Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

by Herman Melville

  THE CALABOOZA BERETANEE

  ABOUT a mile from the village we came to a halt.

  It was a beautiful spot. A mountain stream here flowed at the foot ofa verdant slope; on one hand, it murmured along until the waters,spreading themselves upon a beach of small, sparkling shells,trickled into the sea; on the other was a long defile, where the eyepursued a gleaming, sinuous thread, lost in shade and verdure.

  The ground next the road was walled in by a low, rude parapet ofstones; and, upon the summit of the slope beyond, was a large, nativehouse, the thatch dazzling white, and in shape an oval.

  "Calabooza! Calabooza Beretanee!" (the English Jail), cried ourconductor, pointing to the building.

  For a few months past, having been used by the consul as a house ofconfinement for his refractory sailors, it was thus styled todistinguish it from similar places in and about Papeetee.

  Though extremely romantic in appearance, on a near approach it provedhut ill adapted to domestic comfort. In short, it was a mere shell,recently built, and still unfinished. It was open all round, andtufts of grass were growing here and there under the very roof. Theonly piece of furniture was the "stocks," a clumsy machine forkeeping people in one place, which, I believe, is pretty much out ofdate in most countries. It is still in use, however, among theSpaniards in South America; from whom, it seems, the Tahitians haveborrowed the contrivance, as well as the name by which all places ofconfinement are known among them.

  The stocks were nothing more than two stout timbers, about twenty feetin length, and precisely alike. One was placed edgeways on theground, and the other, resting on top, left, at regular intervalsalong the seam, several round holes, the object of which was evidentat a glance.

  By this time, our guide had informed us that he went by the name of"Capin Bob" (Captain Bob); and a hearty old Bob he proved. It wasjust the name for him. From the first, so pleased were we with theold man that we cheerfully acquiesced in his authority.

  Entering the building, he set us about fetching heaps of dry leaves tospread behind the stocks for a couch. A trunk of a small cocoa-nuttree was then placed for a bolster--rather a hard one, but thenatives are used to it. For a pillow, they use a little billet ofwood, scooped out, and standing on four short legs--a sort ofhead-stool.

  These arrangements completed, Captain Bob proceeded to "hanna-par," orsecure us, for the night. The upper timber of the machine beinglifted at one end, and our ankles placed in the semicircular spacesof the lower one, the other beam was then, dropped; both beingfinally secured together by an old iron hoop at either extremity.This initiation was performed to the boisterous mirth of the natives,and diverted ourselves not a little.

  Captain Bob now bustled about, like an old woman seeing the childrento bed. A basket of baked "taro," or Indian turnip, was brought in,and we were given a piece all round. Then a great counterpane ofcoarse, brown "tappa," was stretched over the whole party; and, aftersundry injunctions to "moee-moee," and be "maitai"--in other words,to go to sleep, and be good boys--we were left to ourselves, fairlyput to bed and tucked in.

  Much talk was now had concerning our prospects in life; but the doctorand I, who lay side by side, thinking the occasion better adapted tomeditation, kept pretty silent; and, before long, the rest ceasedconversing, and, wearied with loss of rest on board the frigate, weresoon sound asleep.

  After sliding from one reverie into another, I started, and gave thedoctor a pinch. He was dreaming, however; and, resolved to follow hisexample, I troubled him no more.

  How the rest managed, I know not; but for my own part, I found it veryhard to get to sleep. The consciousness of having one's foot pinned;and the impossibility of getting it anywhere else than just where itwas, was most distressing.

  But this was not all: there was no way of lying but straight on yourback; unless, to be sure, one's limb went round and round in theankle, like a swivel. Upon getting into a sort of doze, it was nowonder this uneasy posture gave me the nightmare. Under the delusionthat I was about some gymnastics or other, I gave my unfortunatemember such a twitch that I started up with the idea that someone wasdragging the stocks away.

  Captain Bob and his friends lived in a little hamlet hard by; and whenmorning showed in the East, the old gentleman came forth from thatdirection likewise, emerging from a grove, and saluting us loudly ashe approached.

  Finding everybody awake, he set us at liberty; and, leading us down tothe stream, ordered every man to strip and bathe.

  "All han's, my boy, hanna-hanna, wash!" he cried. Bob was a linguist,and had been to sea in his day, as he many a time afterwards told us.

  At this moment, we were all alone with him; and it would have been theeasiest thing in the world to have given him the slip; but he seemedto have no idea of such a thing; treating us so frankly andcordially, indeed, that even had we thought of running, we shouldhave been ashamed of attempting it. He very well knew, nevertheless(as we ourselves were not slow in finding out), that, for variousreasons, any attempt of the kind, without some previously arrangedplan for leaving the island, would be certain to fail.

  As Bob was a rare one every way, I must give some account of him.There was a good deal of "personal appearance" about him; in short,he was a corpulent giant, over six feet in height, and literally asbig round as a hogshead. The enormous bulk of some of the Tahitianshas been frequently spoken of by voyagers.

  Beside being the English consul's jailer, as it were, he carried on alittle Tahitian farming; that is to say, he owned several groves ofthe bread-fruit and palm, and never hindered their growing. Close bywas a "taro" patch of his which he occasionally visited.

  Bob seldom disposed of the produce of his lands; it was all needed fordomestic consumption. Indeed, for gormandizing, I would have matchedhim against any three common-council men at a civic feast.

  A friend of Bob's told me that, owing to his voraciousness, his visitsto other parts of the island were much dreaded; for, according toTahitian customs, hospitality without charge is enjoined uponeveryone; and though it is reciprocal in most cases, in Bob's it wasalmost out of the question. The damage done to a native larder in oneof his morning calls was more than could be made good by hisentertainer's spending the holidays with them.

  The old man, as I have hinted, had, once upon a time, been a cruise ortwo in a whaling-vessel; and, therefore, he prided himself upon hisEnglish. Having acquired what he knew of it in the forecastle, hetalked little else than sailor phrases, which sounded whimsicallyenough.

  I asked him one day how old he was. "Olee?" he exclaimed, looking veryprofound in consequence of thoroughly understanding so subtile aquestion--"Oh! very olee--'tousand 'ear--more--big man when CapinTootee (Captain Cook) heavey in sight." (In sea parlance, came intoview.)

  This was a thing impossible; but adapting my discourse to the man, Irejoined--"Ah! you see Capin Tootee--well, how you like him?"

  "Oh! he maitai: (good) friend of me, and know my wife."

  On my assuring him strongly that he could not have been born at thetime, he explained himself by saying that he was speaking of hisfather, all the while. This, indeed, might very well have been.

  It is a curious fact that all these people, young and old, will tellyou that they have enjoyed the honour of a personal acquaintance withthe great navigator; and if you listen to them, they will go on andtell anecdotes without end. This springs from nothing but their greatdesire to please; well knowing that a more agreeable topic for awhite man could not be selected. As for the anachronism of the thing,they seem to have no idea of it: days and years are all the same tothem.

  After our sunrise bath, Bob once more placed us in the stocks, almostmoved to tears at subjecting us to so great a hardship; but he couldnot treat us otherwise, he said, on pain of the consul's displeasure.How long we were to be confined, he did not know; nor what was to bedone with us in the end.

  As noon advanced, and no signs of a meal were visible, someoneinquired whether we were to be boarded, as well as lodged, at theHotel d
e Calabooza?

  "Vast heavey" (avast heaving, or wait a bit)--said Bob--"kow-kow"(food) "come ship by by."

  And, sure enough, along comes Rope Tarn with a wooden bucket of theJulia's villainous biscuit. With a grin, he said it was a presentfrom Wilson: it was all we were to get that day. A great cry was nowraised; and well was it for the land-lubber that lie had a pair oflegs, and the men could not use theirs. One and all, we resolved notto touch the bread, come what come might; and so we told the natives.

  Being extravagantly fond of ship-biscuit--the harder the better--theywere quite overjoyed; and offered to give us, every day, a smallquantity of baked bread-fruit and Indian turnip in exchange for thebread. This we agreed to; and every morning afterward, when thebucket came, its contents were at once handed over to Bob and hisfriends, who never ceased munching until nightfall.

  Our exceedingly frugal meal of bread-fruit over, Captain Bob waddledup to us with a couple of long poles hooked at one end, and severallarge baskets of woven cocoa-nut branches.

  Not far off was an extensive grove of orange-trees in full bearing;and myself and another were selected to go with him, and gather asupply for the party. When we went in among the trees, thesumptuousness of the orchard was unlike anything I had ever seen;while the fragrance shaken from the gently waving boughs regaled oursenses most delightfully.

  In many places the trees formed a dense shade, spreading overhead adark, rustling vault, groined with boughs, and studded here and therewith the ripened spheres, like gilded balls. In several places, theoverladen branches were borne to the earth, hiding the trunk in atent of foliage. Once fairly in the grove, we could see nothing else;it was oranges all round.

  To preserve the fruit from bruising, Bob, hooking the twigs with hispole, let them fall into his basket. But this would not do for us.Seizing hold of a bough, we brought such a shower to the ground thatour old friend was fain to run from under. Heedless of remonstrance,we then reclined in the shade, and feasted to our heart's content.Heaping up the baskets afterwards, we returned to our comrades, bywhom our arrival was hailed with loud plaudits; and in a marvellouslyshort time, nothing was left of the oranges we brought but the rinds.

  While inmates of the Calabooza, we had as much of the fruit as wewanted; and to this cause, and others that might be mentioned, may beascribed the speedy restoration of our sick to comparative health.

  The orange of Tahiti is delicious--small and sweet, with a thin, dryrind. Though now abounding, it was unknown before Cook's time, towhom the natives are indebted for so great a blessing. He likewiseintroduced several other kinds of fruit; among these were the fig,pineapple, and lemon, now seldom met with. The lime still grows, andsome of the poorer natives express the juice to sell to the shipping.It is highly valued as an anti-scorbutic. Nor was the variety offoreign fruits and vegetables which were introduced the only benefitconferred by the first visitors to the Society group. Cattle andsheep were left at various places. More of them anon.

  Thus, after all that of late years has been done for these islanders,Cook and Vancouver may, in one sense at least, be considered theirgreatest benefactors.

  CHAPTER XXXII.

  PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRENCH AT TAHITI

  AS I happened to arrive at the island at a very interesting period inits political affairs, it may be well to give some little accounthere of the proceedings of the French, by way of episode to thenarrative. My information was obtained at the time from the generalreports then rife among the natives, as well as from what I learnedupon a subsequent visit, and reliable accounts which I have seensince reaching home.

  It seems that for some time back the French had been making repeatedineffectual attempts to plant a Roman Catholic mission here. But,invariably treated with contumely, they sometimes met with openviolence; and, in every case, those directly concerned in theenterprise were ultimately forced to depart. In one instance, twopriests, Laval and Caset, after enduring a series of persecutions,were set upon by the natives, maltreated, and finally carried aboarda small trading schooner, which eventually put them ashore at Wallis'island--a savage place--some two thousand miles to the westward.

  Now, that the resident English missionaries authorized the banishmentof these priests is a fact undenied by themselves. I was alsorepeatedly informed that by their inflammatory harangues theyinstigated the riots which preceded the sailing of the schooner. Atall events, it is certain that their unbounded influence with thenatives would easily have enabled them to prevent everything thattook place on this occasion, had they felt so inclined.

  Melancholy as such an example of intolerance on the part of Protestantmissionaries must appear, it is not the only one, and by no means themost flagrant, which might be presented. But I forbear to mention anyothers; since they have been more than hinted at by recent voyagers,and their repetition here would perhaps be attended with no goodeffect. Besides, the conduct of the Sandwich Island missionaries inparticular has latterly much amended in this respect.

  The treatment of the two priests formed the principal ground (and theonly justifiable one) upon which Du Petit Thouars demandedsatisfaction; and which subsequently led to his seizure of theisland. In addition to other things, he also charged that the flag ofMerenhout, the consul, had been repeatedly insulted, and the propertyof a certain French resident violently appropriated by thegovernment. In the latter instance, the natives were perfectly in theright. At that time, the law against the traffic in ardent spirits(every now and then suspended and revived) happened to be in force;and finding a large quantity on the premises of Victor, a low,knavish adventurer from Marseilles, the Tahitians pronounced itforfeit.

  For these, and similar alleged outrages, a large pecuniary restitutionwas demanded (10,000 dollars), which there being no exchequer tosupply, the island was forthwith seized, under cover of a mocktreaty, dictated to the chiefs on the gun-deck of Du Petit Thouars'frigate.

  But, notwithstanding this formality, there seems now little doubt thatthe downfall of the Pomarees was decided upon at the Tuilleries.

  After establishing the Protectorate, so called, the rear-admiralsailed; leaving M. Bruat governor, assisted by Reine and Carpegne,civilians, named members of the Council of Government, and Merenhout,the consul, now made Commissioner Royal. No soldiers, however, werelanded until several months afterward. As men, Reine and Carpegnewere not disliked by the natives; but Bruat and Merenhout theybitterly detested. In several interviews with the poor queen, theunfeeling governor sought to terrify her into compliance with hisdemands; clapping his hand upon his sword, shaking his fist in herface, and swearing violently. "Oh, king of a great nation," saidPomaree, in her letter to Louis Philippe, "fetch away this man; I andmy people cannot endure his evil doings. He is a shameless man."

  Although the excitement among the natives did not wholly subside uponthe rear-admiral's departure, no overt act of violence immediatelyfollowed. The queen had fled to Imeeo; and the dissensions among thechiefs, together with the ill-advised conduct of the missionaries,prevented a union upon some common plan of resistance. But the greatbody of the people, as well as their queen, confidently relied uponthe speedy interposition of England--a nation bound to them by manyties, and which, more than once, had solemnly guaranteed theirindependence.

  As for the missionaries, they openly defied the French governor,childishly predicting fleets and armies from Britain. But what is thewelfare of a spot like Tahiti to the mighty interests of France andEngland! There was a remonstrance on one side, and a reply on theother; and there the matter rested. For once in their brawling lives,St. George and St. Denis were hand and glove; and they were notgoing to cross sabres about Tahiti.

  During my stay upon the island, so far as I could see, there waslittle to denote that any change had taken place in the government.

  Such laws as they had were administered the same as ever; themissionaries went about unmolested, and comparative tranquillityeverywhere prevailed. Nevertheless, I sometimes heard the nativesinveighing against the French (no f
avourites, by the bye, throughoutPolynesia), and bitterly regretting that the queen had not, at theoutset, made a stand.

  In the house of the chief Adeea, frequent discussions took placeconcerning the ability of the island to cope with the French: thenumber of fighting men and muskets among the natives were talked of,as well as the propriety of fortifying several heights overlookingPapeetee. Imputing these symptoms to the mere resentment of a recentoutrage, and not to any determined spirit of resistance, I littleanticipated the gallant, though useless warfare, so soon to follow mydeparture.

  At a period subsequent to my first visit, the island, which before wasdivided into nineteen districts, with a native chief over each, incapacity of governor and judge, was, by Bruat, divided into four.Over these he set as many recreant chiefs, Kitoti, Tati, Utamai, andParaita; to whom he paid 1000 dollars each, to secure theirassistance in carrying out his evil designs.

  The first blood shed, in any regular conflict, was at Mahanar, uponthe peninsula of Taraiboo. The fight originated in the seizure of anumber of women from the shore by men belonging to one of the Frenchvessels of war. In this affair, the islanders fought desperately,killing about fifty of the enemy, and losing ninety of their ownnumber. The French sailors and marines, who, at the time, werereported to be infuriated with liquor, gave no quarter; and thesurvivors only saved themselves by fleeing to the mountains.Subsequently, the battles of Hararparpi and Fararar were fought, inwhich the invaders met with indifferent success.

  Shortly after the engagement at Hararparpi, three Frenchmen werewaylaid in a pass of the valleys, and murdered by the incensednatives. One was Lefevre, a notorious scoundrel, and a spy, whomBruat had sent to conduct a certain Major Fergus (said to be a Pole)to the hiding-place of four chiefs, whom the governor wished to seizeand execute. This circumstance violently inflamed the hostility ofboth parties.