried up into the woods. Weknew pretty well what their fate would be, but we could not help them,for our crew was small, and if we had gone ashore they would likely havekilled us all. We never saw the three men again; but we heard frightfulyelling, and dancing, and merry-making that night; and one of thenatives, who came aboard to trade with us next day, told us that the_long pigs_, as he called the men, had been roasted and eaten, and theirbones were to be converted into sail needles. He also said that whitemen were bad to eat, and that most o' the people on shore were sick."

  I was very much shocked and cast down in my mind at this terrible accountof the natives, and asked Bill what he would advise me to do. Lookinground the deck to make sure that we were not overheard, he lowered hisvoice and said, "There are two or three ways that we might escape, Ralph,but none o' them's easy. If the captain would only sail for some o' theislands near Tahiti, we might run away there well enough, because thenatives are all Christians; an' we find that wherever the savages take upwith Christianity they always give over their bloody ways, and are safeto be trusted. I never cared for Christianity myself," he continued, ina soliloquising voice, "and I don't well know what it means; but a manwith half an eye can see what it does for these black critters. However,the captain always keeps a sharp look out after us when we get to theseislands, for he half suspects that one or two o' us are tired of hiscompany. Then, we might manage to cut the boat adrift some fine nightwhen it's our watch on deck, and clear off before they discovered that wewere gone. But we would run the risk o' bein' caught by the blacks. Iwouldn't like to try that plan. But you and I will think over it, Ralph,and see what's to be done. In the meantime it's our watch below, so I'llgo and turn in."

  Bill then bade me good night, and went below, while a comrade took hisplace at the helm; but, feeling no desire to enter into conversation withhim, I walked aft, and, leaning over the stern, looked down into thephosphorescent waves that gargled around the ladder, and streamed outlike a flame of blue light in the vessel's wake. My thoughts were verysad, and I could scarce refrain from tears as I contrasted my presentwretched position with the happy, peaceful time, I had spent on the CoralIsland with my dear companions. As I thought upon Jack and Peterkinanxious forebodings crossed my mind, and I pictured to myself the griefand dismay with which they would search every nook and corner of theisland, in a vain attempt to discover my dead body; for I felt assuredthat if they did not see any sign of the pirate schooner or boat, whenthey came out of the cave to look for me, they would never imagine that Ihad been carried away. I wondered, too, how Jack would succeed ingetting Peterkin out of the cave without my assistance; and I trembledwhen I thought that he might lose presence of mind, and begin to kickwhen he was in the tunnel! These thoughts were suddenly interrupted andput to flight by a bright red blaze which lighted up the horizon to thesouthward, and cut a crimson glow far over the sea. This appearance wasaccompanied by a low growling sound, as of distant thunder, and, at thesame time, the sky above us became black, while a hot stifling wind blewaround us in fitful gusts.

  The crew assembled hastily on deck, and most of them were under thebelief that a frightful hurricane was pending; but the captain coming ondeck, soon explained the phenomena.

  "It's only a volcano," said he. "I knew there was one hereabouts, butthought it was extinct. Up there and furl top-gallant-sails; we'lllikely have a breeze, and it's well to be ready."

  As he spoke, a shower began to fall, which we quickly observed was notrain, but fine ashes. As we were many miles distant from the volcano,these must have been carried to us from it by the wind. As the captainhad predicted, a stiff breeze soon afterwards sprang up, under theinfluence of which we speedily left the volcano far behind us; but duringthe greater part of the night we could see its lurid glare and hear itsdistant thunder. The shower did not cease to fall for several hours, andwe must have sailed under it for nearly forty miles, perhaps farther.When we emerged from the cloud,
our decks and every part of the riggingwere completely covered with a thick coat of ashes. I was muchinterested in this, and recollected that Jack had often spoken of many ofthe islands of the Pacific as being volcanoes, either active or extinct,and had said that the whole region was more or less volcanic, and thatsome scientific men were of opinion that the islands of the Pacific werenothing more or less than the mountain tops of a huge continent which hadsunk under the influence of volcanic agency.

  Three days after passing the volcano, we found ourselves a few miles towindward of an island of considerable size and luxuriant aspect. Itconsisted of two mountains, which seemed to be nearly four thousand feethigh. They were separated from each other by a broad valley, whose thick-growing trees ascended a considerable distance up the mountain sides; andrich level plains, or meadow-land, spread round the base of themountains, except at the point immediately opposite the large valley,where a river seemed to carry the trees, as it were, along with it downto the white sandy shore. The mountain tops, unlike those of our CoralIsland, were sharp, needle-shaped, and bare, while their sides were morerugged and grand in outline than anything I had yet seen in those seas.Bloody Bill was beside me when the island first hove in sight.

  "Ha!" he exclaimed, "I know that island well. They call it Emo."

  "Have you been here before, then?" I inquired.

  "Ay, that I have, often, and so has this schooner. 'Tis a famous islandfor sandal-wood. We have taken many cargoes off it already, and havepaid for them too; for the savages are so numerous that we dared not tryto take it by force. But our captain has tried to cheat them so often,that they're beginnin' not to like us overmuch now. Besides, the menbehaved ill the last time we were here; and I wonder the captain is notafraid to venture. But he's afraid o' nothing earthly, I believe."

  We soon ran inside the barrier coral-reef, and let go our anchor in sixfathoms water, just opposite the mouth of a small creek, whose shoreswere densely covered with mangroves and tall umbrageous trees. Theprincipal village of the natives lay about half a mile from this point.Ordering the boat out, the captain jumped into it, and ordered me tofollow him. The men, fifteen in number, were well armed; and the matewas directed to have Long Tom ready for emergencies.

  "Give way, lads," cried the captain.

  The oars fell into the water at the word, the boat shot from theschooner's side, and in a few minutes reached the shore. Here, contraryto our expectation, we were met with the utmost cordiality by Romata, theprincipal chief of the island, who conducted us to his house, and gave usmats to sit upon. I observed in passing that the natives, of whom therewere two or three thousand, were totally unarmed.

  After a short preliminary palaver, a feast of baked pigs and variousroots was spread before us; of which we partook sparingly, and thenproceeded to business. The captain stated his object in visiting theisland, regretted that there had been a slight misunderstanding duringthe last visit, and hoped that no ill-will was borne by either party, andthat a satisfactory trade would be accomplished.

  Romata answered that he had forgotten there had been any differencesbetween them, protested that he was delighted to see his friends again,and assured them they should have every assistance in cutting andembarking the wood. The terms were afterwards agreed on, and we rose todepart. All this conversation was afterwards explained to me by Bill,who understood the language pretty well.

  Romata accompanied us on board, and explained that a great chief fromanother island was then on a visit to him, and that he was to beceremoniously entertained on the following day. After begging to beallowed to introduce him to us, and receiving permission, he sent hiscanoe ashore to bring him off. At the same time he gave orders to bringon board his two favourites, a cock and a paroquet. While the canoe wasgone on this errand, I had time to regard the savage chief attentively.He was a man of immense size, with massive but beautifully moulded limbsand figure, only parts of which, the broad chest and muscular arms, wereuncovered; for, although the lower orders generally wore no otherclothing than a strip of cloth called _maro_ round their loins, thechief, on particular occasions, wrapped his person in voluminous folds ofa species of native cloth made from the bark of the Chinesepaper-mulberry. Romata wore a magnificent black beard and moustache, andhis hair was frizzed out to such an extent that it resembled a largeturban, in which was stuck a long wooden pin! I afterwards found thatthis pin served for scratching the head, for which purpose the fingerswere too short without disarranging the hair. But Romata put himself tomuch greater inconvenience on account of his hair, for we found that heslept with his head resting on a wooden pillow, in which was cut a hollowfor the neck, so that the hair of the sleeper might not be disarranged.

  In ten minutes the canoe returned, bringing the other chief, whocertainly presented a most extraordinary appearance, having painted onehalf of his face red and the other half yellow, besides ornamenting itwith various designs in black! Otherwise he was much the same inappearance as Romata, though not so powerfully built. As this chief hadnever seen a ship before, except, perchance, some of the petty tradersthat at long intervals visit these remote islands, he was much taken upwith the neatness and beauty of all the fittings of the schooner. He wasparticularly struck with a musket which was shown to him, and asked wherethe white men got hatchets hard enough to cut the tree of which thebarrel was made! While he was thus engaged, his brother chief stoodaloof, talking with the captain, and fondling a superb cock and a littleblue-headed paroquet, the favourites of which I have before spoken. Iobserved that all the other natives walked in a crouching posture whilein the presence of Romata. Before our guests left us, the captainordered the brass gun to be uncovered and fired for their gratification;and I have every reason to believe he did so for the purpose of showingour superior power, in case the natives should harbour any evil designsagainst us. Romata had never seen this gun before, as it had not beenuncovered on previous visits, and the astonishment with which he viewedit was very amusing. Being desirous of knowing its power, he begged thatthe captain would fire it. So a shot was put into it. The chiefs werethen directed to look at a rock about two miles out at sea, and the gunwas fired. In a second the top of the rock was seen to burst asunder,and to fall in fragments into the sea.

  Romata was so delighted with the success of this shot, that he pointed toa man who was walking on the shore, and begged the captain to fire athim, evidently supposing that his permission was quite sufficient tojustify the captain in such an act. He was therefore surprised, and nota little annoyed, when the captain refused to fire at the native, andordered the gun to be housed.

  Of all the things, however, that afforded matter of amusement to thesesavages, that which pleased Romata's visitor most was the ship's pump. Henever tired of examining it, and pumping up the water. Indeed, so muchwas he taken up with this pump, that he could not be prevailed on toreturn on shore, but sent a canoe to fetch his favourite stool, on whichhe seated himself, and spent the remainder of the day in pumping thebilge-water out of the ship!

  Next day the crew went ashore to cut sandal-wood, while the captain, withone or two men, remained on board, in order to be ready, if need be, withthe brass gun, which was unhoused and conspicuously elevated, with itscapacious muzzle directed point blank at the chief's house. The men werefully armed as usual; and the captain ordered me to go with them, toassist in the work. I was much pleased with this order, for it freed mefrom the captain's company, which I could not now endure, and it gave mean opportunity of seeing the natives.

  As we wound along in single file through the rich fragrant groves ofbanana, cocoa-nut, bread-fruit, and other trees, I observed that therewere many of the plum and banian trees, with which I had become familiaron the Coral Island. I noticed also large quantities of taro-roots,yams, and sweet potatoes, growing in enclosures. On turning into an openglade of the woods, we came abruptly upon a cluster of native houses.They were built chiefly of bamboos, and were thatched with the largethick leaves of the pandanu
s; but many of them had little more than asloping roof and three sides with an open front, being the most simpleshelter from the weather that could well be imagined. Within these, andaround them, were groups of natives--men, women, and children--who allstood up to gaze at us as we marched along, followed by the party of menwhom the chief had sent to escort us. About half a mile inland wearrived at the spot where the sandal-wood grew, and, while the men set towork, I clambered up an adjoining hill to observe the country.

  About mid-day, the chief arrived with several followers, one of whomcarried a baked pig on a wooden platter, with yams and potatoes onseveral plantain leaves, which he presented to the men, who sat downunder the shade of a tree to dine. The chief sat down to dine also; but,to my surprise, instead of feeding himself, one of his wives performedthat office for him! I was seated beside Bill, and asked him the reasonof this.

  "It is beneath his dignity, I believe, to feed himself," answered Bill;"but I daresay he's not particular, except on great occasions. They've astrange custom among them, Ralph, which is called _tabu_, and they carryit to great lengths. If a man chooses a particular tree for his god, thefruit o' that tree is tabued to him; and if he eats it, he is sure to bekilled by his people, and eaten, of course, for killing means eatinghereaway. Then, you see that great mop o' hair on the chief's head?Well, he has a lot o' barbers to keep it in order; and it's a law thatwhoever touches the head of a living chief or the body of a dead one, hishands are tabued; so, in that way, the barbers' hands are always tabued,and they daren't use them for their lives, but have to be fed like bigbabies, as they are, sure enough!"

  "That's odd, Bill. But look there," said I, pointing to a man whose skinwas of a much lighter colour than the generality of the natives. "I'veseen a few of these light-skinned fellows among the Fejeeans. They seemto me to be of quite a different race."

  "So they are," answered Bill. "These fellows come from the TonganIslands, which lie a long way to the eastward. They come here to buildtheir big war-canoes; and as these take two, and sometimes four years, tobuild, there's always some o' the brown-skins among the black sarpents o'these islands."

  "By the way, Bill," said I, "your mentioning serpents, reminds me that Ihave not seen a reptile of any kind since I came to this part of theworld."

  "No more there are any," said Bill, "if ye except the niggers themselves,there's none on the islands, but a lizard or two and some sich harmlessthings. But I never seed any myself. If there's none on the land,however, there's more than enough in the water, and that minds me of awonderful brute they have here. But, come, I'll show it to you." Sosaying, Bill arose, and, leaving the men still busy with the baked pig,led me into the forest. After proceeding a short distance we came upon asmall pond of stagnant water. A native lad had followed us, to whom wecalled and beckoned him to come to us. On Bill saying a few words tohim, which I did not understand, the boy advanced to the edge of thepond, and gave a low peculiar whistle. Immediately the water becameagitated and an enormous eel thrust its head above the surface andallowed the youth to touch it. It was about twelve feet long, and asthick round the body as a man's thigh.

  "There," said Bill, his lip curling with contempt, "what do you think ofthat for a god, Ralph? This is one o' their gods, and it has been fedwith dozens o' livin' babies already. How many more it'll get afore itdies is hard to say."

  "Babies?" said I, with an incredulous look

  "Ay, babies," returned Bill. "Your soft-hearted folk at home would say,'Oh, horrible! impossible!' to that, and then go away as comfortable andunconcerned as if their sayin' 'horrible! impossible!' had made it a lie.But I tell you, Ralph, it's a _fact_. I've seed it with my own eyes thelast time I was here, an' mayhap if you stop a while at this accursedplace, and keep a sharp look out, you'll see it too. They don't feed itregularly with livin' babies, but they give it one now and then as atreat. Bah! you brute!' cried Bill, in disgust, giving the reptile akick on the snout with his heavy boot, that sent it sweltering back inagony into its loathsome pool. I thought it lucky for Bill, indeed forall of us, that the native youth's back happened to be turned at thetime, for I am certain that if the poor savages had come to know that wehad so rudely handled their god, we should have had to fight our way backto the ship. As we retraced our steps I questioned my companion furtheron this subject.

  "How comes it, Bill, that the mothers allow such a dreadful thing to bedone?"

  "Allow it? the mothers _do_ it! It seems to me that there's nothing toofiendish or diabolical for these people to do. Why, in some of theislands they have an institution called the _Areoi_, and the personsconnected with that body are ready for any wickedness that mortal man candevise. In fact they stick at nothing; and one o' their customs is tomurder their infants the moment they are born. The mothers agree to it,and the fathers do it. And the mildest ways they have of murdering themis by sticking them through the body with sharp splinters of bamboo,strangling them with their thumbs, or burying them alive and stampingthem to death while under the sod."

  I felt sick at heart while my companion recited these horrors.

  "But it's a curious fact," he continued, after a pause, during which wewalked in silence towards the spot where we had left our comrades,--"it'sa curious fact, that wherever the missionaries get a footin' all thesethings come to an end at once, an' the savages take to doin' each othergood, and singin' psalms, just like Methodists."

  "God bless the missionaries!" said I, while a feeling of enthusiasmfilled my heart, so that I could speak with difficulty. "God bless andprosper the missionaries till they get a footing in every island of thesea!"

  "I would say Amen to that prayer, Ralph, if I could," said Bill, in adeep, sad voice; "but it would be a mere mockery for a man to ask ablessing for others who dare not ask one for himself. But, Ralph," hecontinued, "I've not told you half o' the abominations I have seen durin'my life in these seas. If we pull long together, lad, I'll tell youmore; and if times have not changed very much since I was here last, it'slike that you'll have a chance o' seeing a little for yourself beforelong."