Omoo: Adventures in the South Seas

by Herman Melville

  For some time past, this extremely suspicious character had beencarrying on the illicit trade in French wines and brandies, smuggledover from the men-of-war lately touching at Tahiti. In a grove nearthe anchorage he had a rustic shanty and arbour, where, in quiettimes, when no ships were in Taloo, a stray native once in a whilegot boozy, and staggered home, catching at the cocoa-nut trees as hewent. The captain himself lounged under a tree during the warmafternoons, pipe in mouth; thinking, perhaps, over old times, andoccasionally feeling his shoulders for his lost epaulets.

  But, sail ho! a ship is descried coming into the bay. Soon she dropsher anchor in its waters; and the next day Captain Crash entertainsthe sailors in his grove. And rare times they have of it:--drinkingand quarrelling together as sociably as you please.

  Upon one of these occasions, the crew of the Leviathan made soprodigious a tumult that the natives, indignant at the insult offeredtheir laws, plucked up a heart, and made a dash at the rioters, onehundred strong. The sailors fought like tigers; but were at lastovercome, and carried before a native tribunal; which, after a mightyclamour, dismissed everybody but Captain Crash, who was asserted to bethe author of the disorders.

  Upon this charge, then, he had been placed in confinement against thecoming on of the assizes; the judge being expected to lounge along inthe course of the afternoon. While waiting his Honour's arrival,numerous additional offences were preferred against the culprit(mostly by the old women); among others was the bit of a slip inwhich he stood implicated along with the young lady. Thus, inPolynesia as elsewhere;--charge a man with one misdemeanour, and allhis peccadilloes are raked up and assorted before him.

  Going to the school-house for the purpose of witnessing the trial, thedin of it assailed our ears a long way off; and upon entering thebuilding, we were almost stunned. About five hundred natives werepresent; each apparently having something to say and determined tosay it. His Honour--a handsome, benevolent-looking old man--satcross-legged on a little platform, seemingly resigned, with allChristian submission, to the uproar. He was an hereditary chief inthis quarter of the island, and judge for life in the district ofPartoowye.

  There were several cases coming on; but the captain and girl werefirst tried together. They were mixing freely with the crowd; and asit afterwards turned out that everyone--no matter who--had a right toaddress the court, for aught we knew they might have been arguingtheir own case. At what precise moment the trial began it would behard to say. There was no swearing of witnesses, and no regular jury.Now and then somebody leaped up and shouted out something which mighthave been evidence; the rest, meanwhile, keeping up an incessantjabbering. Presently the old judge himself began to get excited; andspringing to his feet, ran in among the crowd, wagging his tongue ashard as anybody.

  The tumult lasted about twenty minutes; and toward the end of it,Captain Crash might have been seen, tranquilly regarding, from hisHonour's platform, the judicial uproar, in which his fate was aboutbeing decided.

  The result of all this was that both he and the girl were foundguilty. The latter was adjudged to make six mats for the queen; andthe former, in consideration of his manifold offences, being deemedincorrigible, was sentenced to eternal banishment from the island.Both these decrees seemed to originate in the general hubbub. HisHonour, however, appeared to have considerable authority, and it wasquite plain that the decision received his approval.

  The above penalties were by no means indiscriminately inflicted. Themissionaries have prepared a sort of penal tariff to facilitatejudicial proceedings. It costs so many days' labour on the Broom Roadto indulge in the pleasures of the calabash; so many fathoms of stonewall to steal a musket; and so on to the end of the catalogue. Thejudge being provided with a book in which all these matters arecunningly arranged, the thing is vastly convenient. For instance: acrime is proved,--say bigamy; turn to letter B--and there you haveit. Bigamy:--forty days on the Broom Road, and twenty mats for thequeen. Read the passage aloud, and sentence is pronounced.

  After taking part in the first trial, the other delinquents presentwere put upon their own; in which, also, the convicted culpritsseemed to have quite as much to say as the rest. A rather strangeproceeding; but strictly in accordance with the glorious Englishprinciple, that every man should be tried by his peers. They were allfound guilty.

  CHAPTER LXXX.

  QUEEN POMAREE

  IT is well to learn something about people before being introduced tothem, and so we will here give some account of Pomaree and herfamily.

  Every reader of Cook's Voyages must remember "Otto," who, in thatnavigator's time, was king of the larger peninsula of Tahiti.Subsequently, assisted by the muskets of the Bounty's men, heextended his rule over the entire island. This Otto, before hisdeath, had his name changed into Pomaree, which has ever since beenthe royal patronymic.

  He was succeeded by his son, Pomaree II., the most famous prince inthe annals of Tahiti. Though a sad debauchee and drunkard, and evencharged with unnatural crimes, he was a great friend of themissionaries, and one of their very first proselytes. During thereligious wars into which he was hurried by his zeal for the newfaith, he was defeated and expelled from the island. After a shortexile he returned from Imeeo, with an army of eight hundred warriors,and in the battle of Narii routed the rebellious pagans with greatslaughter, and reestablished himself upon the throne. Thus, by forceof arms, was Christianity finally triumphant in Tahiti.

  Pomaree II., dying in 1821, was succeeded by his infant son, under thetitle of Pomaree III. This young prince survived his father but sixyears; and the government then descended to his elder sister, Aimata,the present queen, who is commonly called Pomaree Vahinee I., or thefirst female Pomaree. Her majesty must be now upwards of thirty yearsof age. She has been twice married. Her first husband was a son ofthe old King of Tahar, an island about one hundred miles from Tahiti.This proving an unhappy alliance, the pair were soon afterwardsdivorced. The present husband of the queen is a chief of Imeeo.

  The reputation of Pomaree is not what it ought to be. She, and alsoher mother, were, for a long time, excommunicated members of theChurch; and the former, I believe, still is. Among other things, herconjugal fidelity is far from being unquestioned. Indeed, it was uponthis ground chiefly that she was excluded from the communion of theChurch.

  Previous to her misfortunes she spent the greater portion of her timesailing about from one island to another, attended by a licentiouscourt; and wherever she went all manner of games and festivitiescelebrated her arrival.

  She was always given to display. For several years the maintenance ofa regiment of household troops drew largely upon the royal exchequer.They were trouserless fellows, in a uniform of calico shirts andpasteboard hats; armed with muskets of all shapes and calibres, andcommanded by a great noisy chief, strutting it in a coat of fieryred. These heroes escorted their mistress whenever she went abroad.

  Some time ago, the queen received from her English sister, Victoria, avery showy, though uneasy, head-dress--a crown; probably made toorder at some tinman's in London. Having no idea of reserving sopretty a bauble for coronation days, which come so seldom, hermajesty sported it whenever she appeared in public; and, to show herfamiliarity with European customs, politely touched it to allforeigners of distinction--whaling captains, and the like--whom shehappened to meet in her evening walk on the Broom Road.

  The arrival and departure of royalty were always announced at thepalace by the court artilleryman--a fat old gentleman who, in aprodigious hurry and perspiration, discharged minute fowling-piecesas fast as he could load and fire the same.

  The Tahitian princess leads her husband a hard life. Poor fellow! henot only caught a queen, but a Tartar, when he married her. The styleby which he is addressed is rather significant--"Pomaree-Tanee"(Pomaree's man). All things considered, as appropriate a title for aking-consort as could be hit upon.

  If ever there were a henpecked husband, that man is the prince. Oneday, his carasposa giving audience to a deputation fr
om the captainsof the vessels lying in Papeetee, he ventured to make a suggestionwhich was very displeasing to her. She turned round and, boxing hisears, told him to go over to his beggarly island of Imeeo if hewanted to give himself airs.

  Cuffed and contemned, poor Tanee flies to the bottle, or rather to thecalabash, for solace. Like his wife and mistress, he drinks more thanhe ought.

  Six or seven years ago, when an American man-of-war was lying atPapeetee, the town was thrown into the greatest commotion by aconjugal assault and battery made upon the sacred person of Pomareeby her intoxicated Tanee.

  Captain Bob once told me the story. And by way of throwing more spiritinto the description, as well as to make up for his oraldeficiencies, the old man went through the accompanying action:myself being proxy for the Queen of Tahiti.

  It seems that, on a Sunday morning, being dismissed contemptuouslyfrom the royal presence, Tanee was accosted by certain good fellows,friends and boon companions, who condoled with him on hismisfortunes--railed against the queen, and finally dragged him awayto an illicit vendor of spirits, in whose house the party gotgloriously mellow. In this state, Pomaree Vahinee I. was the topicupon which all dilated--"A vixen of a queen," probably suggested one."It's infamous," said another; "and I'd have satisfaction," cried athird. "And so I will!"--Tanee must have hiccoughed; for off he went;and ascertaining that his royal half was out riding, he mounted hishorse and galloped after her.

  Near the outskirts of the town, a cavalcade of women came canteringtoward him, in the centre of which was the object of his fury.Smiting his beast right and left, he dashed in among them, completelyoverturning one of the party, leaving her on the field, anddispersing everybody else except Pomaree. Backing her horsedexterously, the incensed queen heaped upon him every scandalousepithet she could think of; until at last the enraged Tanee leapedout of his saddle, caught Pomaree by her dress, and dragging her tothe earth struck her repeatedly in the face, holding on meanwhile bythe hair of her head. He was proceeding to strangle her on the spot,when the cries of the frightened attendants brought a crowd of nativesto the rescue, who bore the nearly insensible queen away.

  But his frantic rage was not yet sated. He ran to the palace; andbefore it could be prevented, demolished a valuable supply ofcrockery, a recent present from abroad. In the act of perpetratingsome other atrocity, he was seized from behind, and carried off withrolling eyes and foaming at the mouth.

  This is a fair example of a Tahitian in a passion. Though the mildestof mortals in general, and hard to be roused, when once fairly up, heis possessed with a thousand devils.

  The day following, Tanee was privately paddled over to Imeeo in acanoe; where, after remaining in banishment for a couple of weeks, hewas allowed to return, and once more give in his domestic adhesion.

  Though Pomaree Vahinee I. be something of a Jezebel in private life,in her public rule she is said to have been quite lenient andforbearing. This was her true policy; for an hereditary hostility toher family had always lurked in the hearts of many powerful chiefs,the descendants of the old Kings of Taiarboo, dethroned by hergrandfather Otoo. Chief among these, and in fact the leader of hisparty, was Poofai; a bold, able man, who made no secret of his enmityto the missionaries, and the government which they controlled. Butwhile events were occurring calculated to favour the hopes of thedisaffected and turbulent, the arrival of the French gave a mostunexpected turn to affairs.

  During my sojourn in Tahiti, a report was rife--which I knew tooriginate with what is generally called the "missionary party"--thatPoofai and some other chiefs of note had actually agreed, for astipulated bribe, to acquiesce in the appropriation of their country.But subsequent events have rebutted the calumny. Several of thesevery men have recently died in battle against the French.

  Under the sovereignty of the Pomarees, the great chiefs of Tahiti weresomething like the barons of King John. Holding feudal sway overtheir patrimonial valleys, and on account of their descent, warmlybeloved by the people, they frequently cut off the royal revenues byrefusing to pay the customary tribute due from them as vassals.

  The truth is, that with the ascendancy of the missionaries, the regaloffice in Tahiti lost much of its dignity and influence. In the daysof Paganism, it was supported by all the power of a numerouspriesthood, and was solemnly connected with the entire superstitiousidolatry of the land. The monarch claimed to be a sort of bye-blow ofTararroa, the Saturn of the Polynesian mythology, and cousin-german toinferior deities. His person was thrice holy; if he entered anordinary dwelling, never mind for how short a time, it was demolishedwhen he left; no common mortal being thought worthy to inhabit itafterward.

  "I'm a greater man than King George," said the incorrigible young Otooto the first missionaries; "he rides on a horse, and I on a man."Such was the case. He travelled post through his dominions on theshoulders of his subjects; and relays of mortal beings were providedin all the valleys.

  But alas! how times have changed; how transient human greatness. Someyears since, Pomaree Vahinee I., the granddaughter of the proud Otoo,went into the laundry business; publicly soliciting, by her agents,the washing of the linen belonging to the officers of ships touchingin her harbours.

  It is a significant fact, and one worthy of record, that while theinfluence of the English missionaries at Tahiti has tended to sogreat a diminution of the regal dignity there, that of the Americanmissionaries at the Sandwich Islands has been purposely exerted tobring about a contrary result.

  CHAPTER LXXXI.

  WE VISIT THE COURT

  IT WAS about the middle of the second month of the Hegira, andtherefore some five weeks after our arrival in Partoowye, that we atlast obtained admittance to the residence of the queen.

  It happened thus. There was a Marquesan in the train of Pomaree whoofficiated as nurse to her children. According to the Tahitiancustom, the royal youngsters are carried about until it requires nosmall degree of strength to stand up under them. But Marbonna wasjust the man for this--large and muscular, well made as a statue, andwith an arm like a degenerate Tahitian's thigh.

  Embarking at his native island as a sailor on board of a Frenchwhaler, he afterward ran away from the ship at Tahiti; where, beingseen and admired by Pomaree, he had been prevailed upon to enlist inher service.

  Often, when visiting the grounds, we saw him walking about in theshade, carrying two handsome boys, who encircled his neck with theirarms. Marbonna's face, tattooed as it was in the ornate style of histribe, was as good as a picture-book to these young Pomarees. Theydelighted to trace with their fingers the outlines of the strangeshapes there delineated.

  The first time my eyes lighted upon the Marquesan, I knew his countryin a moment; and hailing him in his own language, he turned round,surprised that a person so speaking should be a stranger. He provedto be a native of Tior, a glen of Nukuheva. I had visited the placemore than once; and so, on the island of Imeeo, we met like oldfriends.

  In my frequent conversations with him over the bamboo picket, I foundthis islander a philosopher of nature--a wild heathen, moralizingupon the vices and follies of the Christian court of Tahiti--asavage, scorning the degeneracy of the people among whom fortune hadthrown him.

  I was amazed at the national feelings of the man. No European, whenabroad, could speak of his country with more pride than Marbonna. Heassured me, again and again, that so soon as he had obtainedsufficient money to purchase twenty muskets, and as many bags ofpowder, he was going to return to a place with which Imeeo was notworthy to be compared.

  It was Marbonna who, after one or two unsuccessful attempts, at lastbrought about our admission into the queen's grounds. Through aconsiderable crowd he conducted us along the pier to where an old manwas sitting, to whom he introduced us as a couple of "karhowrees" ofhis acquaintance, anxious to see the sights of the palace. Thevenerable chamberlain stared at us, and shook his head: the doctor,thinking he wanted a fee, placed a plug of tobacco in his hand. Thiswas ingratiating, and we were permitted to pass on. Upon the
point ofentering one of the houses, Marbonna's name was shouted inhalf-a-dozen different directions, and he was obliged to withdraw.

  Thus left at the very threshold to shift for ourselves, my companion'sassurance stood us in good stead. He stalked right in, and Ifollowed. The place was full of women, who, instead of exhibiting thesurprise we expected, accosted us as cordially as if we had called totake our Souchong with them by express invitation. In the firstplace, nothing would do but we must each devour a calabash of "poee,"and several roasted bananas. Pipes were then lighted, and a briskconversation ensued.

  These ladies of the court, if not very polished, were surprisinglyfree and easy in their manners; quite as much so as King Charles'sbeauties. There was one of them--an arch little miss, who couldconverse with us pretty fluently--to whom we strove to make ourselvesparticularly agreeable, with the view of engaging her services ascicerone.

  As such, she turned out to be everything we could desire. No onedisputing her will, every place was entered without ceremony,curtains brushed aside, mats lifted, and each nook and cornerexplored. Whether the little damsel carried her mistress' signet,that everything opened to her thus, I know not; but Marbonna himself,the bearer of infants, could not have been half so serviceable.

  Among other houses which we visited, was one of large size and fineexterior; the special residence of a European--formerly the mate of amerchant vessel,--who had done himself the honour of marrying intothe Pomaree family. The lady he wedded being a near kinswoman of thequeen, he became a permanent member of her majesty's household. Thisadventurer rose late, dressed theatrically in calico and trinkets,assumed a dictatorial tone in conversation, and was evidently uponexcellent terms with himself.