Poe, Edgar Allen - The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe

by Volume 01-05 (lit)

  unlimited satisfaction, and he immediately ordered dinner. This was

  handed into the tent over the heads of the attendants, and consisted

  of the palpitating entrails of a specials of unknown animal, probably

  one of the slim-legged hogs which we had observed in our approach to

  the village. Seeing us at a loss how to proceed, he began, by way of

  setting us an example, to devour yard after yard of the enticing

  food, until we could positively stand it no longer, and evinced such

  manifest symptoms of rebellion of stomach as inspired his majesty

  with a degree of astonishment only inferior to that brought about by

  the looking-glasses. We declined, however, partaking of the

  delicacies before us, and endeavoured to make him understand that we

  had no appetite whatever, having just finished a hearty dejeuner.

  When the monarch had made an end of his meal, we commenced a

  series of cross-questioning in every ingenious manner we could

  devise, with a view of discovering what were the chief productions of

  the country, and whether any of them might be turned to profit. At

  length he seemed to have some idea of our meaning, and offered to

  accompany us to a part of coast where he assured us the biche de mer

  (pointing to a specimen of that animal) was to be found in great

  abundance. We were glad of this early opportunity of escaping from

  the oppression of the crowd, and signified our eagerness to proceed.

  We now left the tent, and, accompanied by the whole population of the

  village, followed the chief to the southeastern extremity of the

  island, nor far from the bay where our vessel lay at anchor. We

  waited here for about an hour, until the four canoes were brought

  around by some of the savages to our station. the whole of our party

  then getting into one of them, we were paddled along the edge of the

  reef before mentioned, and of another still farther out, where we saw

  a far greater quantity of biche de mer than the oldest seamen among

  us had ever seen in those groups of the lower latitudes most

  celebrated for this article of commerce. We stayed near these reefs

  only long enough to satisfy ourselves that we could easily load a

  dozen vessels with the animal if necessary, when we were taken

  alongside the schooner, and parted with Too-wit, after obtaining from

  him a promise that he would bring us, in the course of twenty-four

  hours, as many of the canvass-back ducks and Gallipago tortoises as

  his canoes would hold. In the whole of this adventure we saw nothing

  in the demeanour of the natives calculated to create suspicion, with

  the single exception of the systematic manner in which their party

  was strengthened during our route from the schooner to the village.

  ~~~ End of Text of Chapter 19 ~~~

  CHAPTER 20

  THE chief was as good as his word, and we were soon plentifully

  sup. plied with fresh provisions. We found the tortoises as fine as

  we had ever seen, and the ducks surpassed our best species of wild

  fowl, being exceedingly tender, juicy, and well-flavoured. Besides

  these, the savages brought us, upon our making them comprehend our

  wishes, a vast quantity of brown celery and scurvy grass, with a

  canoe-load of fresh fish and some dried. The celery was a treat

  indeed, and the scurvy grass proved of incalculable benefit in

  restoring those of our men who had shown symptoms of disease. In a

  very short time we had not a single person on the sick-list. We had

  also plenty of other kinds of fresh provisions, among which may be

  mentioned a species of shellfish resembling the mussel in shape, but

  with the taste of an oyster. Shrimps, too, and prawns were abundant,

  and albatross and other birds' eggs with dark shells. We took in,

  too, a plentiful stock of the flesh of the hog which I have mentioned

  before. Most of the men found it a palatable food, but I thought it

  fishy and otherwise disagreeable. In return for these good things we

  presented the natives with blue beads, brass trinkets, nails, knives,

  and pieces of red cloth, they being fully delighted in the exchange.

  We established a regular market on shore, just under the guns of the

  schooner, where our barterings were carried on with every appearance

  of good faith, and a degree of order which their conduct at the

  village of _Klock-klock_ had not led us to expect from the savages.

  Matters went on thus very amicably for several days, during which

  parties of the natives were frequently on board the schooner, and

  parties of our men frequently on shore, making long excursions into

  the interior, and receiving no molestation whatever. Finding the ease

  with which the vessel might be loaded with _biche de mer_, owing to

  the friendly disposition of the islanders, and the readiness with

  which they would render us assistance in collecting it, Captain Guy

  resolved to enter into negotiations with Too-wit for the erection of

  suitable houses in which to cure the article, and for the services of

  himself and tribe in gathering as much as possible, while he himself

  took advantage of the fine weather to prosecute his voyage to the

  southward. Upon mentioning this project to the chief he seemed very

  willing to enter into an agreement. A bargain was accordingly struck,

  perfectly satisfactory to both parties, by which it was arranged

  that, after making the necessary preparations, such as laying off the

  proper grounds, erecting a portion of the buildings, and doing some

  other work in which the whole of our crew would be required, the

  schooner should proceed on her route, leaving three of her men on the

  island to superintend the fulfilment of the project, and instruct the

  natives in drying the _biche de mer_. In regard to terms, these were

  made to depend upon the exertions of the savages in our absence. They

  were to receive a stipulated quantity of blue beads, knives, red

  cloth, and so forth, for every certain number of piculs of the _biche

  de mer_ which should be ready on our return.

  A description of the nature of this important article of

  commerce, and the method of preparing it, may prove of some interest

  to my readers, and I can find no more suitable place than this for

  introducing an account of it. The following comprehensive notice of

  the substance is taken from a modern history of a voyage to the South

  Seas.

  "It is that _mollusca_ from the Indian Seas which is known to

  commerce by the French name _bouche de mer_ (a nice morsel from the

  sea). If I am not much mistaken, the celebrated Cuvier calls it

  _gasteropeda pulmonifera_. It is abundantly gathered in the coasts of

  the Pacific islands, and gathered especially for the Chinese market,

  where it commands a great price, perhaps as much as their

  much-talked-of edible birds' nests, which are properly made up of the

  gelatinous matter picked up by a species of swallow from the body of

  these molluscae. They have no shell, no legs, nor any prominent part,

  except an _absorbing_ and an _excretory_, opposite organs; but, by

  their elastic wings, like caterpillars or worms, they creep in

  shallow water
s, in which, when low, they can be seen by a kind of

  swallow, the sharp bill of which, inserted in the soft animal, draws

  a gummy and filamentous substance, which, by drying, can be wrought

  into the solid walls of their nest. Hence the name of _gasteropeda

  pulmonifera_.

  "This mollusca is oblong, and of different sizes, from three to

  eighteen inches in length; and I have seen a few that were not less

  than two feet long. They were nearly round, a little flattish on one

  side, which lies next to the bottom of the sea; and they are from one

  to eight inches thick. They crawl up into shallow water at particular

  seasons of the year, probably for the purpose of gendering, as we

  often find them in pairs. It is when the sun has the most power on

  the water, rendering it tepid, that they approach the shore; and they

  often go up into places so shallow that, on the tide's receding, they

  are left dry, exposed to the beat of the sun. But they do not bring

  forth their young in shallow water, as we never see any of their

  progeny, and full-grown ones are always observed coming in from deep

  water. They feed principally on that class of zoophytes which produce

  the coral.

  "The _biche de mer_ is generally taken in three or four feet of

  water; after which they are brought on shore, and split at one end

  with a knife, the incision being one inch or more, according to the

  size of the mollusca. Through this opening the entrails are forced

  out by pressure, and they are much like those of any other small

  tenant of the deep. The article is then washed, and afterward boiled

  to a certain degree, which must not be too much or too little. They

  are then buried in the ground for four hours, then boiled again for a

  short time, after which they are dried, either by the fire or the

  sun. Those cured by the sun are worth the most; but where one picul

  (133 1/3 lbs.) can be cured that way, I can cure thirty piculs by the

  fire. When once properly cured, they can be kept in a dry place for

  two or three years without any risk; but they should be examined once

  in every few months, say four times a year, to see if any dampness is

  likely to affect them.

  "The Chinese, as before stated, consider _biche de mer_ a very

  great luxury, believing that it wonderfully strengthens and nourishes

  the system, and renews the exhausted system of the immoderate

  voluptuary. The first quality commands a high price in Canton, being

  worth ninety dollars a picul; the second quality, seventy-five

  dollars; the third, fifty dollars; the fourth, thirty dollars; the

  fifth, twenty dollars; the sixth, twelve dollars; the seventh, eight

  dollars; and the eighth, four dollars; small cargoes, however, will

  often bring more in Manilla, Singapore, and Batavia."

  An agreement having been thus entered into, we proceeded

  immediately to land everything necessary for preparing the buildings

  and clearing the ground. A large flat space near the eastern shore of

  the bay was selected, where there was plenty of both wood and water,

  and within a convenient distance of the principal reefs on which the

  _biche de mer_ was to be procured. We now all set to work in good

  earnest, and soon, to the great astonishment of the savages, had

  felled a sufficient number of trees for our purpose, getting them

  quickly in order for the framework of the houses, which in two or

  three days were so far under way that we could safely trust the rest

  of the work to the three men whom we intended to leave behind. These

  were John Carson, Alfred Harris, and ___ Peterson (all natives of

  London, I believe), who volunteered their services in this respect.

  By the last of the month we had everything in readiness for

  departure. We had agreed, however, to pay a formal visit of

  leave-taking to the village, and Too-wit insisted so pertinaciously

  upon our keeping the promise that we did not think it advisable to

  run the risk of offending him by a final refusal. I believe that not

  one of us had at this time the slightest suspicion of the good faith

  of the savages. They had uniformly behaved with the greatest decorum,

  aiding us with alacrity in our work, offering us their commodities,

  frequently without price, and never, in any instance, pilfering a

  single article, although the high value they set upon the goods we

  had with us was evident by the extravagant demonstrations of joy

  always manifested upon our making them a present. The women

  especially were most obliging in every respect, and, upon the whole,

  we should have been the most suspicious of human beings had we

  entertained a single thought of perfidy on the part of a people who

  treated us so well. A very short while sufficed to prove that this

  apparent kindness of disposition was only the result of a deeply laid

  plan for our destruction, and that the islanders for whom we

  entertained such inordinate feelings of esteem, were among the most

  barbarous, subtle, and bloodthirsty wretches that ever contaminated

  the face of the globe.

  It was on the first of February that we went on shore for the

  purpose of visiting the village. Although, as said before, we

  entertained not the slightest suspicion, still no proper precaution

  was neglected. Six men were left in the schooner, with instructions

  to permit none of the savages to approach the vessel during our

  absence, under any pretence whatever, and to remain constantly on

  deck. The boarding-nettings were up, the guns double-shotted with

  grape and canister, and the swivels loaded with canisters of

  musket-balls. She lay, with her anchor apeak, about a mile from the

  shore, and no canoe could approach her in any direction without being

  distinctly seen and exposed to the full fire of our swivels

  immediately.

  The six men being left on board, our shore-party consisted of

  thirty. two persons in all. We were armed to the teeth, having with

  us muskets, pistols, and cutlasses; besides, each had a long kind of

  seaman's knife, somewhat resembling the bowie knife now so much used

  throughout our western and southern country. A hundred of the black

  skin warriors met us at the landing for the purpose of accompanying

  us on our way. We noticed, however, with some surprise, that they

  were now entirely without arms; and, upon questioning Too-wit in

  relation to this circumstance, he merely answered that _Mattee non we

  pa pa si_ -- meaning that there was no need of arms where all were

  brothers. We took this in good part, and proceeded.

  We had passed the spring and rivulet of which I before spoke, and

  were now entering upon a narrow gorge leading through the chain of

  soapstone hills among which the village was situated. This gorge was

  very rocky and uneven, so much so that it was with no little

  difficulty we scrambled through it on our first visit to Klock-klock.

  The whole length of the ravine might have been a mile and a half, or

  probably two miles. It wound in every possible direction through the

  hills (having apparently formed, at some remote period, the bed of a

  torrent), in no
instance proceeding more than twenty yards without an

  abrupt turn. The sides of this dell would have averaged, I am sure,

  seventy or eighty feet in perpendicular altitude throughout the whole

  of their extent, and in some portions they arose to an astonishing

  height, overshadowing the pass so completely that but little of the

  light of day could penetrate. The general width was about forty feet,

  and occasionally it diminished so as not to allow the passage of more

  than five or six persons abreast. In short, there could be no place

  in the world better adapted for the consummation of an ambuscade, and

  it was no more than natural that we should look carefully to our arms

  as we entered upon it. When I now think of our egregious folly, the

  chief subject of astonishment seems to be, that we should have ever

  ventured, under any circumstances, so completely into the power of

  unknown savages as to permit them to march both before and behind us

  in our progress through this ravine. Yet such was the order we

  blindly took up, trusting foolishly to the force of our party, the

  unarmed condition of Too-wit and his men, the certain efficacy of our

  firearms (whose effect was yet a secret to the natives), and, more

  than all, to the long-sustained pretension of friendship kept up by

  these infamous wretches. Five or six of them went on before, as if to

  lead the way, ostentatiously busying themselves in removing the

  larger stones and rubbish from the path. Next came our own party. We

  walked closely together, taking care only to prevent separation.

  Behind followed the main body of the savages, observing unusual order

  and decorum.

  Dirk Peters, a man named Wilson Allen, and myself were on the

  right of our companions, examining, as we went along, the singular

  stratification of the precipice which overhung us. A fissure in the

  soft rock attracted our attention. It was about wide enough for one

  person to enter without squeezing, and extended back into the hill

  some eighteen or twenty feet in a straight course, sloping afterward

  to the left. The height of the opening, is far as we could see into