by Louis Becke
V
The moment we came in sight of the village, Nana, the native who wasfor'ard, stood up and gave a loud cry, which was immediately answered bysome invisible person near us; and then the cry was taken up by some oneelse nearer the village. In a few minutes we saw the people coming outof their queer-looking, saddle-backed dwellings and running down to thebeach, where, by the time we shot the canoe up on the sand, the wholepopulation was gathered to welcome us.
Standing a little in front of the rest of the villagers was the headman, swarthy-faced, clean-shaved Kusis; beside him Tulpe, his wife, agraceful young woman of about five-and-twenty, and her husband's littledaughter by a former wife. This child was named Kinie, a merry-faced,laughing-voiced sprite, ten years of age, with long, wavy, and somewhatunkempt hair hanging down over her shining copper-coloured shoulders.
Kusis spoke English well, and the moment I got out of the canoe he shookhands with me, his wife and daughter following suit, and said he wasglad that I had left the settlement at Utwe; that King Togusa and QueenSe had sent him word that I intended leaving the other white men, andthat if I came to Leasse or any other Tillage on the lee side of theisland I was to be well cared for; "but," he added, "you an' me willtalk 'bout this by and by. Come first to my house, and eat and smoke."
Here an old man, renowned as a great wild boar hunter, thrust himselfthrough the surrounding crowd, and asked my name. His keen, wrinkledvisage was all but enshrouded by a mass of snowy-white hair that madehim present a very curious appearance--much like that of a Poland fowl.He shook hands with me vigorously, and then made a speech to the others,pointing his finger alternately at myself and then to his own breast.Knowing but little of the difficult Strong's Island language, I wasat first under the impression that the old man was not pleased at theadvent of a white man; but I was soon pleasantly undeceived, for at theconclusion of his speech every man, woman, and child came up in turn andsolemnly shook hands with me.
Motioning to Sru and Nana--my crew--to hand my few little effects, whichconsisted of clothing, tobacco, and a Winchester rifle and ammunition,out of the canoe, the whole party of us started off for Kusis's house,the old pig-hunter proudly carrying the Winchester in advance, and Kusisand his wife each holding one of my hands.
Not one of them now spoke a word, and only that it would have givenserious offence, the temptation to laugh at being led about like achild was very great. In another minute or two we reached the head man'shouse, a handsome, well-built structure of coral stone, with a thatchedroof and cane-work floor raised some two feet or so off the ground. Hereall the males in the company sat down to eat, while the women waitedupon them.
In the whole village there were but a hundred people, and, with theexception of two or three young men who were away turtle-catching, theywere now all present. After we had finished eating, Kusis repeated theKing's message to me, and wanted to know what I intended to do--to liveat Leasse, or "go and look at the other places along the coast, and seeif there was a better place than Leasse?"
Leasse, I said, should be my home. I knew him and some others besides inLeasse, and liked the place and the people, etcetera. They appearedvery pleased at this, and Eusis at once desired me to point out the spotwhereon my house was to be built--meanwhile I was to live with him tillit was completed. I chose a site about thirty yards away from where westood; and then, to show that no time would be lost, Eusis at once sentfive or six men into the bush to cut posts, and ordered all the womenand girls to begin making the thatch for the roof and cutting cane forthe walls and floor.
I must ask my readers to bear in mind that the friendship of thesepeople for an almost unknown white man was inspired by no unworthymotive. Kusis and his people, as well as the King and Queen, knew thatwhen the brig was lost I had saved nothing whatever from the wreck.Such little clothing as I had with me had been given to me by the youngAmerican trader before mentioned, and old Harry Terry had given me halfa small tierce of tobacco and the Winchester rifle and cartridges. Andshortly after the wreck of the brig it had been my fortunate lot toprevent a number of Strong's Islanders from serious ill-treatmentby some of my white companions, and for this their gratitude knew nobounds. I found that the old King, as soon as he heard that young Harryand myself had separated from the other white men, had sent messengersto every place on the island telling them to treat us well. He was,however, terribly afraid of Harry's Pleasant Island natives, and anxiousthat he should keep them under control and disarm them. I told Kusisthat the King had no reason to fear any harm coming to his people fromHarry's followers, who would be kept well in hand by their master,furthermore that I had heard Harry threaten to shoot dead the first manthat either robbed or offered violence to any Strong's Islander. Theyseemed much pleased at this, and told me that in the old days they wereafraid of no one, and were a great fighting people, but since theirconversion to Christianity all the fight had gone out of them; and,indeed, I found them, although a generous and amiable race, verycowardly.
During the time my house was being built I made friends with every boyand girl in the village; they took an especial delight in taking meabout shooting and fishing. At the rear of Leasse the forest-cladmountains rise in a gradual but magnificent sweep to a height of twothousand feet, and on the second day after my arrival we set out to tryand shoot some wild pigs, with which the dense mountain jungle abounded.The only adult beside myself with the party was the old boar hunter Rii.He was armed with a very heavy wooden spear, with a keen steel head,shaped like a whaler's lance, whilst the rest of the party, who werecomposed of boys and girls ranging in years from ten to fifteen, carriedlighter spears. Every girl had two or three mongrel curs held in aleash. These animals were, however, well trained in pig-hunting andnever barked until the prey was either being run down or was brought tobay. Amongst the children were two half-castes--brother and sister. Theboy was about twelve, the girl a couple of years older. I learntthat their father, who was dead, was an Englishman, a deserter from aman-of-war. He had married a girl at Coquille Harbour, and, after livingon Strong's Island for a few years, had gone with his wife and childrento the Western Carolines, where he was killed in an attack on a nativefortress, and the woman and boy and girl had returned to their nativeland in a whaleship. The girl spoke English very well, and although shewas naked to the waist when we first started out, a feeling of modestymade her return to the village and don a man's singlet. Old Rii, ourleader, who could not speak a word of English, called the pair up to me,and, pointing to the boy, said "Te-o" (Joe), and to the girl, "Lit-si"(Lizzie). Although they were much lighter in colour than the rest of ourcompany, I had no idea they had white blood in their veins till thegirl said shyly, "This is my brother; my father belong to England." Iafterwards found from her that she only knew her father as "Bob"--hissurname was never known.
For the first mile or two we walked along the banks of a noisy mountainstream, which here and there formed into deep pools, with a bottom ofbright blue stones. These pools contained many fish, as well as vastnumbers of crayfish. One of the girls with us carried fishing-tackle,and in a few minutes some rods were cut, the hooks baited with smallcrayfish, and several fine fish landed. These were at once cooked, thefires being kindled on some large, flat basalt stones, which were lyingscattered about on the bank. On inquiring how these stones came to bethere, I was told by "Lizzie" that they were the remains of an oldwall that once enclosed one of the ancient villages. Afterwards we cameacross many similar sites, which seemed to bear out the statements ofDuperrey and other navigators, that Strong's Island was once inhabitedby over twenty thousand people. At the present time the population doesnot reach five hundred. One of these places was situated on the summitof a spur of the great mountain range that traverses the island. Thetop of the mountain had been levelled as flat as a table, and a spaceof about an acre was covered with what appeared to be a floor ofhuge basaltic prisms, laid closely together. What the purpose of suchgigantic labour was none of my companions had any idea, and on myinquiring from Lizzi
e how these stones, many of which weighed severaltons, were carried to such an extraordinary height up such a steepascent, she shook her head, and said, "You ask Rii. He is a very oldman, and not a Christian, and knows all about the old times. But pleasedon' ask me. The missionaries don' let us talk of the bad days (i.e.,heathen times)." This put an end to all inquiry on my part, as old Riicould not speak a word of English, save a few vigorous expressions hehad acquired from whale-ships and which he was very fond of using, and Iwas only just learning the Kusaie language.
As we travelled up along the sides of the mountain we saw numbersof large, fat pigeons. They seemed to feel no alarm whatever at ourpresence. Their note, which is very deep and resonant, filled the airwith strange, weird echoes that reverberated amongst the silence of themountain forest. On reaching a little plateau on the side of a spur,old Rii stopped, and beckoned to us to keep silence, at the same timesending all the boys below the plateau. Peering cautiously through thejungle, we saw, lying down on the moss-covered ground at the butt of atree, a sow with her litter. We lay very quiet till the boys had formeda cordon at the lower edge of the plateau, so as to cut off escape inthat direction, and then Rii whispered to me to shoot the sow in thebelly, but not to hit any of her litter if I could help it, as we couldeasily take them alive with the dogs. Just as I was about to fire theold sow raised her head, and I fired at her shoulder. At the samemoment our twenty curs were let go, and the sow, although the bullethad smashed her shoulder, at once tore down the plateau, followed by herprogeny, but catching sight of the cordon of boys below, at once turned,and, injured as she was, made up towards the summit of the mountain withincredible speed. Then began the fan, the dogs yelping and howling, andthe boys and girls screaming with excitement, as they plunged throughthe undergrowth and vines in pursuit. Nearly on the summit was a hugetree, with foliage like an Australian white cedar, and here was the oldpig's lair, for the soil at its buttressed foot was scooped out intodeep holes.
When we had succeeded in gaining the top the dogs were running round andround the tree, making the most horrible din imaginable, but not daringto venture into the hole where the old sow was. Suddenly we saw a hugeblack head, with two great curved tusks, protrude out of one of the darkrecesses, and the next instant a great black boar burst out andcharged at the dogs, followed by the wounded sow and five littleblack-and-yellow suckers. Old as he Was, Rii showed his prowess, for,calling out to the boys and girls to see that none of the young pigs gotdown the spur, he advanced spear in hand towards the boar, which,after his first charge, had backed up to the tree again, and now stoodsurrounded by dogs and frothing his savage jaws. Already he had two orthree light spears sticking into his stomach and rump.
Followed by a couple of girls who carried baskets of wood ashes, old Riigot to within a dozen feet of the great brute, and, taking a basket ofashes, threw it at the boar. It struck him fair in the face, and thecontents smothered his head and forequarters, blinding him for a secondor two; and then, at the same moment, Rii sprang forward and plunged hisheavy spear deep into the creature's bowels. But even then the boar wasgame, and, with a terrific snort of rage, made another charge, only tomeet half a dozen spear-thrusts.
A bullet through his head soon finished him, and then began the chaseafter the young suckers, every one of which was caught. Small as theywere, they fought and snapped and bit viciously, and acted generallylike little fiends. As for the old sow, she was killed by the dogs; shewas very poor and mangy, but the suckers were as round as balls.
Slinging the huge carcase of the boar from a stout pole, we returnedto the village at nightfall. On the way down my two young half-castefriends told me that it is a habit peculiar to the wild sows of Strong'sIsland, when rearing their young, to flee to the lair of the boar whenalarmed, and that sometimes the boar will kill every one of her youngwhen harassed by dogs, and then, bursting through them, leave hispartner to her fate.
*****
Month after month passed away in the quiet little village of Leassewithout the writer seeing anything of his former shipmates in the_Leonora_. Sometimes Hayes's boats would come to within a mile or soof the entrance to Coquille Harbour in their quests for coco-nuts, but,fortunately for the peace of the villagers, their crews never venturedso far as the village itself. Perhaps, indeed, they did not know whereit was, for the high-peaked, saddle-backed houses were embowered in athick grove of breadfruit and durian-trees about half a mile from thebeach; and only the white curling smoke arising from the fires as thewomen cooked the morning and evening meals would have revealed itspresence.
One peaceful, monotonously happy day followed another till at last,in the first flush of one bright tropic sunrise, a stately Britishman-of-war rounded the north end of the island, and furling hersnow-white canvas--for she made the land under sail--steamed into LeleHarbour. And the next day Hayes fled from the island in an open boat,and I, with three others of the _Leonora's_ company, saw from the decksof the corvette the blue peaks of Kusaie sink into the sea.