CHAPTER NINETEEN
REFLECTIONS AFTER MARNOO'S DEPARTURE-BATTLE OF THE POP-GUNS--STRANGECONCEIT OF MARHEYO--PROCESS OF MAKING TAPPA
THE knowledge I had now obtained as to the intention of the savagesdeeply affected me.
Marnoo, I perceived, was a man who, by reason of his superioracquirements, and the knowledge he possessed of the events which weretaking place in the different bays of the island, was held in no littleestimation by the inhabitants of the valley. He had been received withthe most cordial welcome and respect. The natives had hung upon theaccents of his voice, and, had manifested the highest gratification atbeing individually noticed by him. And yet despite all this, a fewwords urged in my behalf, with the intent of obtaining my release fromcaptivity, had sufficed not only to banish all harmony and good-will;but, if I could believe what he told me, had gone on to endanger his ownpersonal safety.
How strongly rooted, then, must be the determination of the Typeeswith regard to me, and how suddenly could they display the strangestpassions! The mere suggestion of my departure had estranged from me,for the time at least, Mehevi, who was the most influential of allthe chiefs, and who had previously exhibited so many instances of hisfriendly sentiments. The rest of the natives had likewise evinced theirstrong repugnance to my wishes, and even Kory-Kory himself seemed toshare in the general disapprobation bestowed upon me.
In vain I racked my invention to find out some motive for them, but Icould discover none.
But however this might be, the scene which had just occurred admonishedme of the danger of trifling with the wayward and passionate spiritsagainst whom it was vain to struggle, and might even be fatal to do go.My only hope was to induce the natives to believe that I was reconciledto my detention in the valley, and by assuming a tranquil and cheerfuldemeanour, to allay the suspicions which I had so unfortunately aroused.Their confidence revived, they might in a short time remit in somedegree their watchfulness over my movements, and I should then be thebetter enabled to avail myself of any opportunity which presented itselffor escape. I determined, therefore, to make the best of a badbargain, and to bear up manfully against whatever might betide. In thisendeavour, I succeeded beyond my own expectations. At the periodof Marnoo's visit, I had been in the valley, as nearly as I couldconjecture, some two months. Although not completely recovered from mystrange illness, which still lingered about me, I was free from painand able to take exercise. In short, I had every reason to anticipate aperfect recovery. Freed from apprehension on this point, and resolvedto regard the future without flinching, I flung myself anew into all thesocial pleasures of the valley, and sought to bury all regrets, andall remembrances of my previous existence in the wild enjoyments itafforded.
In my various wanderings through the vale, and as I became betteracquainted with the character of its inhabitants, I was more and morestruck with the light-hearted joyousness that everywhere prevailed. Theminds of these simple savages, unoccupied by matters of graver moment,were capable of deriving the utmost delight from circumstances whichwould have passed unnoticed in more intelligent communities. All theirenjoyment, indeed, seemed to be made up of the little trifling incidentsof the passing hour; but these diminutive items swelled altogether to anamount of happiness seldom experienced by more enlightened individuals,whose pleasures are drawn from more elevated but rarer sources.
What community, for instance, of refined and intellectual mortalswould derive the least satisfaction from shooting pop-guns? Themere supposition of such a thing being possible would excite theirindignation, and yet the whole population of Typee did little else forten days but occupy themselves with that childish amusement, fairlyscreaming, too, with the delight it afforded them.
One day I was frolicking with a little spirited urchin, some six yearsold, who chased me with a piece of bamboo about three feet long, withwhich he occasionally belaboured me. Seizing the stick from him, theidea happened to suggest itself, that I might make for the youngster,out of the slender tube, one of those nursery muskets with which I hadsometimes seen children playing.
Accordingly, with my knife I made two parallel slits in the cane severalinches in length, and cutting loose at one end the elastic strip betweenthem, bent it back and slipped the point into a little notch made forthe purse. Any small substance placed against this would be projectedwith considerable force through the tube, by merely springing the bentstrip out of the notch.
Had I possessed the remotest idea of the sensation this piece ofordnance was destined to produce, I should certainly have taken out apatent for the invention. The boy scampered away with it, half deliriouswith ecstasy, and in twenty minutes afterwards I might have been seensurrounded by a noisy crowd--venerable old graybeards--responsiblefathers of families--valiant warriors--matrons--young men--girls andchildren, all holding in their hands bits of bamboo, and each clamouringto be served first.
For three or four hours I was engaged in manufacturing pop-guns, butat last made over my good-will and interest in the concern to a lad ofremarkably quick parts, whom I soon initiated into the art and mystery.
Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop, now resounded all over the valley. Duels,skirmishes, pitched battles, and general engagements were to be seenon every side. Here, as you walked along a path which led through athicket, you fell into a cunningly laid ambush, and became a target fora body of musketeers whose tattooed limbs you could just see peepinginto view through the foliage. There you were assailed by the intrepidgarrison of a house, who levelled their bamboo rifles at you frombetween the upright canes which composed its sides. Farther on you werefired upon by a detachment of sharpshooters, mounted upon the top of api-pi.
Pop, Pop, Pop, Pop! green guavas, seeds, and berries were flying aboutin every direction, and during this dangerous state of affairs I washalf afraid that, like the man and his brazen bull, I should falla victim to my own ingenuity. Like everything else, however, theexcitement gradually wore away, though ever after occasionally pop-gunsmight be heard at all hours of the day.
It was towards the close of the pop-gun war, that I was infinitelydiverted with a strange freak of Marheyo's.
I had worn, when I quitted the ship, a pair of thick pumps, which, fromthe rough usage they had received in scaling precipices and sliding downgorges, were so dilapidated as to be altogether unfit for use--so, atleast, would have thought the generality of people, and so they mostcertainly were, when considered in the light of shoes. But thingsunservicable in one way, may with advantage be applied in another,that is, if one have genius enough for the purpose. This genius Marheyopossessed in a superlative degree, as he abundantly evinced by the useto which he put those sorely bruised and battered old shoes.
Every article, however trivial, which belonged to me, the nativesappeared to regard as sacred; and I observed that for several daysafter becoming an inmate of the house, my pumps were suffered to remain,untouched, where I had first happened to throw them. I remembered,however, that after awhile I had missed them from their accustomedplace; but the matter gave me no concern, supposing that Tinor--like anyother tidy housewife, having come across them in some of her domesticoccupations--had pitched the useless things out of the house. But I wassoon undeceived.
One day I observed old Marheyo bustling about me with unusual activity,and to such a degree as almost to supersede Kory-Kory in the functionsof his office. One moment he volunteered to trot off with me on his backto the stream; and when I refused, noways daunted by the repulse, hecontinued to frisk about me like a superannuated house-dog. I could notfor the life of me conjecture what possessed the old gentleman, untilall at once, availing himself of the temporary absence of the household,he went through a variety of of uncouth gestures, pointing eagerly downto my feet, then up to a little bundle, which swung from the ridge poleoverhead. At last I caught a faint idea of his meaning, and motioned himto lower the package. He executed the order in the twinkling of an eye,and unrolling a piece of tappa, displayed to my astonished gaze theidentical pumps which I thought had been destro
yed long before.
I immediately comprehended his desire, and very generously gave him theshoes, which had become quite mouldy, wondering for what earthly purposehe could want them. The same afternoon I descried the venerable warriorapproaching the house, with a slow, stately gait, ear-rings in ears, andspear in hand, with this highly ornamental pair of shoes suspended fromhis neck by a strip of bark, and swinging backwards and forwards onhis capacious chest. In the gala costume of the tasteful Marheyo, thesecalf-skin pendants ever after formed the most striking feature.
But to turn to something a little more important. Although the wholeexistence of the inhabitants of the valley seemed to pass away exemptfrom toil, yet there were some light employments which, although amusingrather than laborious as occupations, contributed to their comfort andluxury. Among these the most important was the manufacture of the nativecloth,--'tappa',--so well known, under various modifications, throughoutthe whole Polynesian Archipelago. As is generally understood, thisuseful and sometimes elegant article is fabricated from the barkof different trees. But, as I believe that no description of itsmanufacture has ever been given, I shall state what I know regarding it.
In the manufacture of the beautiful white tappa generally worn on theMarquesan Islands, the preliminary operation consists in gathering acertain quantity of the young branches of the cloth-tree. The exteriorgreen bark being pulled off as worthless, there remains a slenderfibrous substance, which is carefully stripped from the stick, to whichit closely adheres. When a sufficient quantity of it has been collected,the various strips are enveloped in a covering of large leaves, whichthe natives use precisely as we do wrapping-paper, and which are securedby a few turns of a line passed round them. The package is then laid inthe bed of some running stream, with a heavy stone placed over it, toprevent its being swept away. After it has remained for two or threedays in this state, it is drawn out, and exposed, for a short time, tothe action of the air, every distinct piece being attentively inspected,with a view of ascertaining whether it has yet been sufficientlyaffected by the operation. This is repeated again and again, until thedesired result is obtained.
When the substance is in a proper state for the next process, itbetrays evidences of incipient decomposition; the fibres are relaxed andsoftened, and rendered perfectly malleable. The different strips arenow extended, one by one, in successive layers, upon some smoothsurface--generally the prostrate trunk of a cocoanut tree--and the heapthus formed is subjected, at every new increase, to a moderate beating,with a sort of wooden mallet, leisurely applied. The mallet is made of ahard heavy wood resembling ebony, is about twelve inches in length, andperhaps two in breadth, with a rounded handle at one end, and in shapeis the exact counterpart of one of our four-sided razor-strops. The flatsurfaces of the implement are marked with shallow parallel indentations,varying in depth on the different sides, so as to be adapted to theseveral stages of the operation. These marks produce the corduroy sortof stripes discernible in the tappa in its finished state. After beingbeaten in the manner I have described, the material soon becomes blendedin one mass, which, moistened occasionally with water, is at intervalshammered out, by a kind of gold-beating process, to any degree ofthinness required. In this way the cloth is easily made to vary instrength and thickness, so as to suit the numerous purposes to which itis applied.
When the operation last described has been concluded, the new-made tappais spread out on the grass to bleach and dry, and soon becomes of adazzling whiteness. Sometimes, in the first stages of the manufacture,the substance is impregnated with a vegetable juice, which gives ita permanent colour. A rich brown and a bright yellow are occasionallyseen, but the simple taste of the Typee people inclines them to preferthe natural tint.
The notable wife of Kamehameha, the renowned conqueror and king of theSandwich Islands, used to pride herself in the skill she displayed indyeing her tappa with contrasting colours disposed in regular figures;and, in the midst of the innovations of the times, was regarded, towardsthe decline of her life, as a lady of the old school, clinging as shedid to the national cloth, in preference to the frippery of theEuropean calicoes. But the art of printing the tappa is unknown upon theMarquesan Islands. In passing along the valley, I was often attracted bythe noise of the mallet, which, when employed in the manufacture ofthe cloth produces at every stroke of its hard, heavy wood, a clear,ringing, and musical sound, capable of being heard at a great distance.When several of these implements happen to be in operation at the sametime, near one another, the effect upon the ear of a person, at a littledistance, is really charming.
Typee: A Romance of the South Seas Page 22