South-sea bubbles

Front matter

Km$

WMm

^■"■^mffwrcwaa ;

Contents

CnAP. I. — Tahiti, 7

II. — ElMEO, OR MOEEA, 51

III. — Huahine, 64

Chapter I. Tahiti

"Have. yon never had a bad bilious fever?" says Tom Cringle ; " then you have never known what it is to be in heaven or in the other place." I have had a bad fever, and can testify to the truth of the remark. Physical, and, worse still, mental agonies of indescribable horror, followed by visions of perfect peace, happiness, and beauty. There are certain places and scenes that are always blended in my mind with those glorious, strange, delirious dreams, filling me with a luxurious feeling of poetry and pleasure ; yet utterly indescribable, because half their charm lies in the remembrance of the happiness they brought me. And so it is that, urged by my fellow-laborer in this work, I sit down with a certain reluctance to write what I fear will be but a commonplace and colorless description of a place and time that will live forever in my thoughts as some splendid dream of beauty and pleasure.

Such things will seldom stand the magic test of pen and ink, even when they are used by a master of the art of writing. I — and I believe I am not the only sinner in the world — -sneakingly shirk descriptions of beautiful scenery in novels, except those in " Westward Ho ! " " Geoffry Hamlyn," and, above all, " Tom Cringle's Log." What glorious masterpieces of wordpainting they are, showing new beauties each time they are read — free and unconstrained, yet quaint and fanciful, filled with little points and touches seemingly minute and almost unnecessary in themselves, which, however, constitute the charm and perfection of the picture !

But this is above my hand. All I can do is to scribble down my dreams as they float before my brain, and please myself if not my readers.

I can never forget the scene that burst upon my astonished and half-opened eyes as I turned out of bed one morning and found myself entering the port of Papiete. Great mountains, of every shade of blue, pink, gray, and purple, torn and broken into every conceivable fantastic shape, with deep, dark, mysterious gorges, showing almost black by contrast with the surrounding brightness ; precipitous peaks and pinnacles rising one above the other like giant sentinels, until they were lost in the heavy masses of cloud they had impaled ; while below, stretching from the base of the mountains to the shore, a forest of tropical trees, with the huts and houses of the town peeping out between them.

The finest islands of the West Indies idealized, with a dash of Ceylon, is all I can compare it to. And the natives ! How well they match the scene ! The women, with their voluptuous figures, their unique, free, graceful walk, their night-gowns (for their dress is nothing but a long chemise, white, pale, green, red, or red and white, according to the taste of the wearer, which is invariably good) floating loosely about in a cool, refreshing manner — their luxuriant black tresses, crowned with a gracefully-plaited araroot chaplet, and further ornamented by a great flowing bunch of white "reva-reva" — their delicious perfume of cocoa-nut oil (it is worth going to Tahiti for the smell alone), and, above all, their smiling, handsome faces, and singing, bubbling voices, full of soft cadences — all this set off by the broken, scattered rays of green light shining through the shady avenues. Oh, that I were the artist that could paint it ! What pleasant places those avenues are for a stroll in the evening, when the heat of the sun is beginning to die away ! To meet the great, strapping, pleasant-looking men, in their clean white shirts and party-colored waist-cloths, each greeting you, especially if you are English, with a ready smile and a hearty "Ya rana ! " which means all kinds of salutations and blessings ; sometimes, even, if they like the look of you, stopping to shake hands, with no earthly object but kindly good-fellowship. I have seen even small pickaninnies stop in their infantine gambols, and toddling up with their little faces puckered into dimples, and their little puds held up to reach your fingers, pipe up a shrill "How do you do ? " And as for the young ladies ! the most bashful and coy will never pass you without a greeting, a glance of the eyes, and a slight gathering in of her dress with her elbows to exhibit her buxom figure to full perfection. Or else, perhaps, she will come up coquettishly, and ask you for the loan of your cigar, take a few puffs at it, and hand it back again gracefully to the rather astonished owner ; and then, with a parting compliment, which you most likely don't understand, let you go your way in peace — or not ! I suppose it is a fault on the right side, but they are a trifle too amiable sometimes. The conduct of Mrs. Potiphar would scarcely have excited a passing comment if she had been lucky enough to have lived in Tahiti.

The streets of Papiete, at night, are very pleasant and merry. The first night we arrived, the doctor and I went for a stroll ; and, following the run of the crowd, soon found ourselves in the principal grog-shop street. There all was reckless jollity and good-nature. Gangs of French sailors careering wildly to and fro, singing part-songs at the top of their voices, in capital time and tune, all the natives within hearing joining in ; native men and girls sitting about the door-steps of the shops, or strolling up and down together, some romping, some spooney. By-the-by, the proper way to walk with your lady-love in Tahiti is as follows : Tou put your arm round her neck, and she hers round your waist, and hangs on your breast in a limply affectionate manner. It is as much selon les regies as walking armin-arm, and is much prettier to look at. But the man should be tall, for to see a stumpy little French sailor clawed in this way by the big brown object of his affections is a thought ludicrous.

At last we came to a place where two streets crossed each other. Each corner-house was a grog-shop, where a lot of jolly Frenchmen were singing in chorus, a crowd of natives standing round and joining. Another knot was collected round the doctor, who was holding forth about European politics (the war between France and Prussia had just broken out) to a learned native, who translated all he said to the eager by-standers, while I was being addressed by a brown lady in her native language, which edified me exceedingly. Behind each bar the ideal French barman presided, with the sleeves of his dingy white shirt rolled up, brawnj^, bull-necked, black-haired, and shaveft. Here and there an unmistakable Yankee skipper might be seen among the mob, with an occasional English Jack, or Scotch storekeeper. The shifting crowd grew larger, and the singing noisier, till on a sudden a native policeman appeared as if from the clouds, and begged, prayed, entreated, commanded the crowd to disperse. Some one twitched his stick out of his hand, which caused a roar of laughter and a fresh torrent of eloquence from the brown bobby, which lasted till the mob good-humoredly did as they were told. Handcuffs have not yet been introduced into Tahiti, pieces of string being used as substitutes by the native constabulary when duty calls upon them to arrest a criminal or a disorderly person. If the offender is a person of active muscles and independent spirit, the capture becomes a very exciting and amusing spectacle for the by-standers.

The lighted shops and stores surrounded by the beautiful trees, the gayly-dressed girls, the rollicking sailors, the pleasant smell, the perfect cleanliness, the universal mirth, civility, and good-nature of every one, the utter absence of quarrelling, jostling, or rudeness, made a very novel, picturesque, and pleasing nightscene.

" Society-Islandism " is very catching. In an incredibly short time you feel a kind of early Christian brotherly love coming over you, a delicious indolence, a refined gentleness of manner, and a blunting of the edge of your moral ideas. Tolerably virtuous and proper as I was, I always had a secret consciousness that I should not be the least surprised to find myself lolling about the groves after the manner of the natives, making lazy love, and utterly regardless of past or future. Things that would strike you anywhere else as wrong and degrading, seem somehow only natural and beautiful in those lovely islands.

I feel that this aimless, pointless dreaminess, is pervading the chapter I am writing, making it utterly dreary to an incident-and-information-loving European reader. But if any such kind critic should come to me, and in the barbarous manner and language of the North inform me that my article was intolerably prosy and stupid, I should smile blandly, and say: "My dear fellow, don't be so horribly abrupt and angular ! As many poets have arranged their rhythm to suit and suggest the actions they were writing about, so I have made the style of my composition a reflection of the life and the people I was describing. It is just the sort of thing, too, to read in that country. Nothing startling, to make you fix your attention exclusively on its pages ; no deep thoughts or curious information to worry your brains with. Just the thing to dream over as you are sucking your cocoa-nut under the palm-trees ; just the thing to go to sleep over at the end of every two sentences, while a native or half-easte young lady watches by your side with a fly- whisk or a fan to keep those abominable insects from settling on the tip of your nose.

By-the-way, those brutal flies are the only things that refuse to be Society-Islandized. Under the most softening influences they still retain the tiresome energy and vulgar conceited obtrusiveness natural to their race. They are the Scotchmen among insects.

If you are wearied with the busy — I mean lazy — hum of men, you go out in a canoe on to the great coral-reef that forms the harbor, and, dabbling your hands and feet in the cool water, gaze dreamily down at the gorgeous sights beneath you : the beautiful coral, with its mysterious caves and fissures, from which you almost expect to see real water-babies appear; coral, some of it like great crimson fans woven from the most delicate twigs — some of a beautiful mauve or purple — some like miniature models of old gnarled trees — some like great round mounds of snow-white ivory, chased and carved with a superhuman delicacy — some like leaves and budding flowers — while all about are scattered magnificent holothuria and great red and yellow starfish, that look as if they were made of leather, with horn buttons stuck all along their feelers for ornament ; * and echini, with their dense profusion of long brown spikes, covering them so completely as to make an unlearned person like myself wonder how they can get at their food or mix in society. Still

1 This is the " slate-pencil fish," a species overlooked by Mr. Chas. Reade.

more beautiful when they are dead and their spikes are gone, and nothing remains but their round white skeletons, splendidly embossed in long lines with purple-and-pink knobs. Fish of every shape and color swimming lazily in and out of the black-looking caves and fissures, or coasting round under the overhanging edges of the coral precipices. Some of the finest cobalt' blue, some golden, some pink, some more like beautiful orange and purple butterflies than natives of the sea, with long white rat's-tails, swimming or floating frontways, sternways, sideways, with apparently equal ease and partiality. Some variegated like harlequins ; many, not with their hues more or less blending into each other where they meet, like Christian fishes, but mathematically divided by regular distinct lines, as if they had paid for their colors, and had them laid on by the square inch.

Oh, a coral-reef is the thing to dream over ! So gloriously beautiful, so wondrously fantastic, so treacherously dangerous, and so damnable to walk upon. In the first ten minutes your shoes are cut to pieces ; then you step unexpectedly into a deep hole, and bark your shins against its edges. On getting clear of this, you most likely tread upon an echinus, 1 and with a howl of agony make a wild attempt to stand upon one leg and pick the spikes out of your injured foot, whereon you lose your balance and sit down violently upon some of his (the echinus's) relations. The only thing then to be done is to lie quietly where you are, like a

1 The species of echinus alluded to here can tlirust its spines into the skin, of its own proper motion. I have watched them most carefully, and have seen them do it.

stranded whale, swearing feebly, until some kind companion makes his appearance, and extricates the spines from the injured parts with his jack-knife.

And what glorious places for boating expeditions those Society Islands are ! Threading your way between the patches, inside the outer reef, you can sail along the coast for miles in smooth water and beautiful scenery, with one picturesque bay after another to be explored. And though you be but a common sailor, with empty pockets, everywhere you are certain of a hearty welcome from everybody and every thing, including those confounded mosquitoes. One man comes out to steer you by signs toward the best landingplace; another, as soon as your boat sticks, trots out to her, and without more ado directs you to jump on his back, and carries you ashore, as if you were but a fly on his gigantic shoulders ; and on the beach you are received by the various members of the family, who set to work to entertain you, and supply your necessities as best they can. "When you have had a short palaver, and have declined with some difficulty the various hospitable offers that have been pressed upon you, you return to your boat, and find in her a quantity of cocoa-nuts, bananas, bread-fruit, and similar delicacies ; indeed, in one instance, I remember finding the paterfamilias in the act of lugging the last of his fowls, a tough-looking old cock, down to the beach by a string that was fast to his leg ; I laughingly declined the present, at which he seemed a little hurt.

And then, when all is ready for a start home, and even the youngest baby has been held up to lisp out a parting " Ya ranaf ' and you have shaken hands with all the village, till you are tired, some stately matron cries out, " John ! just launch a canoe, and pilot the gentleman out to the mouth of the bay, in case he should, stick anywhere," or words to that effect, which John accordingly does, and you start away home ; the last thing you see being a kindly smile, and the last thing you hear a cheerful " God bless you ! "

It may be a confession of weakness, but I must own I like this kind of thing. I like being petted and made much of, as long as I am sure that there is no affectation, humbug, or mercenary feeling about it. " Bah ! " cries the cynic, u their kiss-me-cum-cuddle-me blarney is only skin-deep, they have made a prince of Jack to-day, and will do the same with Bill to-morrow." " Well, my friend," say I, u your feelings may last a little longer than theirs, but are they immutable and everlasting ? and at any rate my brown friends deserve admiration for their natural unsophisticated impulse toward kindness, affection, and unselfishness, shortlived though it may be, for it is a rare enough thing in this world, especially where many people of your sort are to be found."

"When the nights are calm and dark, away go the natives to spear fish by torch-light. They use several kinds of weapons, according to the size of the prey they are hunting, but the ordinary spear is like a small metal broom, made of a lot of iron rods diverging outward from the staff on which they are lashed, between which the little fish become jammed without being much injured. Silently your canoe glides over the coral-reef through the clear, shallow water, and you stand up with the torch in one hand* and the spear in the other, all ready for action. A blaze of light shines close to yon, and suddenly the figure of the bowman in some other craft becomes revealed like some splendid bronze statue, the torch lifted on high, the form bent slightly forward, the eyes intently fixed on the surface of the water, and the right arm raised to strike, while behind you dimly distinguish the black, crouching figure of his comrade, noiselessly and almost without motion propelling and steering the long, narrow pirogue. Whish ! Down drops the end of the torch — he's got one ! So he has, sure enough, for I hear the tap, tap of his spear against the side of the boat, and the squatter of the fish as he drops into the bottom of it. I see one ! and make a desperate lunge, whereby I lose my balance and topple over, luckily not overboard, dropping my spear into the water, on one side, and the rather heavy reed-torch on the other, which leaves us in utter darkness, in which I hear, not weeping and gnashing of teeth, but a most unmistakable gurgling and chuckling from my native companion, usually the most polite and dignified of mortals.

"We arrived in Tahiti just in time to celebrate the feast of St. Napoleon. The shore was thickly lined with gigs and whale-boats that had brought in the natives from all parts of the country, to say nothing of the neighboring islands. The festivities were about to commence in full swing. Regattas, horse-races, reviews, court processions, and hymns ! ye powers ! to be sung for prizes by the different districts. Hymns at that time were associated in my mind with uncomfortable pews, swell bonnets, etc., and I wondered whether the judge would be low church or dissenting, and give the prize to the choirs who sung slowest and dolefulest, or whether he would be high church, and reward those who could rattle out " Adeste fideles " in the most triumphant style. Little did I know what a South-Sea hymn, or " himene," was like. Little did I know that all styles of music, from the most comic to the most sacred, came under the same title, and that even dances, more graceful than moral, were sanctified by the sacred name of hymns.

August lQth. — Bang ! bang ! Twenty-four guns at sunrise in honor of the day, rousing me just as I had dropped into a blissful slumber in the cool of the morning. I repent it deeply, but I fear that the expression that rose to my lips was more forcible than choice. However, I dozed off till about seven a. m., when I was awoke again by some one coming on board. Such was my pertinacity that I managed to get to sleep again till eight o'clock, when another dose of twenty-four guns, not to mention those of the frigate, shook the vessel through and through, and compelled me to get up. At mid-day more guns, as before.

After luncheon came the regatta, gig, whale-boat, and canoe races, the best of all being a great doublecanoe-race, some fifty men or so in each craft. A glorious sight it was ; all the way there was not five feet advantage to either, and they kept so close side by side that a man could have jumped from one to the other. Every paddle caught the water at once with the regularity of clock-work, making the canoe lift and spring forward at each stroke like the rush of some great sea-serpent, while in the extreme nose stood, or rather danced, the chief or captain, yelling, swearing, stamping, and giving the time to the performers ; at one moment whirling his long paddle over his head, and looking very much inclined to sweep the opposition leader in the rival canoe into the briny deep by a dexterous stroke, at the next making furious scoops at the water to add an inch or two to the speed of his vessel. N*eck and neck they ran all the course, and when at last they passed the Astree that was acting as flagship, not a foot could have divided them. When it was all over, and the cheering had subsided, they lay under the stern gallery of the frigate, where old Queen Pomare and her maids of honor were watching the fun, and beat time with their paddles against the sides of the canoes to the music of the band, producing a wonderful effect.

In the evening we went off to hear the rehearsal of the " himenes," or native singing, which was to take place in the gardens of the governor's palace, where, at the same time, a swell ball d V European was going on. Edging our way through the laughing, romping crowd outside, the doctor and I succeeded in getting in ; but, going out again to fetch Mitchell and the skipper, we found ourselves in a fix, as the temper of the bulletheaded little French sentinel had completely given way under the continued fire of banter he had been compelled to receive, without a chance of retaliation, from the native young ladies, and he doggedly refused to let us reenter the gates. So here we were stuck, feeling very much like the foolish virgins in the parable, or four male peris gazing into paradise ; to all the doctor's logic and honeyed words, the little brute only snapped, " Montrez votre passe," to which we could only reply that we had an invitation from the governor himself which we had left on board, at which * he only sniffed with the profoundest contempt for such a shallow imposition. We were beginning to have vague ideas of upsetting our Liliputian friend in the thick of the crowd and rushing the gate, when a swell naval officer appeared, and being struck, I suppose, with our respectable and ingenuous appearance, passed us in without more ado, and civilly fetched an A. D. C. to admit Mitchell and the skipper.

The scene that burst upon us was quite indescribable in its strange, wild, motley beauty ; the gardens were lit up by countless lanterns hanging from the branches of the trees, the walks thronged by natives, French officers in full glory, white, brown, and beautiful half-caste ladies in ball dresses, and a sprinkling of motley civilians like ourselves, while all the rest of the space was filled by the different native choirs, each, I should think, several hundred strong. Each choir was divided into two halves, one of which sat shoulder to shoulder in long rows three or four deep, while the other half, similarly disposed, faced them, leaving a long aisle down the middle, where the chiefs of the district, arrayed in old native dresses, consisting of short capes with numerous many-colored flounces, walked to and fro, gravely directing the singers.

The effect of the music was quite indescribable. Many of the tunes were, I believe, of European origin, but so completely nativized that their authors would scarcely have recognized them. They had a character of their own, utterly unlike, and far finer than Arabic, Turkish, or any savage melody I ever heard. There were many parts harmoniously arranged ; one set of singers devoting themselves entirely to making a bass " boom" something like the drone of a bagpipe, others confining their energies to various long-drawn, high, falsetto notes, brought in at different times, and varied to suit the music.

The most striking features were the extraordinarily perfect time, hundreds of men and women clapping their hands together at started intervals with a noise as sharp as the crack of a stock-whip, and the strange metallic ring of every voice, which, though scarcely beautiful in itself to an unaccustomed ear, had a wild and curious effect, that was in perfect keeping with the savage grandeur of the whole scene.

After doing the necessary poojah with the swells, and being shown round by our good-natured consul and a French officer, the doctor and I were left to our own devices, and enjoyed ourselves to our hearts 5 content, roaming from choir to choir as each struck up in turn, and sitting down among the singers, who, with native politeness, immediately offered us a corner of their mats to sprawl on. And very pleasant it was. Wandering about among the merry crowd, speaking whatever came into our heads to anybody we pleased without fear of offending, or being sat upon, squatting down among the performers, and carrying on a broken but laughing conversation with the ladies of the chorus in the intervals of the music, listening to its execution till the last sigh (Tahitian music always ends with a kind of deep sigh) had died away, and the clear, inspiriting chant of some distant choir rose suddenly and ringingly in triumphant rivalry ; watching the countless pretty little pictures of love and tenderness on all sides, young men and maidens comparing souls, and anxious mothers attending, when they had the chance, to their remarkably patient and long-suffering offspring that were rolled up in many-colored handkerchiefs, and strewed about the ground like bolsters in every direction. How strange, and new, and beautiful it all seemed, and yet, and yet — when I write it all down it seems as flat as ditch-water — it is like exhibiting the skeleton of some beautiful woman with the purpose of giving the spectators an idea of her loveliness ! I think I shall head this chapter with a notice that no one but poets are allowed to read it, for none but a poetical imagination would be able to conceive the gorgeous coloring that gave birth to these dry pen-and-ink sketches. What seemed more odd to me than any thing was, that scarcely any except ourselves were impressed with the beauty of what they heard or saw. Was it but an illusion produced by our too vivid imaginations?

The French officers haw-hawed and pooh-poohed, and almost professed themselves bored with the whole concern, evidently considering that "better is the meanest cafe-chantant in the city of Paris than the most glorious festivity in the whole of the Pacific." Beauty of scene and even beauty of character lose much of their striking charm by their constant presence, and so it is less remarkable that the natives could not appreciate the loveliness of the picture of which they formed a great part ; but I shall not forget one woman, who, when I expressed to her that I thought the abominable brass band that the swells were dancing to, a horrid nuisance, and not to be compared to the

Tahitian " himenes," gazed on me with an expression of shocked wonder, such as a Calvinistic preacher would direct upon a bold freethinker, or the august Pio Nono on some more harmless freemason ; and then, having debated solemnly whether I was making fun of her or was only a harmless lunatic, she turned away without an answer, and gravely continued her singing.

Toward the end of the rehearsals Queen Pomare and the commandant appeared on the scene, and a dance was got up for their especial benefit. One division of singers stood up and made a circle, or rather oblong, and kept up a strange wild chant, while a boy and a girl performed their gambados much in the style of the Egyptian Ghawazee, twisting, wriggling, and undulating all over in a by no means ungraceful manner. After a little the girl pretended to be tired or out-danced and slipped aside. Instantly the music changed into a kind of satirical burst, and she reappeared. Then more performers joined in, and the singing and dancing grew faster and more furious to the end, when every one cheered loudly. It was curious to see how the old queen's face, usually apathetic, brightened up. Her lips parted, her eyes glistened, till she looked as if she would have liked to kick over the old governor on whose arm she was leaning, and perform a pas seul on his prostrate carcass.

But the sight of the evening was the " scratchingdance." After a lively prelude, all the singers threw themselves on to their left elbows and unanimously and violently scratched their right legs, and then vice versa. What it all meant I don't know, but I fancy the words were a shade broad from the way the spectators laughed.

At last it all came to an end, the mats and bundles and babies were gathered up, and amid much squeezing, and laughing, and singing, the divisions filed one by one out of the gates, to the sound of drums and other barbarous instruments, to seek their night-quarters, while we went on board, regularly bewildered with the charms of all we had seen and heard.

August 17th. — In the afternoon we mounted some strange little American carriages, and drove out to see the races. The road was very gay and pretty ; natives dressed in their gala-clothes, French officers mounted on caracoling steeds, which they were teasing and showing off with that absurd affectation of coolness and nonchalance so common to them ; jolly-looking naval swells, some on foot, others crammed into little buggies with their laughing, bubbling-voiced lialfcaste friends ; every large animal with, four legs, and every thing that could run upon wheels, being put into requisition.