Often you saw the indefatigable Monee working away at a great rate; then dropping his employment all at once—never mind what—run off to a little distance, and after rolling himself away in a corner, and taking a nap, jump up again, and fall to with fresh vigor.

  From a certain something in the behavior of Po-Po and his household, I was led to believe, that he was a pillar of the church; though, from what I had seen in Tahiti, I could hardly reconcile such a supposition with his frank, cordial, unembarrassed air. But I was not wrong in my conjecture: Po-Po turned out to be a sort of elder, or deacon; he was also accounted a man of wealth, and was nearly related to a high chief.

  Before retiring, the entire household gathered upon the floor; and in their midst, he read aloud a chapter from a Tahitian Bible. Then kneeling with the rest of us, he offered up a prayer. Upon its conclusion, all separated without speaking. These devotions took place regularly, every night and morning. Grace too, was invariably said, by this family, both before and after eating.

  After becoming familiarized with the almost utter destitution of any thing like practical piety, upon these islands, what I observed in our host’s house astonished me much. But whatever others might have been, Po-Po was, in truth, a Christian: the only one, Arfretee excepted, whom I personally knew to be such, among all the natives of Polynesia.

  CHAPTER 74

  RETIRING FOR THE NIGHT • THE DOCTOR GROWS DEVOUT

  They put us to bed very pleasantly.

  Lying across the foot of Po-Po’s nuptial couch, was a smaller one, made of Koar-wood;1 a thin, strong cord, twisted from the fibres of the husk of the cocoa-nut, and woven into an exceedingly light sort of net-work, forming its elastic body. Spread upon this, was a single, fine mat, with a roll of dried ferns for a pillow, and a strip of white tappa for a sheet. This couch was mine. The doctor was provided for in another corner.

  Loo reposed alone on a little settee, with a taper burning by her side; the dandy, her brother, swinging overhead in a sailor’s hammock. The two gazelles frisked upon a mat near by; and the indigent relations borrowed a scant corner of the old butler’s pallet, who snored away by the open door. After all had retired, Po-Po placed the illuminated melon in the middle of the apartment; and so, we all slumbered till morning.

  Upon awaking, the sun was streaming brightly through the open bamboos, but no one was stirring. After surveying the fine attitudes, into which forgetfulness had thrown at least one of the sleepers, my attention was called off to the general aspect of the dwelling, which was quite significant of the superior circumstances of our host.

  The house itself was built in the simple, but tasteful native style. It was a long, regular oval, some fifty feet in length, with low sides of cane-work, and a roof thatched with palmetto-leaves.2 The ridge-pole was, perhaps, twenty feet from the ground. There was no foundation whatever; the bare earth being merely covered with ferns: a kind of carpeting which serves very well, if frequently renewed; otherwise, it becomes dusty, and the haunt of vermin, as in the huts of the poorer natives.

  Beside the couches, the furniture consisted of three or four sailor chests; in which were stored the fine wearing-apparel of the household—the ruffled linen shirts of Po-Po, the calico dresses of his wife and children, and divers odds and ends of European articles—strings of beads, ribbons, Dutch looking-glasses, knives, coarse prints, bunches of keys, bits of crockery, and metal buttons. One of these chests—used as a bandbox by Arfretee—contained several of the native hats (coal-scuttles), all of the same pattern, but trimmed with variously colored ribbons. Of nothing was our good hostess more proud, than of these hats, and her dresses. On Sundays, she went abroad a dozen times; and every time, like Queen Elizabeth,3 in a different robe.

  Po-Po, for some reason or other, always gave us our meals before the rest of the family were served; and the doctor, who was very discerning in such matters, declared that we fared much better than they. Certain it was, that had Ereemear’s guests traveled with purses, portmanteaux, and letters of introduction to the queen, they could not have been better cared for.

  The day after our arrival, Monee, the old butler, brought us in for dinner a small pig, baked in the ground. All savory, it lay in a wooden trencher, surrounded by roasted hemispheres of the bread-fruit. A large calabash, filled with taro pudding, or poee, followed; and the young dandy, overcoming his customary languor, threw down our cocoa-nuts from an adjoining tree.

  When all was ready, and the household looking on, Long Ghost, devoutly clasping his hands over the fated pig, implored a blessing. Hereupon, every body present looked exceedingly pleased; Po-Po coming up, and addressing the doctor with much warmth; and Arfretee, regarding him with almost maternal affection, exclaimed delightedly, “Ah! mickonaree tata maitai!” in other words, “What a pious young man!”

  It was just after this meal, that she brought me a roll of grass sinnate (of the kind which sailors sew into the frame of their tarpaulins), and then, handing me needle and thread, bade me begin at once, and make myself the hat which I so much needed. An accomplished hand at the business, I finished it that day—merely stitching the braid together; and Arfretee, by way of rewarding my industry, with her own olive hands ornamented the crown with a band of flame-colored ribbon; the two long ends of which streaming behind, sailor-fashion, still preserved for me the Eastern title bestowed by Long Ghost.

  CHAPTER 75

  A RAMBLE THROUGH THE SETTLEMENT

  The following morning, making our toilets carefully, we donned our sombreros, and sallied out on a tour. Without meaning to reveal our designs upon the court, our principal object was, to learn what chances there were for white men to obtain employment under the queen. On this head, it is true, we had questioned Po-Po; but his answers had been very discouraging; so we determined to obtain further information elsewhere.

  But first, to give some little description of the village.

  The settlement of Partoowye is nothing more than some eighty houses, scattered here and there, in the midst of an immense grove, where the trees have been thinned out, and the underbrush cleared away. Through the grove flows a stream; and the principal avenue crosses it, over an elastic bridge of cocoa-nut trunks, laid together side by side. The avenue is broad, and serpentine; well shaded, from one end to the other; and as pretty a place for a morning promenade, as any lounger could wish. The houses, constructed without the slightest regard to the road, peep into view from among the trees on either side; some looking you right in the face as you pass, and others, without any manners, turning their backs. Occasionally, you observe a rural retreat, inclosed by a picket of bamboos, or with a solitary pane of glass massively framed in the broadside of the dwelling, or with a rude, strange-looking door, swinging upon dislocated wooden hinges. Otherwise, the dwellings are built in the original style of the natives; and never mind how mean and filthy some of them may appear within, they all look picturesque enough without.

  As we sauntered along, the people we met, saluted us pleasantly, and invited us into their houses; and in this way we made a good many brief morning calls. But the hour could not have been the fashionable one in Partoowye; since the ladies were invariably in dishabille. However, they in all cases gave us a cordial reception, and were particularly polite to the doctor; caressing him, and amorously hanging about his neck; wonderfully taken up, in short, with a gay handkerchief he wore there. Arfretee had that morning bestowed it upon the pious youth.

  With some exceptions, the general appearance of the natives of Partoowye, was far better than that of the inhabitants of Papeetee: a circumstance only to be imputed to their restricted intercourse with foreigners.

  Strolling on, we turned a sweep of the road, when the doctor gave a start; and no wonder. Right before us, in the grove, was a block of houses: regular square frames, boarded over, furnished with windows and doorways, and two stories high. We ran up, and found them fast going to decay; very dingy, and here and there covered with moss; no sashes nor doors; and on one side, the entire block had settled down nearly a foot. On going into the basement, we looked clean up through the unboarded timbers to the roof; where rays of light, glimmering through many a chink, illuminated the cobwebs which swung all round.

  The whole interior was dark and close. Burrowing among some old mats in one corner, like a parcel of Gipsys in a ruin, were a few vagabond natives. They had their dwelling here.

  Curious to know, who on earth could have been thus trying to improve the value of real estate in Partoowye, we made inquiries; and learned that, some years previous, the block had been thrown up by a veritable Yankee (one might have known that), a house carpenter by trade, and a bold, enterprising fellow by nature.

  Put ashore from his ship, sick, he first went to work and got well; then sallied out with chisel and plane, and made himself generally useful. A sober, steady man, it seems, he at last obtained the confidence of several chiefs, and soon filled them with all sorts of ideas concerning the alarming want of public spirit in the people of Imeeo. More especially did he dwell upon the humiliating fact of their living in paltry huts of bamboo, when magnificent palaces of boards might so easily be morticed together.

  In the end, these representations so far prevailed with one old chief, that the carpenter was engaged to build a batch of these wonderful palaces. Provided with plenty of men, he at once set to work: built a saw-mill among the mountains, felled trees, and sent over to Papeetee for nails.

  Presto! the castle rose; but alas, the roof was hardly on, when the Yankee’s patron, having speculated beyond his means, broke all to pieces, and was absolutely unable to pay one “plug” of tobacco in the pound. His failure involved the carpenter, who sailed away from his creditors in the very next ship that touched at the harbor.

  The natives despised the rickety palace of boards; and often lounged by, wagging their heads, and jeering.

  We were told that the queen’s residence was at the extreme end of the village; so, without waiting for the doctor to procure a fiddle, we suddenly resolved upon going thither at once, and learning whether any privy counselorships were vacant.

  Now, although there was a good deal of my waggish comrade’s nonsense about what has been said concerning our expectations of court preferment, we, nevertheless, really thought, that something to our advantage might turn up in that quarter.

  On approaching the palace grounds, we found them rather peculiar. A broad pier of hewn coral rocks was built right out into the water; and upon this, and extending into a grove adjoining, were some eight or ten very large native houses, constructed in the handsomest style, and inclosed together by a low picket of bamboos, which embraced a considerable area.

  Throughout the Society Islands, the residences of the chiefs are mostly found in the immediate vicinity of the sea; a site which gives them the full benefit of a cooling breeze; nor are they so liable to the annoyance of insects; besides enjoying when they please, the fine shade afforded by the neighboring groves, always most luxuriant near the water.

  Lounging about the grounds, were some sixty or eighty handsomely dressed natives, men and women; some reclining on the shady side of the houses, others under the trees, and a small group conversing close by the railing, facing us.

  We went up to the latter; and giving the usual salutation, were on the point of vaulting over the bamboos, when they turned upon us angrily, and said we could not enter. We stated our earnest desire to see the queen; hinting that we were bearers of important dispatches. But it was to no purpose; and not a little vexed, we were obliged to return to Po-Po’s without effecting any thing.

  CHAPTER 76

  AN ISLAND JILT • WE VISIT THE SHIP

  Upon arriving home, we fully laid open to Po-Po our motives in visiting Taloo, and begged his friendly advice. In his broken English, he cheerfully gave us all the information we needed.

  It was true, he said, that the queen entertained some idea of making a stand against the French; and it was currently reported, also, that several chiefs from Borabora, Huwyenee, Raiatair, and Tahar,1 the leeward islands of the group, were at that very time taking counsel with her, as to the expediency of organizing a general movement throughout the entire cluster, with a view of anticipating any further encroachments on the part of the invaders. Should warlike measures be actually decided upon, it was quite certain that Pomaree would be glad to enlist all the foreigners she could; but as to her making officers of either the doctor or me, that was out of the question; because, already, a number of Europeans, well known to her, had volunteered as such. Concerning our getting immediate access to the queen, Po-Po told us it was rather doubtful; she living at that time very retired, in poor health and spirits, and averse to receiving calls. Previous to her misfortunes, however, no one, however humble, was denied admittance to her presence; sailors, even, attended her levees.

  Not at all disheartened by these things, we concluded to kill time in Partoowye, until some event turned up more favorable to our projects. So that very day we sallied out on an excursion to the ship, which, lying land-locked, far up the bay, yet remained to be visited.

  Passing, on our route, a long, low shed, a voice, hailed us—“White men ahoy!” Turning round, who should we see but a rosy-cheeked Englishman (you could tell his country at a glance), up to his knees in shavings, and planing away at a bench. He turned out to be a runaway ship’s carpenter, recently from Tahiti, and now doing a profitable business in Imeeo, by fitting up the dwellings of opulent chiefs with cupboards and other conveniences, and once in a while trying his hand at a lady’s workbox. He had been in the settlement but a few months, and already possessed houses and lands.

  But though blessed with prosperity and high health, there was one thing wanting—a wife. And when he came to speak of the matter, his countenance fell, and he leaned dejectedly upon his plane.

  “It’s too bad!” he sighed, “to wait three long years; and all the while, dear little Lullee living in the same house with that infernal chief from Tahar!”

  Our curiosity was piqued; the poor carpenter, then, had been falling in love with some island coquet, who was going to jilt him.

  But such was not the case. There was a law prohibiting, under a heavy penalty, the marriage of a native with a foreigner, unless the latter, after being three years a resident on the island, was willing to affirm his settled intention of remaining for life.

  William was therefore in a sad way. He told us that he might have married the girl half-a-dozen times, had it not been for this odious law; but, latterly, she had become less loving and more giddy, particularly with the strangers from Tahar. Desperately smitten, and desirous of securing her at all hazards, he had proposed to the damsel’s friends a nice little arrangement, introductory to marriage; but they would not hear of it; besides, if the pair were discovered living together upon such a footing, they would be liable to a degrading punishment:—sent to work making stone walls and opening roads for the queen.

  Doctor Long Ghost was all sympathy. “Bill, my good fellow,” said he, tremulously, “let me go and talk to her.” But Bill, declining the offer, would not even inform us where his charmer lived.

  Leaving the disconsolate Willie planing a plank of New Zealand pine (an importation from the Bay of Islands), and thinking the while of Lullee,2 we went on our way. How his suit prospered in the end, we never learned.

  Going from Po-Po’s house toward the anchorage of the harbor of Taloo, you catch no glimpse of the water, until coming out from deep groves, you all at once find yourself upon the beach. A bay, considered by many voyagers the most beautiful in the South Seas, then lies before you. You stand upon one side of what seems a deep, green river, flowing through mountain passes to the sea. Right opposite, a majestic promontory divides the inlet from another, called after its discoverer, Captain Cook. The face of this promontory toward Taloo is one verdant wall; and at its base the waters lie still, and fathomless. On the left hand, you just catch a peep of the widening mouth of the bay, the break in the reef by which ships enter, and beyond, the sea. To the right, the inlet, sweeping boldly round the promontory, runs far away into the land; where, save in one direction, the hills close in on every side, knee-deep in verdure, and shooting aloft in grotesque peaks. The open space lies at the head of the bay; in the distance it extends into a broad, hazy plain lying at the foot of an amphitheatre of hills. Here is the large sugar plantation previously alluded to. Beyond the first range of hills, you descry the sharp pinnacles of the interior; and among these, the same silent Marling-spike, which we so often admired from the other side of the island.

  All alone in the harbor lay the good ship Leviathan.3 We jumped into the canoe, and paddled off to her. Though early in the afternoon, every thing was quiet; but upon mounting the side, we found four or five sailors lounging about the forecastle, under an awning. They gave us no very cordial reception; and though otherwise quite hearty in appearance, seemed to assume a look of ill-humor on purpose to honor our arrival. There was much eagerness to learn whether we wanted to “ship;” and by the unpleasant accounts they gave of the vessel, they seemed desirous to prevent such a thing, if possible.

  We asked where the rest of the ship’s company were; a gruff old fellow made answer, “One boat’s crew of ’em is gone to Davy Jones’s locker:—went off after a whale, last cruise, and never come back agin. All the starboard watch ran away last night, and the skipper’s ashore kitching ’em.”

  “And it’s shipping yer after, my jewels, is it?” cried a curlypated little Belfast sailor, coming up to us, “thin arrah! my livelies, jist be after sailing ashore in a jiffy:—the divil of a skipper will carry yees both to sea, whether or no. Be off wid ye, thin, darlints, and steer clear of the likes of this ballyhoo of blazes as long as ye live. They murther us here every day, and starve us into the bargain. Here, Dick, lad, harl the poor divils’ canow alongside; and paddle away wid yees for dear life.”