Rídan The Devil And Other Stories

by Louis Becke

  A FISH DRIVE ON A MICRONESIAN ATOLL

  We were thrashing our way in a little brigantine, owned by Tom de Wolf,of Liverpool, against the strong north-east trade wind, from the WesternCarolines to Milli in the Marshalls, when one day we sighted a low-lyingcluster of five small palm-clad islands that lay basking, white andgreen, in the bright Pacific sun; and an hour before dark the _Lunalilo_dropped her anchor just in front of the native village. In a few minutesthe resident white trader came off to us in his boat and made us welcometo his island home.

  We had heard that he had quite a considerable quantity of hawkbillturtle shell and some coco-nut oil to sell, and came to ascertainthe truth of the report before we were anticipated by some German orAmerican trading vessel.

  Less than a mile away from where the brigantine was anchored we saw anoble white beach, trending east and west in many curves, and backed byserried lines of palms and groves of bread-fruit trees, through whosebright verdancy peeped out the thatch-covered and saddle-backed housesof the natives. Apart from the village, and enclosed by a low fence ofgrowing hibiscus palings, stood the trader's house, a long, ramblingbuilding with white coral-lime walls and a wide, shady verandah on allfour sides. In front of the fence was a tall, white-painted flagstaff,and presently we saw a woman come out of the trader's house and walk upto it. In another minute the Stars and Stripes went slowly up, and thenhung limp and motionless in the windless atmosphere.

  'There,' said the trader, with a laugh, 'you see, my wife, native as sheis, is more polite than I am. But the fact is that I was so excitedwhen I saw your schooner that I never thought about hoisting the oldgridiron. Now, look here, gentlemen; before we do anything else, or talkabout business, I want you to promise to come ashore to night. There isto be a big fish drive, and I can assure you that that is a sight worthseeing.'

  We made the promise, and half an hour later went ashore and walked upto our friend's house. Here we found the entire population of the islandassembled to do us honour, and for quite ten minutes were embraced mosteffusively by every one, male or female, who could get near us. Themen were naked to their waists--the missionaries had not then madeany headway in the Caroline Islands--around which they wore eithergaily-coloured girdles of bleached and then dyed strips of fine pandanusleaf, or sashes of closely-woven banana fibre. The women, however,somewhat ineffectually concealed the remarkable beauty of their figuresby wearing, in addition to their grass waist girdles, a crescent-shapedgarment of similar material, which was suspended from their necks, andcovered their bosoms.{*} Their glossy black hair hung in wavy curls downtheir smooth brown backs. * Since the advent of the missionaries thiscostume has been suppressed.

  Nearly all the young unmarried girls wore narrow head circlets of whitepandanus leaf, profusely adorned and embroidered with red and yellowbeads, flat pieces of polished pearl shell, and edged with green andgold and scarlet parrots' feathers. Their address and modest demeanourwas engaging in the extreme, and we noticed that they showed the utmostdeference and respect to an aged female who sat on a mat in the centreof the room, surrounded by a number of young children. She was, welearnt, the king's mother, and at her request the trader led us over towhere she sat, and gave us a formal introduction. She received us in apleasant but dignified manner, and the moment that she opened her lipsto speak the clatter of tongues around us ceased as if by magic, and themost respectful silence prevailed.

  As neither the captain nor myself were able to speak the localdialect--which is similar to that of Ponape--we were somewhat at a lossto answer the questions she put to us, and etiquette forbade the traderto volunteer his services as an interpreter, till the old dame askedhim. Presently, however, she desired him to tell us that she was verypleased to see us; that the fish drive would, she hoped, interest usgreatly. Then, at a sign from her, a handsome young man who stood in thedoorway came forward and laid down a bundle of mats at our feet; thiswas the old lady's formal present to the captain and myself. She thenrose, and bidding us to come and see her in her son's house before wesailed, she walked over to the end of the room, attended by her retinueof children, and sat down again on a finely-worked mat, which was spreadout before her. Then she made another and longer speech on behalf of herson, who, she said, had desired her to say that he was very pleasedwe had brought the ship to an anchor; that his stomach was filled withfriendship for white men; and that the trader would tell us that allthat he (the king) said was true; also that if any of her people stoleeven the most trifling article from our ship they would be severelypunished, etc. Furthermore, she trusted that after we had spent onenight at the white man's house and seen the fish drive, we would spendthe following morning with her, when we should be feasted, and everyhonour and attention shown us. Then the young man attendant producedanother present--from the king. This was a live sucking pig, a pair offat Muscovy ducks, and a huge green turtle. This latter was carried inby four women, and placed in the centre of the room. We then, throughthe trader, made return gifts of a bolt of white calico, a lamp and atin of kerosene. Touching these with her hand the old woman signed toher attendants to take them away, and then, with another polite speech,left the house.

  The moment the king's mother retired, many more of the common peopleswarmed into the house, and all seemed highly delighted to learn that weintended to stay and see the great fish drive.

  As every one of our native crew was very anxious to join in thesport, the captain had asked the king's mother to 'tapu' the ship tilldaylight, and shortly afterwards we were told by a messenger from theking that this had been done, and that no native would attempt to boardthe ship till we had returned. Although these people were honest enough,our captain thought it hardly safe enough to leave the ship without awhite man on board, for all natives are very careless with the use offire, and, being great smokers, he felt nervous on that score.

  At five o'clock we were taken to the king's house, where we found thewhole population assembled. A great feast was spread out, and KingRalok, who advanced to meet us, took us by our hands and sat us down inthe midst of a vast collection of baked fish, bread fruit, turtle meatand eggs, and roast fowls, pigeons and pork. Of course we had to eat;but at the earliest opportunity the trader told the king that we wereanxious to see the preparations made for the drive before it got toodark. Ralok at once agreed, and after drinking the milk of a youngcoco-nut to wash down the repast, we made a start for the scene ofoperations.

  This was along the shore of the lagoon. At high water, for nearly twoor three miles, the white, sandy bottom would be covered by a depth ofabout four feet of water; at low water, as it was now, it was dry. Hereand there were clumps of coral boulders, generally circular in shape,and these, at high water, would be just flush with the surface. Theseboulders were some two or three hundred yards apart, and as we came outupon the lagoon beach we saw that they were connected by a vast numberof nets lying upon the sand, in readiness to rise, by means of theirlight wooden floats of puka wood, as soon as the incoming tide swept infrom the ocean. Upon the top of each of these connecting boulders werepiled bundles or long torches made of dried coco-nut branches, whichwere to be lighted when the drive began. The total length of the nettingwas about two miles, but at one end, that facing the deep water of thelagoon, there was a wide, unenclosed space. Here, however, were lyinghalf a dozen canoes, whose outrigger platforms were piled up withstrong nets, which were to be stretched across the opening at the propermoment.

  After looking at the preparations, we returned to the village, and as wehad no time to lose, and the tide was coming in at a great rate over thereef, we began to dress, or rather undress, for the sport. To each ofus was given a spear, and a number of young women and children weretold off to accompany us with baskets, with half-a-dozen boys astorch-bearers.

  As soon as darkness had fallen the whole village was astir. From everyhouse men, women and very young children swarmed, these latter withouteven the traditional leaf to hide their nakedness, while the grown girlsand women, possibly with the view of
not shocking us too much, woreshort--very short--girdles around their loins.

  The grown men and youths now launched a number of canoes, and, crowdinginto them, paddled out into the lagoon, keeping well away, however,from the line of nets, the floats of which were now appearing upon thesurface of the water. In each canoe was a large basket filled with anasty-looking mass. This was the crushed shells and bodies of _uga_, orsmall land crabs, and was to be used as 'burley' to attract the fish tothe wake of the canoes.

  Before going further I must mention that at a particular season of theyear--May--many of the Micronesian Islands are visited by vast shoals offish much resembling an English salmon. These enter the lagoons fromthe ocean in pursuit of smaller fish. These smaller fish, which are aspecies of sprat, assemble in incredible quantities, and at night-timeare wont to crowd together in prodigious numbers about the coralboulders before mentioned, in the same manner that ocean-living fishwill sometimes attach themselves to a ship or other moving substance,as some protection from pursuit by bonito, albicore, and the fish called_tautau_. The latter are of nocturnal habit when seeking food, andduring the daytime lie almost motionless near the bottom, where they canoften be seen in serried masses. As soon as night falls they rise to thesurface and give chase to flying-fish and other surface-swimming oceanfish. In shape they are very similar to a salmon, but do not possessthe same deepness of body and general fulness. Their heads consist ofa series of long plates, and their jaws are armed with rows of serratedbone plates. In colour they are a very beautiful iridescent silver alongthe sides and belly, the back and head being a deep, glossy blue. Whenfull grown their length is slightly over four feet, and weight abouttwenty-five pounds. They are as voracious as the pike, swim withextraordinary swiftness at night-time, and will take the hook eagerlyif baited with a whole flying-fish; their flesh is somewhat delicate inflavour and greatly relished by the natives of Micronesia, who regard itas second only to the universally esteemed flying-fish.

  Two or three days before we made the little group of islands, immensedroves of these _tautau_, as the natives of Eastern Polynesia call them,had been hovering about the reefs, and the people were now to endeavourto tempt them into the trap set for them with such care and labour.

  For about a quarter of an hour not a sound broke the silence of thenight. We were in the midst of some three or four hundred natives, whoonly spoke in whispers for fear of alarming the fish. All round thedeeper portion of the chain of nets was a line of canoes, filled withwomen and girls, who held torches in their hands ready to light up themoment the signal was given. Further in towards the shore, where thewater was not too deep to prevent them keeping on their feet, werenumbers of girls and children standing close together, their bodiesalmost touching, and the floats of the nets touching their bosoms;we white men, with the trader, were standing together, with ourtorch-bearers, upon a flat-topped coral boulder.

  Suddenly a whisper ran along the line of watchers--the canoes werecoming. One by one we made them out, the paddlers dipping their paddlesinto the water in silence, as one of their number in each canoe threwout double handfuls of the crushed crab 'burley.' As they approachednearer to us we became aware of a peculiar lapping, splashing noise, asof hundreds of bare feet walking in water a few inches deep.

  'That's the fish,' whispered the trader. 'Look at them--they are comingin in thousands.'

  And then even our unaccustomed eyes could see that the water behind thecanoes was churned into a white froth by the jumping, splashing fish,which x were following the canoes in a solid wall, snapping up the foodso industriously thrown to them. In a few minutes the canoes had enteredthe open end of the trap, and were paddling noiselessly past the innerlines of nets, not a hundred yards from where we stood. At last, whenthe whole inclosure was literally swarming with fish, the outside canoesquickly closed up the gap by stretching the nets across it, and almostat the same moment there was a tremendous splashing and churning up ofthe water around each knoll and boulder of coral. The _tautau_ had leftoff eating the bait thrown them from the canoes, and were attacking themyriads of small fish that clustered round the boulders. And then, ata signal given by one of the outside canoes, the torches spranginto flame, and by the bright light that flooded the scene the mostextraordinary sight was revealed, for from one side to the other thegreat inclosure was full of magnificent _tautau_ about three feet six inlength. They were all swimming on the surface; and as soon as theblaze of the torches illumined the water they at once became almoststationary; or, after the manner of flying-fish, when subjected to astrong light, swam slowly about in a dazed, hesitating manner.

  The work of capturing some very large turtle, that had come into thefatal circle of nets, was now at once begun, lest in their endeavours toescape the nets might be broken and the fish escape. There were six ofthese creatures speared before they could do any damage; as well as twoor three small sharks, which, having gorged themselves to repletion,were killed as they lazily swam along the circle of nets.

  So well had the natives judged of the time it would take to carry outtheir scheme, that within half an hour of the inclosure of the fish thetide began to fall, and the imprisoned swarms showed signs of anxiety toescape, but as fresh supplies of torches were brought from the village,and kept continuously alight, their alarm seemed to disappear. Had aheavy shower of rain fallen--so the trader told us--and extinguished thetorches, the fish would have rushed at the nets and carried them away bysheer weight.

  Meanwhile, as the tide continued to fall, many of the women and girlsamused themselves by stunning all the fish that came within reachof them, and loading the canoes with them. Once some fifty or sixty_tautau_ came right up to the boulder on which we stood, and wereso dazed by the glare of light that poured down on them, that somepermitted themselves to be captured by the hand.

  Lower and lower fell the water, and as the shore end of the trap becamedry, the fish were gradually forced to come closer and closer togetheras their swimming space diminished. By-and-by, as the receding tideleft the chain of coral rocks dry on their summits, women waded out withfirewood, and built fires on them; not that there was now any dangerof the fish breaking away, but to give a still better light. At last,however, the word was passed along the line that the sea end of thedrive had been strengthened by additional nets in case a sudden rushmight occur; but, by this time, so rapidly was the water running out,that even at the deepest end there was not perhaps two feet availablefor the now terrified and struggling swarms of _tautau_. In anothertwenty minutes there was heard a most extraordinary sound, caused bythousands upon thousands of fish thrashing and jumping about on thesand; while at the sea end of the drive, where the great body of allwere massed together, the scene was simply indescribable. Whatlittle water was left was beaten into froth and foam by their violentstruggles, and the light from the torches showed that a space ofabout five acres in extent was covered with a shining, silvery massof splendid _tautau_, intermixed with a small number of gorgeous-huedrock-fish, cray-fish, and some hawk-bill turtle.

  The work of picking up the prizes went on for at least two hours. Threeor four of the _tautau_ placed in a basket was as much as a woman couldcarry, and, although everyone present worked hard, some thousands offish were not taken. Many of these, however, were not dead, and, withthe incoming tide, swam off again. All the young turtle, however,were secured, the natives taking them up carefully and putting them inwalled-in pools where they would remain prisoners.

  We tried to ascertain the number of fish taken, but gave it up. Everyhouse and canoe-shed appeared to have the floor covered with them, andfor the next day or two there were great fish dinners on the island.

  Some thousands of _tautau_ were split open and dried upon platforms inthe same manner as the natives of Eastern Polynesia dry flying-fish, andthe Fraser River Indians their salmon.

  We succeeded in buying a fine lot of turtle shell from the trader, aswell as some from the king and his mother. The old lady treated us rightroyally, and, a few hours before we
sailed, a canoe-load of fruit anddrinking coco-nuts were sent off to the ship, with her compliments.