In the Wrong Paradise, and Other Stories Page 5

  IV. AT THE CHIEF'S HOUSE.

  The chief leading the way, I followed through the open entrance of thecourtyard. The yard was very spacious, and under the dark shade of thetrees I could see a light here and there in the windows of small hutsalong the walls, where, as I found later, the slaves and the young men ofthe family slept. In the middle of the space there was another altar, Iam sorry to say; indeed, there were altars everywhere. I never heard ofa people so religious, in their own darkened way, as these islanders. Atthe further end of the court was a really large and even stately house,with no windows but a clerestory, indicated by the line of light fromwithin, flickering between the top of the wall and the beginning of thehigh-pitched roof. Light was also streaming through the wide doorway,from which came the sound of many voices. The house was obviously fullof people, and, just before we reached the deep verandah, a roofed spaceopen to the air in front, they began to come out, some of them singing.They had flowers in their hair, and torches in their hands. The chief,giving me a sign to be silent, drew me apart within the shadow of a planetree, and we waited there till the crowd dispersed, and went, I presume,to their own houses. There were no women among them, and the men carriedno spears nor other weapons. When the court was empty, we walked up thebroad stone steps and stood within the doorway. I was certainly muchsurprised at what I saw. There was a rude magnificence about this housesuch as I had never expected to find in the South Sea Islands. Nay,though I am not unacquainted with the abodes of opulence at home, andhave been a favoured guest of some of our merchant princes (includingMessrs. Bunton, the eminent haberdashers, whose light is so generouslybestowed on our Connection), I admit that I had never looked on a morespacious reception-room, furnished, of course, in a somewhat savagemanner, but, obviously, regardless of expense. The very thresholdbetween the court and the reception-room, to which you descended bysteps, was made of some dark metal, inlaid curiously with figures ofbeasts and birds, also in metal (gold, as I afterwards learned), ofvarious shades of colour and brightness.

  At first I had some difficulty in making out the details of the vastapartment which lay beyond. I was almost dizzy with hunger and fatigue,and my view was further obscured by a fragrant blue smoke, which rose insoft clouds from an open fireplace in the middle of the room. Singularto say, there was no chimney, merely a hole in the lofty roof, throughwhich most of the smoke escaped. The ceiling itself, which was supportedby carved rafters, was in places quite black with the vapour of manyyears. The smoke, however, was thin, and as the fuel on the fire, and onthe braziers, was of dry cedar and sandal-wood, the perfume, thoughheavy, was not unpleasant. The room was partly illuminated by the fireitself, partly by braziers full of blazing branches of trees; but, whatwas most remarkable, there were rows of metal images of young men (naked,I am sorry to say), with burning torches in their hands, ranged all alongthe side walls.

  A good deal of taste, in one sense, had been expended in making theseimages, and money had clearly been no object. I might have been somewhatdazzled by the general effect, had I not reflected that, in my owncountry, gas is within reach of the poorest purse, while the electriclight itself may be enjoyed by the very beggar in the street. Here, onthe contrary, the dripping of the wax from the torches, the black smokeon the roof, the noisy crackling of the sandal-wood in the braziers, allcombined to prove that these natives, though ingenious enough in theirway, were far indeed below the level of modern civilization. Theabominable ceremony of the afternoon would have proved as much, and nowthe absence of true _comfort_, even in the dwelling of a chief, made methink once more of the hardships of a missionary's career.

  But I must endeavour to complete the picture of domestic life in theisland, which I now witnessed for the first time, and which will never beseen again by Europeans. The walls themselves were of some dark butglittering metal, on which designs in lighter metal were inlaid. Therewere views of the chief going to the chase, his bow in his hand; of thechief sacrificing to idols; of men and young women engaged in the soul-destroying practice of promiscuous dancing; there were wild beasts, lionsamong others; rivers, with fish in them; mountains, trees, the sun andmoon, and stars, all not by any means ill designed, for the work ofnatives. The pictures, indeed, reminded me a good deal of the uglyAssyrian curiosities in the British Museum, as I have seen them whenconducting the children of the Bungletonian Band of Hope through therooms devoted to the remains of Bible peoples, such as the Egyptians,Hittites, and others.

  Red or blue curtains, strangely embroidered, hung over the doors, andtrophies of swords, shields, and spears, not of steel, but of some darkermetal, were fixed on the tall pillars that helped to prop the roof. Atthe top of the wall, just beneath the open unglazed spaces, whichadmitted light and air in the daytime, and wind and rain in bad weather,was a kind of frieze, or coping, of some deep blue material. {30} Allalong the sides of the hall ran carved seats, covered with pretty lightembroidered cloths, not very different from modern Oriental fabrics. Thecarpets and rugs were precisely like those of India and Persia, and Isupposed that they must have been obtained through commerce. But Iafterwards learned that they were, beyond doubt, of native manufacture.

  At the further end of the room was a kind of platform, or dais, on whichtables were set with fruit and wine. But much more curious than thefurniture of the hall was the group of women sitting by the fire in thecentre. There sat in two rows some twenty girls, all busily weaving, andthrowing the shuttle from hand to hand, laughing and chattering in lowvoices. In the midst of them, on a high chair of cedar-wood, decoratedwith ivory, and with an ivory footstool, sat a person whom, in acivilized country, one must have looked on with respect as a lady of highrank. She, like her husband the chief, had a golden circlet twisted inher hair, which was still brown and copious, and she wore an appearanceof command.

  At her feet, on a stool, reclined a girl who was, I must confess, ofsingular beauty. Doto had long fair hair, a feature most unusual amongthese natives. She had blue eyes, and an appearance of singularinnocence and frankness. She was, at the moment, embroidering a piece ofwork intended, as I afterwards learned with deep pain, for the coveringof one of their idols, to whose service the benighted young woman wasdevoted. Often in after days, I saw Doto stooping above her embroideryand deftly interweaving the green and golden threads into the patterns ofbeasts and flowers. Often my heart went out to this poor child of pagantribe, and I even pleased myself with the hope that some day, a reclaimedand enlightened character, she might employ her skill in embroideringslippers and braces for a humble vessel. I seemed to see her, a helpmatemeet for me, holding Mothers' Meetings, playing hymn-tunes on the lyre,or the double pipes, the native instruments, and, above all, winning theislanders from their cruel and abominable custom of exposing their infantchildren on the mountains. How differently have all things beenarranged.

  But I am wandering from my story. When we reached the group by thefireside, who had at first been unaware of our entrance, the chief's wifegave a slight start, alarmed doubtless by my appearance. She could neverhave seen, nor even dreamed of, such a spectacle as I must havepresented, haggard, ragged, faint with hunger, and worn with fatigue as Iwas. The chief motioned to me that I should kneel at his wife's feet,and kiss her hand, but I merely bowed, not considering this a fit momentto protest otherwise against such sacrilegious mummeries. But thewoman--her name I learned later was Ocyale--did not take my attitude inbad part. The startled expression of her face changed to a look of pity,and, with a movement of her hand, she directed Doto to bring a largegolden cup from the table at the upper end of the room. Into this cupshe ladled some dark liquid from a bowl which was placed on a small three-legged stand, or dumb waiter, close to her side. Next she spilt a littleof the wine on the polished floor, with an appearance of gravity which Idid not understand. It appears that this spilling of wine is a drinkoffering to their idols. She then offered me the cup, which I was aboutto taste, when I perceived that the liquor was indubitably _alcohol
ic_!

  A total abstainer, I had, I am thankful to say, strength enough to resistthe temptation thus adroitly thrust upon me. Setting down the cup, Ipointed to the badge of blue ribbon, which, though damp and colourless,remained faithful to my button-hole. I also made signs I was hungry, andwould be glad of something to eat. My gestures, as far as the blueribbon went, must have been thrown away, of course, but any one couldunderstand that I was fainting from hunger. The mistress of the housecalled to one of the spinning girls, who rose and went within the dooropening from the platform at the upper end of the room. She presentlyreturned with an old woman, a housekeeper, as we would say, and obviouslya faithful and familiar servant. After some conversation, of which I wasprobably the topic, the old woman hobbled off, laughing. She soon cameback, bringing, to my extreme delight, a basket with cakes and goatcheese, and some cold pork in a dish.

  I ought, perhaps, to say here that, in spite of the luxury of theirappointments, and their extraordinary habit of "eating and drinking allday to the going down of the sun" (as one of their own poets says), theseislanders are by no means good cooks. I have tasted of more savourymeats, dressed in coverings of leaves on hot stones, in Maori pahs, or inNew Caledonian villages, than among the comparatively civilized nativesof the country where I now found myself. Among the common people,especially, there was no notion of hanging or keeping meat. Often have Iseen a man kill a hog on the floor of his house, cut it up, toast it, asone may say, at the fire, and then offer the grilled and frequently under-done flesh to his guests. Invariably the guests are obliged to witnessthe slaughter of the animal which is to supply their dinner. Thisslaughter is performed as a kind of sacrifice; the legs of the beast arethe portions of the gods, and are laid, with bits of fat, upon thealtars. Then chops, or rather kabobs, of meat are hacked off, spitted,and grilled or roasted at the fire. Consequently all the meat tasted inthis island is actually "meat offered to idols."

  When I made this discovery the shock was very great, and I feared I wasrepeating a sin denounced from the earliest ages. But what was I to do?Not the meat only, but the vegetables, the fruit, the grain, the veryfish (which the natives never eat except under stress of great hunger),were sacred to one or other of their innumerable idols. I must eat, orstarve myself to death--a form of suicide. I therefore made up my mindto eat without scruple, remembering that the gods of the nations arenothing at all, but the fancies of vain dreamers, and the invention ofgreedy and self-seeking priests.

  These scruples were of later growth, after I had learned that their mealswere invariably preceded by a sacrifice, partly to provide the food,partly as grace before meat. On the present occasion I made an excellentsupper, though put to a good deal of inconvenience by the want of forks,which were entirely unknown on the island. Finding that I would nottaste the alcoholic liquor, which the natives always mixed with a largeproportion of water, Doto rose, went out, and returned with a great bowlof ivy-wood, curiously carved, and full of milk. In this permittedbeverage, as my spirits were rising, I drank the young lady's health,indicating my gratitude as well as I could. She bowed gracefully, andreturned to her task of embroidery. Meanwhile her father and mother weredeep in conversation, and paid no attention to me, obviouslyunderstanding that my chief need was food. I could not but see that theface of the chief's wife was overclouded, probably with anxiety caused bythe prophecy of which I was, or was taken for, the subject.

  When my hunger was satisfied, I fell, it seems, into a kind of doze, fromwhich I was wakened by the noise of people rising, moving, and pushingback chairs. I collected my senses, and perceived that the room wasalmost dark, most of the inmates had gone, and the chief was lighting atorch at one of the braziers. This torch he placed in my hand,indicating, as I understood, that I was to put myself under the guidanceof two of the young women who had been spinning. At this I was somewhatperplexed, but followed where they went before me, each of them holding aburning torch. The light flared and the smoke drifted among thecorridors, till we came within sound of running water. In a lofty greenchamber was a large bath of polished marble, carved with shapes of menarmed with pitchforks, and employed in spearing fish. The bath was fullof clear water, of somewhat higher than tepid heat, and the stream,welling up in one part, flowed out in another, not splashing or spilling.The young women now brought flasks of oil, large sponges, such as arecommon in these seas, and such articles of dress as are worn by the menamong the natives. But, to my astonishment, the girls showed nointention of going away, and it soon became evident _that they meant toassist me in my toilet_! I had some difficulty in getting them tounderstand the indecorum of their conduct, or rather (for I doubt if theyunderstood it after all) in prevailing on them to leave me. I afterwardslearned that this custom, shocking as it appears to Europeans, isregarded as entirely right and usual even by the better class ofislanders; nor, to do them justice, have I ever heard any imputations onthe morality of their women. Except among the shepherds andshepherdesses in the rural districts, whose conduct was very regardless,a high standard of modesty prevailed among the female natives. In this,I need not say, they were a notable exception among Polynesian races.

  Left to my own devices by the retreat of the young women, I revelled inthe pleasures of the bath, and then the question arose, How was I to beclothed?

  I had, of course, but one shirt with me, and that somewhat frayed andworn. My boots, too, were almost useless from their prolonged immersionin salt water. Yet I could not bring myself to adopt the peculiar dressof the natives, though the young persons had left in the bath-roomchanges of raiment such as are worn by the men of rank. These garmentswere simple, and not uncomfortable, but, as they showed the legs from theknees downwards, like kilts, I felt that they would be unbecoming to onein my position.

  Almost the chief distinction between civilized man and the savage, is thewearing of trousers. When a missionary in Tongo, and prime minister ofKing Haui Ha there, I made the absence of breeches in the males anoffence punishable by imprisonment. Could I, on my very first appearanceamong the islanders to-morrow, fly, as it were, in the face of my ownrules, and prove false to my well-known and often expressed convictions?I felt that such backsliding was impossible. On mature consideration,therefore, I made the following arrangement.

  The garments of the natives, when they condescended to wear any, were buttwo in number. First, there was a long linen or woollen shirt or smock,without sleeves, which fell from the neck to some distance below theknees. This shirt I put on. A belt is generally worn, into which thefolds of the smock can be drawn up or "kilted," when the wearer wishes tohave his limbs free for active exercise. The other garment is simply alarge square piece of stuff, silken or woollen as it happens inaccordance with the weather, and the rank of the wearer. In this a manswathes himself, somewhat as a Highlander does in his plaid, pinning itover the shoulder and leaving the arms free. When one is accustomed toit, this kind of dress is not uncomfortable, and many of the youngerbraves carried it with a good deal of grace, showing some fancy andoriginality in the dispositions of the folds. Though attired in thisbarbarous guise, I did not, of course, dispense with my trousers, which,being black, contrasted somewhat oddly with my primrose-coloured ki ton,as they call the smock, and the dark violet clamis, or plaid. When thenatives do not go bareheaded, they usually wear a kind of light, softwideawake, but this. I discarded in favour of my hat, which had alreadyproduced so remarkable an effect on their superstitious minds.

  Now I was dressed, as fittingly as possible in the circumstances, but Ifelt that my chief need was a bed to lie down upon. I did not wish tosleep in the bath-room, so, taking my torch from the stand in which I hadplaced it, I sallied forth into the corridors, attired as I havedescribed, and carrying my coat under my arm. A distant light, and thenoise of females giggling, which increased most indecorously as I drewnear, attracted my attention. Walking in the direction of the sounds, Isoon discovered the two young women to whose charge I had been committedby the
chief. They appeared to be in high spirits, and, seizing my armsbefore I could offer any resistance, they dragged me at a great pace downthe passage and out into the verandah. Here the air was very fragrantand balmy, and a kind of comfortable "shakedown" of mattresses, coveredwith coloured blankets, had been laid for me in a corner. I lay down assoon as the sound of the young women's merriment died out in thedistance, and after the extraordinary events of the night, I was soonsleeping as soundly as if I had been in my father's house at HackneyWick.