THE CRUISE OF THE
JANET NIC HOr
MRS, R.L. STJBVEJVSOJV
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The Cruise of the "Janet Nichol
Mr. amd Mrs. Robtrl Louis Stetrnson on the bridge of the " Jaiul SichoV
The Cruise of the
"Janet Nichol"
Among the
South Sea Islands
A Diary by
Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson
London
Chatto & Windus
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Copyifght, 1914. by Charles Scribner's Sons, for thfe
L'nlted States of America
Printed by the Scribner Press
New York, U. S. A.
PREFACE
It is always necessary to make certain elisions
in a diary not meant for publication at the time
of writing. For many reasons "The Cruise of the
Janet NichoV has been pruned rather severely.
It was, originally, only intended to be a collec-
tion of hints to help my husband's memory where
his own diary had fallen in arrears; consequently,
it frequently happened that incidents given m my
diary were re-written (to their great betterment),
amplified, and used in his. I have deleted these as
far as possible, though not always completely;
also things pertaining to the private affairs of
other persons, and, naturally, our own. I fear the
allusions to the Devil Box may seem obscure. It
happened that my husband wrote a complete de-
scription of the purchase of the Devil Box m
his own diary, so it seemed necessary for me to
note further references to it, but nothmg more.
In the minute description, almost like a catalogue,
of the articles in the different buildmgs m the
island of Suwarrow, I must appear to have gone
to the opposite extreme. At that time my husband
[v]
Pr efa ce
had an idea of writing a South Sea island romance
where he might wish to use such pathetic and
tragic flotsam and jetsam from wrecked ships and
wrecked Hves. At the risk of tedium I have let it
stand, hoping that some one else may see the in-
tangible things I beheld.
One reason I have hesitated a little to give for
publishing this diary, is the extraordinary num-
ber of books now being printed purporting to
give accurate accounts of our lives on board ship
and elsewhere, by persons with whom we were
very slightly acquainted, or had never consciously
met. I have read, among other misstatements, of
the making of the flag for Tembinoka, by the
writer and my daughter on the beach at Apemama.
The flag was designed by me,on board the schooner
Equator^ and made, in the most prosaic manner,
by a firm in Sydney. No one, outside our immediate
family, sailed with us on any of our cruises. All
the books "With Stevenson" here, and "With
Stevenson" there, are manufactured out of "such
stufi^ as dreams are made on," and false in almost
every particular. Contrary to the general idea,
my husband was a man of few intimate friends,
and even with these he was reticent to a degree.
I his diary was written under the most adverse
cDndirions — sometimes on the damp, upturned
[vi]
P refa ce
bottom of a canoe or whaleboat, sometimes when
lying face down on the burning sands of the
tropic beach, often in copra sheds in the midst
of a pandemonium of noise and confusion, but
oftener on board the roUing Janet (whose pet
name was the Jumping Je^iny) to the accompani-
ment of "Tin Jack's" incessant and inconsequent
conversation — but never in comfortable surround-
ings. For such inadequate results the labour re-
quired was tremendously out of proportion, giv-
ing my diary a sort of fictitious value in the eyes
of my husband, who wished to save it from obliv-
ion by publication. The little book, however dull
it may seem to others, can boast of at least one
reader, for I have gone over this record of perhaps
the happiest period of my life with thrilling in-
terest.
Fanny V. de G. Stevenson.
[ vii ]
ILLUSTRATIONS
Mr. and Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson on the bridge of
the Janet Nichol Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Map to illustrate the cruise of the Janet Nichol,
April nth-July 2Sth, 1890 i
Outside of the great dance-house, Butaritari, during
the competition between the dancers of Butaritari
and those of Little Makin 2
Maka and Mary Maka, Kanoa and Mrs. Maria Kanoa,
Hawaiian missionaries of the American Board of
Missions, Honolulu, on the Island of Butaritari, one
of the Gilbert Islands 4
Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson in company with Nan Tok
and Natakanti on Butaritari Island 6
The Janet Nichol with ship's company 20
The King of Manihiki in the centre, with the island
judge on his right and Tin Jack, seated, on his left 40
Natives dancing 48
Penrhyn Island 52
Figurehead from a wrecked ship on the veranda of the
white trader's house, Penrhyn Island 56
The Janet Nichol at anchor off Penrhyn Island ... 64
View of deserted buildings on Suwarrow Island. The
man seated in the centre is Tin Jack 74
[ix]
Illustrations
FACtNG PACE
1 he scttlc-iiK-iit on Nassau Island 78
Missionary from a civilized island, and some of her
converts 80
Native boys setting sail on S. S. Janet Nichol .... 96
Tom Day — a trader of Noukanau Island 120
" Equator Town," showing corner of the sleeping-house,
and cook-house 128
"The Baron and Baroness," Butaritari, one of the
Gilbert Islands 132
Interior of the moniop of Tembinoka's harem . . . 136
A Marshall Island canoe I40
Speak House, Island of Maraki I44
White trader and his wife "Topsy," Majuro Island . . 152
Kaibukc — one of the kings of Majuro 158
Harem and little son of King Tembinoka on board the
Janet Nichol passing from Aranuka to Apemama . . 162
Dance at Apemama 166
x]
The Cruise of the ''Janet Nichol"
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1 . : ^.i^.^ — 1 II
THE CRUISE OF THE
*'JANET NICHOL"
The Janet Nichol was an iron-screw cargo
boat, topsail schooner rigged, of some six hun-
dred tons gross. Her large, airy saloon and cabins
were placed amidship on the main deck, with
ports opening forward, the ''trade room" being
at the extreme aft. There was a comfortable
bathroom and space enough on deck for exercise;
but, for that matter, we might walk, sit, or sleep
where we would. I have slept in the chart room
and on the platform of the captain's bridge;
though the after hatch, over which a great awn-
ing was spread, was the place chosen by the most
of us for permanent night quarters. Here some
swung in hammocks, some lay on mats, while the
more luxurious carried blankets and pillows back
and forth each night and morning. For me four
mats were hung in a square; the mats, being
loosely woven, did not cut off the current of air
that usually swept over the hatch nor, unfortu-
nately, the terrible groans of one of the mates who
slept near m.e and was subject to nightmares.
[I]
The Cruise of
Our mess consisted of Mr. Henderson, a mem-
ber of the company that owned the vessel; Cap-
tain Henry, saiHng-master; Mr. Hird, supercargo;
Mr. Stoddard, engineer; Mr. Buckland, commonly
called Tin Jack (Tin being the island equivalent
for Mr.), a trader of the company returning to
his station, my husband, my son Lloyd, and
myself. The Janet carried a crew of about nine
white men and some forty-odd black boys from
the different islands of the Solomons and the
New Hebrides.
We left Sydney on the nth of April with a
head wind and heavy seas until we arrived at
Auckland, making seven days from port to port.
April iSth, 1890.— At Auckland in time for
dinner. Went on shore and dined at a hotel with
the supercargo and Tin Jack. Louis and I slept
at the hotel witli the understanding that Tin
Jack and Lloyd should meet us in the morning
with a shopping list. Immediately on our arrival
in Auckland a strange cat jumped through a
port-hole and now remains on board.
19^/1. — Bouglit a broadcloth coat for Maka
and a good black silk dress for Mary. As the
Janet was bound for "the South Seas" and
nothing more definite, we thought it better to
[2]
the ''Janet Nichol
carry presents in case we found ourselves in the
neighbourhood of Butaritari.^ I came back to
the hotel in advance of Tin Jack and Lloyd, who
stopped to buy fireworks for the entertainment
of Tin Jack's native retainers. Besides the fire-
works, which included ten pounds of "calcium
fire," Tin Jack has also purchased cartridges,
grease-paints, a false nose, and a wig.
1 We had met the Hawaiian missionary Maka and
his wife Mary on our second South Sea cruise at Bu-
taritari, one of the low islands belonging to the Kings-
mill group. Maka and his wife being away at the time,
by the advice of the resident trader we had burglari-
ously entered and taken possession of the missionaries'
comfortable little wooden house, where we made our-
selves at home while we complacently awaited the ar-
rival of our involuntary host. Having thus identified
ourselves with the missionary party, and laid ourselves
under such heavy obligations to them, we felt bound
to forego many amusements and friendships, other-
wise interesting, that would have been objectionable to
Maka. However, during the time of the great festival,
when the neighbouring islanders of Little Makin (called
by the traders "Little Muggin") came over, in answer
to a challenge from the Butaritaris to dance against
them for what sportsmen would call "the charnpion-
ship," Maka retired into discreet obscurity, giving us
an opportunity to become acquainted with the King of
Little Makin and to attend the heathen dances. But
Maka and Mary remained our most real friends in
spite of our momentary defection toward Makin.
[3]
The Cruise of
Lloyd was a little doubtful about the calcium
fire and questioned the man at the chemist shop
rather closely, particularly as to its inflamma-
bility, explaining that it was to be carried on
board ship. The man declared that it was per-
fectly safe, "as safe," said he, "as a packet of
sugar," adding that fire from a match would not
When we left Butaritari we could find nothing suitable
to offer them as parting gifts, in the island fashion, and
to show our gratitude for their many almost over-
whelming kindnesses; hence the silk dress and clergy-
man's frock coat. Two other friends, consistent con-
verts to Christianity, to whom we also carried presents,
we left behind us with regret, Nan Tok and his wife;
but they were of a different sort from Maka and Mary,
being natives of Butaritari and, from Maka's point of
view, quite uncivilised, as, in ordinary life the lady
(there are only ladies in the South Seas, woman being
a word that is tapu in all society, high or low), a rich,
high chief woman, wore the ridi only, while for full
dress she appeared in a white chemise fresh from the
trader's shelves with the marks where it had been
folded still showing. My first meeting with Nan Tok
and his wife was rather alarming. The King had raised
the tapu from drink, consequently, the entire island,
including his dull majesty, was wildly drunk on " sour
toddy" (the fermented sap of the flower-stalk of the
cocoanut), which is the most dangerous intoxicant in
the world, as it incites in its users a frenzied desire
to shed blood. During this period of licence I acci-
dentally came upon two women fighting together like
[4l
the ''Janet N i c ho I ' '
be sufficient to ignite it. "Will you have it with
or without fumes?" he asked as he turned to
make up the parcel. The thrifty trader thought
that he might as well get all he could for the money
expended, therefore took it with fumes.
On Board in the Afternoon. — A little trouble
with the trades-union, but nothing serious. Mr.
wild beasts, their teeth sunk into each other's faces,
which were streaming blood. "Oh, what is the mat-
ter?" I cried. "Sour toddy," replied the woman to
whom I spoke, casting a contemptuous glance over
her shoulder as she passed on.
In the circumstances it was thought unsafe for me
to leave our own small premises, but one quiet after-
noon I broke bounds and went over to the weather
side of the island to hunt for shells. Here a strange
man and woman joined me; they were not reassuring
companions, judging from outer appearances, as they
were unkempt, clad in nothing but a small fragment,
each, of dirty, old gunny sack, and their faces were
haggard and anxious. At first they walked with me as
I went about my business of gathering shells, but
presently, seeming to tire of this amusement, they
began to crowd me off the beach toward the land;
then seizing me by the arms, one on either side, they
boldly marched me into a narrow, crooked path that
led through the clustering cocoanut-trees with which
the island was heavily wooded. As I reluctantly moved
along beside my captors, the lady, evidently with a
kindly feeling for my comfort, drew a clay pipe from
out an enormous hole in her ear, stuffed it with strong,
[5]
The Cruise of
W , a bookseller, who had recognised Louis
from a published portrait, called in the evening.
He kindly offered to get pistol cartridges for us,
and after a few minutes' conversation ran away
after them, returning just as we were about to
leave, with a couple hundred or thereabouts.
coarse tobacco, lif^hted it, puffed a moment, and then
placed it in my mouth. As I could not guess whether
their intentions were hostile or otherwise and all the
warnings I had received flashed through my mind, with
sublime courage I accepted the situation. But it was a
solemn experience. We emerged from the palms to
find the town in a turbulent uproar, the street in front
of our house filled with a howling, fighting, drunken
mob. It was a great relief to find we were just in front
of my own door; the two natives held me fast until
we were safely on the little veranda, when, to my
astonishment, the man fell on his knees and offered up
a fervent prayer.
So began our friendship with Nan Tok and his wife
(my husband al\va}'s called them the "baron and
baroness"). They told us afterward with what an.x-
iety they had watched me wander through the woods
alone; then how, after a heated argument as to the
proper means to pursue, they concluded to force me
back to safety. The incident of the pipe was an at-
tempt to conciliate me because of a supposed fiery
gleam in my eyes that disconcerted them. The prayer
was one of thanks for the outcome of their adventure
and a petition that this should prove the beginning of
a new friendship that should be blessed to us all.
[6]
the ''Janet N i cho I ' *
The fireworks were sent aboard with other par-
cels, and, having no distinguishing marks, Lloyd
put them all, along with our cartridges, on his
bunk until Tin Jack, whose cabin he shared,
should come below and sort them out. Among
them should be a pistol Tin Jack had taken to
have mended, belonging to Louis.
20th. — We left Auckland last evening at about
eight, the streaming lights from the town follow-
ing us a long way. A small, half-grown dog has
joined the ship's company.
Between ten and eleven Louis was lying in his
cabin very tired and glad to rest. Tin Jack and
Lloyd were in Mr. Henderson's cabin drinking
coffee and discussing "land booms." I sat at the
saloon table eating brown bread and butter.
Suddenly, from the cabin occupied by Tin Jack
and Lloyd, came a spitting pufF, almost immedi-
ately followed by gorgeous flames and the most
horrible chemical stench. The calcium fire that
was as safe as a packet of sugar had gone off and
ignited the rest of the fireworks. Only Lloyd and
I knew of the cartridges in their midst, but we
discreetly held our tongues, though every moment
we expected to hear the ping of flying bullets. I
ran into our cabin and snatched a heavy red
blanket. At the same time Mr. Henderson was
[7]
T h c C r n Is c of
fetching a large, handsome woollen rug from his
cabin. I felt for a hand to put the blanket in, for
the place was so full of suffocating vapour that
one could see nothing but the many-hued flames
darting through it. Fortunately, it was the cap-
tain's hand I delivered my blanket into. Rid of
my blanket, I ran back and thrust my head out
of a port to get a breath of air; the ports, although
they were the means of fanning the flames, could
not be shut on account of the strangling fumes.
Here Mr. Henderson, who had been for some min-
utes lying on the stairs quite insensible, came to
fetch me out; so, catching his hand, I ran through
the saloon to the companionway and up to the
deck.
Louis, who knew nothing of the fireworks hav-
ing been brought on board, was thunderstruck by
the vivid changing colours of the spouts of flame,
and stood for some time gazing at the extraor-
dinary scene and inhaling the poisonous vapours,
"Why," he thought with wonder, "should a fire
at sea look like a Christmas pantomime?" His
amazement was so great that he was hardly con-
scious of the fumes.
The captain, from the bridge, had seen heavy
vapour pouring upward and was both puzzled
and angry, thinking the engineer was letting off"
[8]
the '^ Janet Nichol'*
steam for purposes of his own. The stuff must,
therefore, have been smouldering for a consider-
able time before it burst into flames, the draught
carrying the smoke out of the open port instead
of into the saloon, so that our first knowledge of
an3^thing amiss came from the bursting of rockets
into the saloon. As the captain was looking at the
supposed column of steam there suddenly shot
through it, rising high into the air, a shaft of blue,
green, and red fire. Ordering the donkey-engine
to pump water and the hose to be put on, he ran
below and crawled into the very centre of the fire
with the blanket, rug, and hose, and succeeded in
smothering the flames none too soon for the safety
of the ship; he said afterward that had the wind
come from a different quarter, or had the car-
tridges exploded, nothing could have saved us.
There was no panic among our black boys, who
worked swiftly and obediently; I rather suspect
they enjoyed the excitement of the affair. Talk-
ing it over, the captain said how lucky it was that
he had a man at the wheel that he could trust.
Lloyd and I said nothing, but we both knew
there had been no man at the wheel; the trusted
one ran below with the rest. It was a rather danger-
ous moment to leave the ship drifting, for we were
not nearly out of the harbour, being just opposite
[9]
The Cruise of
the lighthouse when the fire broke out. A steamer
passed us quite closel}^ when the scene was at its
wildest. Coloured hre and thick white vapour
belching from our ports must have given us a
very strange and alarming aspect. Lloyd looked
over the opposite side of our ship and saw the
ports there, also, vomiting vapour like a factory.
To our surprise the cartridge-boxes were only
slightly scorched. Our personal loss, however, has
been very severe. About ninety photographs were
destroyed and all of Lloyd's clothes except those
on his back. Neither he nor I have even a
tooth-brush left. The annoying thing is that Tin
Jack has lost nothing whatever. Lloyd is very
bitter about the discrimination shown in the mat-
ter of trousers by the fire. I stopped a couple of
black boys just in time to prevent them throw-
ing overboard a blazing valise containing four
large boxes of Louis' papers. A black bag, its con-
tents at present unknown, is burned, and innu-
merable small necessaries that conduce to comfort
on shipboard are lost. I have ever since been in
a tremor lest Louis have a haemorrhage. If he
does I shall feel inclined to do something very des-
perate to the chemist, who, for the sake of a few
shillings, put us all in such deadly peril. A horrid
smell still hangs about the place and every one
[lO]
the ' 'Janet N ichol "
feels ill. Though I hardly breathed in the room, I
have a heavy oppression on my chest, and my
throat and lungs burn as though I were inhaling
pepper. From the time we left Auckland the water
has been as smooth as glass, and there has been
no jarring or knocking about; the stuff must
have gone off by simple spontaneous combustion.
Had it taken place a very little later, Tin Jack
must have been sleeping in the berth above, and
should undoubtedly have been suffocated.
2ist. — Still drying the remains of Lloyd's clothes,
burned and wet in the fire, and discovering more
and more losses. Fortunately, the flag I had made
for King Tembinoka was not injured at all (a
royal standard I invented for him). The flag for
the island I had already sent, and the cartridge-
belt Lloyd is taking to him for a present is only
a Httle smudged.^ Both our cameras escaped as
by magic.
^ This flag was designed on a former cruise after we
had left Apemama, the principal of the three islands
comprising the group under King Tembinoka, the last
of the absolute monarchs of the South Seas. The
King had asked that we send him a flag, so one evening,
on board the schooner Equator, we each drew and col-
oured a flag. These were voted on by the ship's
company. It happened that mine was unanimously
chosen. The three cross-bars, red, yellow, and green,
[ii]
The C?'uise of
Louis has been playing chess with the captain,
who has not played before for many years. I have
been making wreaths of artificial flowers for pres-
ents to the natives. I bought in Sydney several
large boxes of old-fashioned artificial flowers, per-
fectly fresh and pretty, also green leaves unwired.
For one pound and three shillings I got enough
for twenty full wreaths and eighteen more to be
worked up with coloured feathers. I do not think
the natives will enjoy getting the wreaths any
more than I enjoy making them.- (One of our
were intended to stand for the three islands, while
the black shnrk lyinp; across the bars was meant to
be typical of Tembinoka's ancestry. The King's line
was not lost in obscurity; he gave us almost embarassing
details of the first of his forebears, who sprang from a
liaison between a beautiful lady and a shark. The draw-
ings I made on the Equator were taken to a firm in
Sydney that did such work; they turned out a couple
of very gorgeous flags that were quite to the taste of
his majesty. The house flag had a white crown over
the head of the shark (a little diff"crcnt shape from that
on the island flag). I chose for the motto "I bite
triply," which referred not only to the King's three
islands, but to the three rows of teeth peculiar to the
shark.
- Very few flowers are found in the atolls, wherefore
the natives, who use wreaths for every festive occasion,
arc forced to devise all sorts of makeshifts for the gar-
lands that are considered almost necessities. I have
[12]
the ^ ' J an et N i chol ' '
sailors appeared on duty in a garland and neck-
lace of orange-peel.) The sea is smooth and the
weather perfect.
zid. — The weather still lovely. Saw a small
island called Curtis Island, and at half past ten
sighted Sunday Island. The captain kindly took
us very close in that we might get a good photo-
graph. A pufF of smoke appeared on the horizon,
supposed to be a steamer; great excitement. I
ran to write letters and found Mr. Henderson do-
ing the same; but alas, the ship, which looked like
a man-of-war, moved away from us nearer to the
island, and it was too late to venture to chase
her, so our letters must wait. Sunday is the island
where an American family once took up their
seen only two flowers that seem indigenous to the true
atoll, one quite insignificant, that looked like the
blossom of the tc\2\^ papaia, the other a sort of "spider
lily"; both these were of a whitish colour, and, as far
as I could see, were worn only by people of position,
and not by the common herd, who contented them-
selves with imitations made from some part of the
cocoanut-tree. I wish those artistic souls, who so scorned
my purchases at the milliner's, could have seen with
what frantic joy they were received. Many times staid
matrons burst into sudden hysterical weeping when I
offered them my wreaths, while kings, chiefs, and even
white traders intrigued to gain one of these coveted
possessions.
[13]
The C 7' ti i s e of
residence, remaining until it began to blow up.
Some settlers have lately gone there. Lloyd re-
minds me that this was the place Louis and he
once proposed to try and get possession of, and I
refused to hear of the plan because of the volcano
and the hordes of rats that infest the place. I re-
pented when I saw it, and my heart is now set
upon owning an island. It grows warmer dail}'-,
and I hope soon to be able to put away my shoes
and stockings.^ IMr. Henderson is looking for an
island about the existence of which there is some
doubt. Lloyd tells me that Mr. Low, the artist in
New York, once said that he had a friend who had
actually been upon this very island.
iGth. — I have not been able to put away my
shoes and stockings, for the sun disappeared soon
after my last entry; for several diiys we have
been knocking about in a gale of wind with al-
most continuous rain. The air is thick and breath-
less, hot, and at the same time chill. To my dis-
comfort, I caught a cold and developed a smart
attack of rheumatism. The captain has also been
unfortunate; he, too, took cold, and in addition
' As all mine and most of Louis's were burned, ex-
cept what I had on my feet, I wished to preserve these
for such times as it might seem necessary to make a
civilised appearance.
[14]
the ' ^ J an et N i chol ' '
had a heavy door slam upon one of his fingers,
crushing the nail. Some time ago a cinder blew
into one of his eyes, causing an inflammation, and
now the other is as bad in consequence of the poi-
sonous fumes of our involuntary firework display.
To-day we came to anchor off Savage Island,
or Nuieue, having on board some eight natives of
the place who were being returned home by the
company. It was pleasant to see the happy, ex-
cited faces of the *'bo3's" as we drew near their
native land. They were all dressed for the occa-
sion in new clothes, every man with a pair of
strong new boots on his feet. A couple of dandies
wore velvet smoking-caps with tassels, and red
sashes. It is a smaller and lighter-coloured race
than we have been accustomed to, their features
and expression reminding one of prett}', sweet-
faced Chinamen. Before we had anchored, neatly
made outriggers were circling round the ship and
cries of greeting arose from all sides. When the
steam-whistle sounded a joyful answering shout
ran along the beach. No women came out to us.
To them a ship is tapu, but numbers of small
bovs accompanied the men. Soon they were all
wandering over the ship, marvelling at the strange
sights, but also cannily ready to make an honest
or dishonest penny. I bought a couple of sticks of
[15]
The Cruise of
sugar-cane for a stick of tobacco and ordered a
hat from a man for which I am to pay two shil-
hngs. The man had a hat with him but charged
four shillings for it on account of its trimming, a
small bit of red flannel laid round the crown. I
also bought a couple of little model canoes (one
for Tin Jack) for two shillings.
Our sailors are "black fellows," some from the
New Hebrides, some from the Solomons and vari-
ous other places. They seem to find it easier to
speak to one another in English than in their own
tongues; I heard one say: "I wouldn't like to go
across that water in that fellow's canoe." The
men from Nuieue looked at those black fellows
with great curiosity and asked in what island did
they find men like that. One of these black sailors
has his name signed as Sally Da3\ To-day I heard
one of the others politely call him Sarah. Savage
Island is a high-low island; that is, it is a coral
atoll with a soil, raised more or less unevenly,
some two hundred feet above the sea-level. It pro-
duces copra, bananas, cotton, breadfruit, heche-
(l(-7ncr, and fungus, and is governed by a king
with the assistance of four chiefs and four sub-
chiefs. Food trees and plants are carefully cul-
tivated, and the people have the reputation of
being industrious and willing to work. Captain
[i6]
the ^' Janet Nichol''
Henry wished to take a little girl home to his
wife, but was not allowed, it being against the
law that a female should leave the island.
In at least one of the villages of Nuieue a singu-
lar custom prevails. One day in the year is fixed
as a day of judgment. Every soul, man, woman,
and child, gathers together on the village green.
Votes are cast for a whipper, and a jury, composed
of half Christians and half heathens, is chosen.
One by one the people come forward and publicly
confess their sins, while the jury fixes the punish-
ment, which is whipping or an equivalent fine.
The fines may be paid in goods of any sort, the
value of the article oflFered being rated at the
price originally paid for it. For instance, a man
fined a dollar may bring the unwearable remains
of a tattered hat that cost him a dollar the year
before. The elected officials do not escape punish-
ment by virtue of their position. After the jury
has confessed and fixed its own punishment, the
whipper must do the same, and, if whipping is
his doom, must proceed to whip himself. So, next
day, every soul starts afresh with consciences
sponged clean, ready for a new record of sins.
The confessions seem to be genuine and sometimes
cause the utmost surprise and consternation to
those who have been sinned against.
[17]
The Cruise of
The desire to own an island is still burning in
my breast. In this neighbourhood, nearer Samoa,
is just the island I want, owned, unfortunately,
by a man in Tahiti. It is called Nassau and is
said to be uninhabited.
Last night an immense rat ran over me in bed,
and Mr. Henderson had the same unpleasant
experience. In the hold of the Janet are a number
of pure white rats with red e3'es, which appeared
of themselves quite mysteriously. The captain will
not allow them to be harmed, which I think is
very nice and sentimental of him. It was amus-
ing to see our dog's perplexity when we came to
anchor, and he put his head out of a port-hole to
have a look at Auckland. His very tail expressed
alarmed surprise. Our second steward (a white
man) is in a state of wild delight. He took his
"billet" under the head steward from a romantic
hope of seeing Samoa, of which he had once read
a description in a newspaper. Every little while I
hear his voice, quivering with excitement: "What
do you think of it, Mrs. Stevens?" One moment
he is thrusting sugar-cane into my hand: "Taste
it, Mrs. Stevens, it's sugar stick! I never saw it
before!" and the next is: *' Cocoanut! cocoanut!
It's green cocoanuty Mrs. Stevens; I never saw it
before in my life!" It is of no use to tell him that
I18I
the ''Janet Nichol''
it is all an old story to me; he hears nothing but
babbles on with shining eyes. I have just over-
heard this from a white stoker who had also
never been in the tropics before: "He's been and
swindled me, that native! There's nothing inside
this green cocoanut but some kind of water."
Mr. Henderson has just told us as a secret that
our next island will be Upolu, Samoa, and we are
now as wildly excited as the second steward. On
Wednesday afternoon, at four o'clock, we shall
arrive at Apia, and the next morning, at break
of day, off we fly to Vailima. As we were dis-
cussing the subject, the captain called out that
there was a white rat in his cabin and he wished
to catch and tame it, so I ran to help him. It was
under his bed, he said, and the loveliest rat in
the world. As he was dilating on its beauty, out
it flashed, jumping on him and rebounding against
my breast like a fluflf of white cotton wool. The
captain laughed and screamed with shrill, hyster-
ical cries, in which I joined, while the loveliest
rat in the world scurried away.
2jth. — The weather really abominable, so cold
that I have had to put on a flannel bodice. Tin
Jack and Lloyd went to the station last night and
returned w^th the white trader, a thin, pallid
man, with a large, hooked nose and soft, fright-
[19]
T h e C rti is e of
ened brown eyes. For very dulness I was about
to go to sleep, when Mr. Henderson ran up cry-
ing: "Sail ho!" Sure enough, there was a large
vessel wallowing in the great seas. Captain Henry
thought her an American driven in by the heavy
weather. Round the point of the island the breakers
were rising, he said, some forty feet high. While
we were watching the strange craft she turned
about and sailed away, to our great disappoint-
ment, no doubt having only come up to take her
bearings. After I had closed my diary last night
Mr. Henderson got out the chart and showed
us his own islands and the supposed location of
Victoria Island which he is looking for. I offered
to toss him for the latter, to which he agreed.
Louis threw up a piece of money and I won. I
have yet, however, to find Victoria.
Nuieue has not yet recovered from the effects
of last 3-ear's hurricane, and we shall not get many
delicacies here. There are no ripe cocoanuts, few
bananas, and no breadfruit. Some one said that
I could get spring onions. "How do they grow
them?" I asked; meaning did they sow seeds or
plant sets. "On the graves," was the rather star-
tling answer.
Last night Mr. Henderson pulled off a rat*s
tall. He thought to pull the rat from a hole from
[20]
the ^^ Janet Nichol*'
which the tail protruded, but the tail came off,
and the rat ran away. The captain tells me that
there is generally a plague of flies in Nuieue. It
is too cold for them now, but usually when the
natives come out in their canoes their backs,
especially, are black with flies. Some one has sent
me a basket of bananas almost too sweet and
rich; also some excellent oranges. I have mended
the bellows of our camera, where it has been eaten
by cockroaches, with sticking-plaster.
28/A. — Steamed round to the other side of the
island to the missionary station, carrying with us
the trader and a young Irishman named Hicks;
also a native woman and a boy. Here, to our
surprise, we saw the vessel we had sighted and
lost; she proved to be the John Williams.
We w^atched her plunging to and fro, now close
under the cliffs, now skirting the Janet, now
fetching our hearts in our mouths as she stayed,
and forereached in staying, till you would have
thought she had leaves on her jib-boom. We ac-
tually got up the camera to take a photograph of
the expected shipwreck. We were told afterward
that it was only Captain Turpie showing off his
seamanship.
The John Williams is a missionary ship on her
way to Samoa with an English missionary and
[21]
The Cruise of
his family and a German lady who is going to
open a school for Samoan girls. Mr. Lawes is the
Nuieue missionar\', a dark, foreign-looking man.
We heard nothing but good of him from traders
and natives.
We landed and climbed up the part path, part
stairs of the clifF, our boys already trailing down
it with copra sacks, the ship's boat slamming
away at the jetty with a couple of black fellows
holding on to it like grim death. The missionary
natives were ranged in bodies on the path to meet
us. First the men pressed forward, giggling, and
shook hands; then the women, whose many-
coloured garments we had remarked even from
the ship, glowing on the cliff like a bank of flowers.
The children who followed after pretended alarm
and fled, but laughed as they ran. I was some dis-
tance from Louis, who has written the following
in my diary: ^ "They closed in on me like a sea;
I was in the close embrace of half a dozen out-
stretched hands, with smiling faces all round me,
and a perfect song of salutation going up. From
tlie sirens I escaped by means of a present of
tobacco, which was the cause of my ruin, later on,
when Lloyd and I went out to photograph. A
' He used this afterward, but as it seems to belong
to my diary I thought I might let it stand.
the ' ^ J an et N i cho I ' '
bevy of girls followed, hugging and embracing me,
and going through m}^ pockets. It was the near-
est thing to an ugly sight, and still it was pretty;
there was no jeering, no roughness, they fawned
upon and robbed me like well-behaved and
healthy children with a favourite uncle. My own
cut tobacco and my papers they respected; but a
little while after, on making a cigarette, I found
my match-box gone. There was small doubt in
my mind as to the culprit; a certain plump little
maid, more like a Hawaiian, with a coquettish
cast of face and carriage of the head, and con-
spicuous by a splendid red flower stuck in her
ear, had visited me with a particular thoroughness.
I demanded my matches. She shook her head at
first; and then from some unknown receptacle
produced my box, drew out a single match, re-
placed the box, and with a subtle smile and con-
siderable grace of demeanour, something like a
courtly hostess, passed me on the match!"
Tin Jack was shown some spies who were tak-
ing names of women who had, against rules, been
aboard ship. They will all be fined to-morrow.
Levity of conduct, they tell us, is not allowed and
is met by fines. I should imagine the public funds
to be in a plethoric condition.
Before I knew where I was the trader had
[23]
The Cruise of
swept me up to the mission house, well built of
coral, with a high, wide roof of cocoanut thatch
beautifully braided together and tied with cocoa-
nut sennit. In an inner room we found the pas-
sengers from the John Williams, Mr. and Mrs.
Marriott and the German teacher. The Marriotts
had with them the loveliest little twins imagina-
ble, two years old, and almost exactly alike. Louis
and Lloyd disappeared at once in search of photo-
graphs. The king, who seems to be liked and re-
spected, was off in the bush, so they were disap-
pointed in his likeness. After a reasonable time
of worship before the twins, I started to follow
the photographers, the trader conducting me, the
John Williams party and Mr. Lawes (the resident
missionary) following. We passed a cow, a bull,
and two horses, strange sights for these latitudes.
I here were a great many flowers blooming in the
underbrush — jasmine, the flamboyant, and a yel-
low blossom like a "four-o'clock" — and where a
space had been cleared grass was growing. There
is no running water, but through small fissures
in the rock brackish water is found at the depth
of seven fathoms. I was told of one great fissure,
into which stone steps had been cut, where a
subterranean stream gushes out in a waterfall.
The trader, who had already sold us three tappa
[24]
the ''Janet NichoV
(native bark-cloth) table-cloths at an exorbitant
price, clung to me pertinaciously, taking me into
his house, where he showed me a mat he wished
a pound for, whereas it was worth but a couple
of dollars. I refused to buy it, whereupon he pre-
sented me with two small rather pretty mats. I
thought he owed them to me, so I accepted them
without compunction. The )^oung Irishman, who
had followed us in, opened his box and took out
an immense yellow shell necklace, a cocoa-shell
basket, and a strange, very heavy, carefully shaped
stone, which the natives use in fighting. All these
articles he insisted on my accepting. I was greatly
pleased with the fighting stone. The trader prom-
ised to get me a couple of "peace sticks" when we
return to his side of the island. These are used
by the women when they think a fight has lasted
long enough. They rush between the combatants,
waving their "peace sticks," and the affair ends.
These peace sticks are made of dark, almost
black ironwood, are about three feet long, shaped
like spears, and ornamented, where the hand nat-
urally holds them, with cocoa-fibre sennit and yel-
low bird feathers. The feathers looked to be the
same as were used in Hawaii for the royal cloaks.
As I write Tin Jack appears in a hat of Nuieue
manufacture, braided pandanus, in shape an exact
[25]
The Cruise of
reproduction of the civilised high silk hat, and
indescribabl}^ comic.
Returning to the mission house, we stopped at
the king's newl}' built palace for a piece of iron-
wood that I wanted to mend the camera stand.
The queen, a prett}", smiling, young woman, stood
in the doorway directing us where to look. Ar-
riving at the house, I examined the house dog's
ear, and found he was suffering from canker.
Louis and I, together, remembered the remedy
for him, and told it to Mr. Lawes. I begged that
Louis and Lloyd might see the twins. The little
fairies were heavy-eyed from the knocking about
and the close air of the John Williams. Each had
had a convulsion during the last two da3'^s. I
thought they looked rather too much like lit-
tle angels. I tried, without success, to make our
party refuse Mrs. Lawes's invitation to high tea.
It did seem very hard; month after month passes
in the most deadly monotony. Suddenly here are
two ships at her door, each, incredible fact, with
white women on board, and she has almost no
time to speak to either, and in an hour or two
they are gone. Poor Mrs. Lawes had wild eyes
when the two sets of passengers and most of the
officers gathered in a great circle round her board.
It was an excellent meal, which I should have
[26]
the ''Janet NichoT'
thoroughly enjoyed had I not felt like a cannibal
and that I was eating Mrs. Lawes. But this it is
to be a missionary's wife. I am sure she must have
had a nervous fever after we were gone. She found
a moment to bewail her fate to Louis; if only we
had come piecemeal, as it were, and not all at
once, like a waterspout, she would have been so
happy. We shall leave behind us only a memory
of hurry and flurry and confusion worse con-
founded. While we were at table the John Williams
ran so close inshore that we were frightened, and
Mr. Marriott very anxious, as all his worldly
goods were on board. The John Williams left
Sydney on Friday the nth, the same day we did,
and now we meet here and possibly may meet
again in Samoa. We had just finished our meal
when the steam-whistle blew for us, and away we
all trooped to the boat. The John Williams was
leaving also.
We had some trade stuff to be landed at the
other side of the island. There Lloyd went ashore
and got my peace sticks for which he paid two
shillings the pair. A great many natives came
aboard, among the rest the handsome sister and
daughter of a chief. I gave them both a wreath,
to their great pride and joy. Tin Jack dressed up
in his wig and whiskers and false nose. The na-
[27]
The Cruise of
tives at first were much alarmed and some of the
women indined to cry.
2C)th. — Squally all night, but this morning the
sun has come out and it really looks hopeful.
The captain has been working all day until four
o'clock at my device for mending the camera
with Nuieue ironwood. I hardly slept last night
for the heavy rolling and pitching of the Janet.
A black cat has appeared, brought on board from
Nuieue. It was proposed to have a rat hunt with
the Auckland dog. I meanly intended to inform
the captain, but I need not have troubled myself,
for when a rat was shown to the dog he nearly
went into a fit with terror. I have all my things
ready packed to go on shore at Samoa.
30//1. — Passed Tutuila in the morning. Almost
despair of reaching Upolu before to-morrow, owing
to an adverse current, but make it just after sun-
down. We ran along Upolu for a couple of hours,
the scenery enchanting; abrupt mountains, not so
high as in Tahiti or Hawaii, nor so strangel}' aw-
ful as the Marquesan highlands, but with a great
beauty of outline and colour, the thick jungle
looking from the deck of the ship like soft green
moss. Through the glass I could see a high, narrow
waterfall drop into the sea. Breaths of the land
breeze began to come out to us, into.xicating with
[28]
the '^ Janet N ichoV *
the odours of the earth, of growing trees, sweet
flowers and fruits, and dominating all, the clean,
wholesome smell of breadfruit baking in hot
stones. Soon masts of ships began to show, and
the smoke of Apia. The signal-flag was carried up
to the foretopmast and laboriously tied on by a
black boy, when the pilot came quickly on board.
It was not quite dark, but we thought it better
to dine on the Janet, though we were burning to
get on shore. While we were eating, people began
to arrive in boats to offer their welcome to Samoa.
Louis and I started off, leaving Lloyd to follow
in the ship's boat. It was a dream-like thing to
find oneself walking along Apia beach, shaking
hands and passing talofas on every side. We spent
the evening on shore and, after ordering horses
for the early morning, went to bed tired out.
May 1st. — Woke at six to hear the horses com-
ing for us. When last we rode out to Vailima the
road was but a bridle-path almost closed in by
the bush. We can now ride two abreast, or even
three, if we like. Tin Jack was much delighted to
see pineapples growing wild, and bewailed his
mistake in having settled on a low island. Lloyd
rode ahead to a native village on the road with a
packet of sweeties for some little girls who used
to dance for us when we lived in the bush near by.
[29]
The Cruise of
We found Lloyd waiting for us; only one of the
little girls was about. After we left the village the
road plunged into the forest. The tall, liana-
draped trees, carrying ferns in the forks of their
branches, cast a grateful shade, and we rode
slowly, to enjoy all to the utmost.
There was a crowd of black boys at Vailima
cutting down and burning trees and brush. I
believe they are runaways from the German plan-
tations. There are a good many noble trees, of
great height and girth, left standing. A little,
wooden house has been run up, from the balcony
of which we could see the masts of the Janet as she
lay at anchor and past her far out over the sea.
It is odd how little is known of Samoa, even by
its inhabitants. In Sydney I asked particulars con-
cerning a turbine wheel in case I should want one
in Vailima. The man I consulted assured me it
would be quite useless to attempt such a thing,
as a friend of his just from Samoa, who had lived
there a long time, told him there was not a tree
of any size in Upolu, and none whatever of hard-
wood. On the contrary, in the bush are numbers
of magnificent timber-trees, very hard and beau-
tiful in colour. One in particular, a light yellow,
is very like satinwood and another seems to be
a sort of mahogany. We took photographs, and
the ^ ^ J an et N ichoV '
after a couple of hours reluctantly tore ourselves
away.
A native man, an old friend, stopped us on the
way back to Apia, holding the bridles of our
horses that we should not escape him. A woman
we were acquainted with passed; she turned and
stopped, cooing like a dove, every limb and feature
expressing surprise and delight.
After an inordinate luncheon I opened some
boxes we had left here and took out various articles
suitable for presents. At the main store we found
our bush friend and his little daughter waiting
for us with a large basket of oranges. Louis gave
the child a shilling and told her to choose from
the shelves a piece of cotton print. She was daz-
zled by the magnificence of the offer, and after
long deliberation chose the ugliest piece of the
lot. I gave an old woman a print gown, upon which
she purred like a cat and kissed my hands. Our
old friend Sitione (wounded in the late war)
came up and spoke to us, looking very ill, his arm
bandaged and in a sling. The doctor tells Louis
he thinks very badly of the arm and fears he
must amputate it.^ There was also something
wrong with Sitione's eye which was bandaged.
^ Sitione was suffering from the effects of an old
wound got in the last wars, some of the bones in his
[31]
The Cruise of
A little bo}- brought a basket of chilli peppers
I wanted to carry on board with me. There were
no vegetables to be had, as the Chinaman's
garden, the only one in Samoa, had been w^ashed
away by a freshet. At half past three we returned
to the Janet, where Doctor Steubel, the German
consul-general, Baron von Pritzfritz, captain of
the German man-of-war lying in Apia harbour,
and another German whose name I forget paid
us a visit. We talked a few moments and drank a
glass of champagne; then the whistle sounded, our
friends bade us good-bye, and at about four we
steamed out. Our little house in the bush was
visible to the naked eye from the deck of the
steamer.
shoulder being shattered; they were finally removed,
and Sitione recovered entirely with only a scar or two
to show where the doctor had operated. Sitione, I was
told, received this wound while doing a very brave and
dashing act. During one of the many Samoan wars his
party had fallen back a short distance, leaving an open
space between them and the enemy; in this opening
Sitione perceived that a friend of his had fallen and
was unable to arise. The enemy were already rushing
forward to take the man's head, as is their custom,
when Sitione bounded hack in the face of their guns,
caught up his friend, and brought him into safety
with a hail of bullets whizzing after him, and a shat-
tered shoulder.
[32]
the ''Janet NichoT*
^d, — At about three o'clock we sighted an is-
land known by various names — Swayne's Island,
Quiros, or Olesenga — a small, round, low island
surrounding a triangular brackish lagoon like an
ornamental lake in a park. It is inhabited by a
half-caste man known as King Jennings, his fam-
ily, and about eighty people from different islands.
The original Jennings was an American who mar-
ried a Samoan wife. He left Samoa in a huff after
having built a man-of-war for the government, for
which payment was refused. As the motive power
of the ship came from wooden paddle-wheels,
turned with a crank by hand, it is hardly surpris-
ing that the complaint of her extreme slowness
and the great labour involved in working her
should have been brought forward as reasons for
non-payment. She had a complete armament of
great guns and all the equipments of a proper
man-of-war. Jennings, in a fury of indignation
and disappointment, shook the dust of Samoa off
his feet, and with his wife and family set up a
little kingdom of his own in Quiros. Here he blew
out a passage through the reef, built two schooners
of island wood, floated them off with barrels, and
sold them to the German firm at Samoa.
A flag was hoisted on Quiros, the stars and
stripes, with what appeared to be a dove in the
l33]
The Cruise of
field. We asked with some curiosity what the dove
indicated. They told us that a night-bird came
and cried about the settlement for months; this
was supposed to bode sickness; so to propitiate
the ill-omened bird it was added to the flag.
There is a good road on the island, excellent
houses, a church, and a schoolhouse containing
an imported half-caste schoolmaster. From a tall
building used for storing copra men were already
laying a temporary wooden track down to the
landing for the copra trucks to run upon. This
busy scene was brought to an end b}^ Mr. Hender-
son's information that he would not take in
cargo until our return voyage. This is a rich, low
island with plenty of soil, and is said to bring in
a very comfortable revenue, which might be still
larger did King Jennings care to make it so.
Mr. Henderson and Louis went on shore; while
they were away I tried to make a Mexican sauce,
called salsa, with the chillis from Samoa and the
onions from the Nuieue graves. The chillis burned
my hands dreadfully, and the sauce turned out
to be too hot to be used except as a flavouring
for soups, for which it was excellent.
Mr. Henderson and Louis came back with some
return labour boys for Danger Island. One who
had signed to serve five years had been waiting
[34]
the ''Janet NichoT'
another three for a vessel to take him home. He
was once disappointed, and nearly died of it. I
am thankful he had this opportunity.^ I can see
a horse eating grass on the island, and Louis has
seen a carriage.
\th. — Ran through a light squall in the night
and sighted Danger Island at four in the morn-
ing. At the first landing is a place in the reef
where people upset in boats are sucked under,
never to be seen again. Our Quiros passengers are
in a wild state of excitement; ladies on the after
hatch slipping on their clean shifts, and the comb
going from hand to hand. The eight-year exile
clutched Louis's hand, and in a voice trembling
^ The "labour boys" do, sometimes, die of home-
sickness. A black boy called Arriki whom we hired from
the German firm, did so die after we left Samoa. The
man to whom he was assigned by the German firm told
me that both Arriki and a friend of his began to droop
and become sullen, and then went quite mad; soon
after they died at about the same time from no appar-
ent disease, but he said he knew the symptoms — "just
plain homesickness for a cannibal island." Arriki, in a
moment of confidence, once described to me his life
in his own land. It seemed to consist of flight from one
unsafe spot to another, with death hunting on every
hand. Both his father and mother had been killed and
eaten, with the most of his friends; and yet Arriki died
of homesickness.
[35]
The Cruise of
with emotion ejaculated "coco nuk." As we drew
nearer the three islands of the group began to
detach themselves. Danger Island, or Pukapuka,
is the only one inhabited. It is governed by a
king who allows none of his subjects to gather
cocoanuts without his royal permission, and as
he seldom lets any one have more than is sufficient
for his food, very little copra is made. Here the
nuts, contrary to the usual custom, are dried in
the shell to prevent cockroaches from devouring
the meat, and consequently the copra is very
fine and white; but the quantity made is so small
that it does not pay to keep a trader on the island.
We could see the natives gathering on the
beach in great force. They seemed thunderstruck
at the sight of a vessel with furled sails moving
so rapidly against a strong head wind, the Janet
being the first steamer that had touched at Puka-
puka. As soon as our passengers were recognised,
a joyful shout ran up and down the beach, and,
canoes were launched and paddled out to meet us.
When they were just abreast of us Captain Henry
blew the steam-whistle. The natives were appalled;
every paddle stopped short, and the crowds on
the beach seemed stricken to stone. Our Pukapuka
I 36]
the ^' Janet NichoV'
passengers tried to encourage the people in the
canoes to come nearer, calHng to them from the
deck of the ship, but it was some time before they
took heart and resumed their paddHng. The King,
a shabbily clad man of rather mean appearance,
was among them.
The meeting between the long-parted friends
was very pretty and touching. I like their mode
of showing affection better than ours. They took
hands and pressed their faces together lightly
with a delicate snifF, as I have often seen a white
mother caress her baby. One elderly woman, I
was sorry to see, had bad news; she looked very
sorrowful, and when a young boy came up to
greet her she threw her arms round him and
wept aloud. All the rest, however, were sparkling
with excitement and joy. The sheep, which the
strangers saw for the first time, were studied with
much interest. A group of middle-aged, respectable
men stood off at some distance and whistled to the
sheep as though they were dogs; getting no re-
sponse, they ventured a little nearer, when one
of the sheep happened to move. The crowd fell
back in dire confusion, and one man who had
been in the van, but now occupied a rear position,
asked in a trembling voice if the bite of those
animals was very dangerous.
[37]
The Cruise of
Before our passengers left us, each shook hands
with all on board and bade us farewell; they said
"good-bye, sir," to Louis and "good-bye, mister,"
to me. As they paddled away I took out my hand-
kerchief and waved it. One woman, the proud
possessor of a handkerchief of her own, waved
hers in reply and kept it up until I, at least, was
tired. I like to think of the pleasant evening at
Pukapuka, the gossip, the news, the passing of
presents, and the exhibition of treasures and for-
eign curiosities.
6th. — Sighted Manihiki at half past twelve, an
outlying, low coral island with enclosed lagoon,
very thinly wooded with cocoa-palms and pan-
danus trees.
Quiros, the first Spanish navigator of the Pacific,
gave to an island the name *'Gente Hermosa"
(Beautiful People), which has always been ascribed
to Olesenga or Quiros Island; but since the memory
of man Quiros has been uninhabited until the ad-
vent of the American Jennings. It is very possible
that the navigator meant IManihiki, or its neigh-
bouring island Rakahoa, as the isle of beautiful
people. It is significant that Manihiki is always
conspicuously marked on even the smallest maps
of the world, no doubt from the fact that its de-
lightful people have attracted so much attention
[38]
the ''Janet N ichoV
from seamen that the place has acquired an arti-
ficial importance out of all proportion to its few-
square miles of reef.
The regular diet of the Manihikians is composed
almost entirely of cocoanuts. The pandanus seeds
are boiled and chewed, but never made into food-
stuff as is done in the Gilberts. There are pigs and
fowls in abundance, but these are only killed on
great occasions, such as marriages or deaths.
Sucking pigs are not killed, but only large ones,
the larger the better. There are no w^hite women
on Manihiki, and but three white men — an ab-
sconding produce-merchant, a runaway marine,
and a young Englishman who was wrecked on a
neighbouring island. These men live on the bounty
of the natives, and though they dislike eating
copra, or "cocoanut steak," as it is called, they
seem to thrive very w^ell upon it.
We landed on the beach as there was no entrance
to the lagoon. The aspect of the reef was not very
reassuring as we rowed toward it, but our men
took us through a narrow, tortuous passage, and
in a few minutes we were shaking hands and
exchanging salutations w4th the natives, a pleas-
ant, smiUng crowd w'ith many beautiful children.
We were delighted to find that we had arrived
at a most interesting period, that of the yearly
[39]
The Cruise of
jubilee. No one could tell us how this institution,
which is known in other islands besides Manihiki,
first arose. For one week out of every year all
laws are held in abeyance, and the island gives
itself up to hilarious enjoyment without fear of
consequences, singing, beating the cocoanut-wood
drum, and dancing according to the old heathen
customs. At any other time the punishment for
heathen dances is most severe.
The three "beach-combers" were all well dressed,
in coats and trousers, and very good-looking. One
man said his present way of life "had an air
of loafing on the natives" which he disliked, but
they all seemed proud of their high position as
whites, with the exception of the ex-marine, who
had fallen under the scorn of his companions for
becoming "kanaka-ised." Still, that they were
under some subjection, we could see, but owned
themselves well used. They do not exactly like
copra, but, as one said: "We have no right to
complain; they give us what they have." They
had had no tobacco for months, which they felt a
great privation. When a ship comes in, the natives,
men, women, and children, often smoke the strong
trade tobacco until they fall down insensible,
sometimes becoming convulsed as in epilepsy.
The trader, a half-caste, had already boarded
[40]
the ''Janet N ichor'
the Janet in a boat of his own, but his wife, a
stout, good-natured, sensible-looking woman, was
waiting on the beach to receive us. She at once
took possession of me as her right, and I was tri-
umphantly swept off to her house, the crowed at
our heels; here we were regaled on cocoanuts,
while all the population who could crowd into
the room gazed on us unwinking. The windows,
also, were filled, which cut off the air and made
the place rather suffocating. The children were
made to sit down in the front row so that the
older people could see over their heads. One old
woman made me feel quite uncomfortable. Her
eyes remained fixed, her jaw dropped, and noth-
ing for a single moment diverted her attention
from what she evidently regarded as a shocking
and wonderful spectacle. Natives have said that
the first sight of white people is dreadful, as they
look like corpses walking. I have myself been
startled by the sight of a crowd of whites after
having seen only brown-skinned people for a long
time. Louis has a theory that we whites were
originally albinos. Certainly we are not a nice
colour. I remember as a child the words "flesh
colour" were sickening to me, and I could not
bear to see them in my paint-box.
The room was neat and clean, as were all the
[41]
The C?^uise of
houses in the village. Most of them contained a
bedstead cut out of imported hardwood with a
spread of gay patchwork, and a mat-covered sofa,
very high and wide. In an inner room were great
stacks of pearl shell, not, I should say, of the very
best qualit}^, and much smaller than the law al-
lows in the Paumotus. The shell is gathered in
the lagoon by native divers. Very few pearls are
found, probably because the shell is taken so
young. Leaving the trader's house, we started to
cross the island, which is very narrow; Louis
thought about one hundred and fifty yards and
I no more than one hundred yards. On the way
we passed a crowd of dancers, ranged in two rows,
the women on one side, the men on the other, in
front of the "speak-house." The dance was more
like the Marquesans' than we had ever seen. The
European costumes in which most of the people
had dressed for our reception rather spoiled the
effect, though many wore wreaths and head-
dresses made of dyed leaves. The native dyes give
beautiful, soft colours, yellow, red, and pink,
which they also use in hats and mats, some of
the latter being exquisitely fine and as pliant as
cloth.
We found the lagoon of crystal clearness and
dotted with little islands. Numbers of small ves-
[42]
the ''Janet N ichoT '
sels were lying at anchor; no doubt they had been
collecting the shell. Though it was very lovely to
look at, we did not stay long on the borders of
the lagoon, being driven away by an ancient and
fishlike smell. On our way back we went into the
church and the speak-house. In the speak-house,
a very good building of coral, were stocks which
were used to punish malefactors. These stocks
consisted of a couple of ring-like handcuffs fast-
ened, one above the other, a foot from the ground,
at the side of a post. The church, a thatched coral
building without flooring, was really beautiful.
The seats, with backs, are in rows, each with a
fine, narrow mat spread over it. On either side
run galleries, the balustrades elaborately carved
and stained with yellow, red, and pink dyes. In
the middle of one balustrade the word "Zion"
was carved. The pulpit was a mass of carving and
inlaid mother-of-pearl; the altar, which ran round
it, was covered with fringed mats extremely fine
and flexible and worked in different colours.
Among many others we made the acquaintance
of a man who had been in Samoa, blown there in
a storm. There were with him one other man
and three little girls. It began to blow, he said,
the sea rose very high, and the air and sky grew
black. Suddenly his boat capsized and *'my
[43]
The Cruise of
girls,*' he said, "swim — swim — swim in the sea."
With their help he got the boat righted and
gathered up what he could of his cargo, green
cocoanuts and copra, and ran for Samoa. "Was
any one frightened?" I asked. "Only the other
man," he said. We met two of his little girls; one
seemed clever and had picked up a little Samoan
and a little English while she was in Apia. We
asked her name. "Anna," she proudly answered.
The other called herself Anna Maria.
Lloyd had photographed the King in his royal
robes, a pair of white duck trousers and a
black velveteen coat; over all was worn a sort of
black cloth poncho bordered with gold fringe. Sus-
pended from the neck of royalty was a tinsel
star and on his head a crown of red and white
pandanus leaves. Later in the evening he ap-
peared in a pair of black trousers and a frock
coat. In common with his subjects, the King is
not of commanding stature. None of the islanders
we have yet seen on this cruise can compare with
the Kingsmill people in haughty grace of carriage,
nor are they in any way so fine a race physically
though most charming in manner. After dinner,
finding the trader's wife and the missionary's wife
having tea on deck, I gave them each a wreath,
which delighted them extremely. We hired a na-
[44]
the ^^ Janet NichoT'
tive boat to take us on shore again for the eve-
ning; the man to whom the boat belonged begged
us to go to his house, but I wished first to take a
present, a print dress, to Anna.
Found Anna's house and gave my present. We
were offered cocoanuts, to our great embarrass-
ment, but Louis fortunately thought of saying
"paea" (a rather vulgar Tahitian word signifying
*'I am full to repletion"). They understood at
once and seemed greatly amused. Anna gave me
a hat of her own manufacture and then we went
with the boatman to his house. A party of young
girls followed us, wrangling together as to which
had chosen me first. It seemed to be settled amica-
bly, for one girl ran up to me while the rest held
back, and catching me by the hand said: "You
belong me." The boatman's wife, a sensible-look-
ing woman with a pathetic smile, was ill, he said;
we were afterward told that she had consumption.
Again cocoanuts, and once more we got off with
*'paea." When we left, the lady presented me
with a large mat and a fine hat. I had nothing
with me to give in return, so took the wreath
from my own hat (I always wear one in case of
an emergency) and also gave her an orange (a
rare luxury) I had in my pocket. I afterward sent
her a piece of print of the best quality. From the
[45I
The Cruise of
boatman's we went to the speak-house, where the
dancers were assembled. As we came out of the
bush toward the main road we heard a clapping
of hollow sticks and whelp-like cries; at intervals
a sentence was shouted. It was curfew. At eight
o'clock several high officials parade the street,
clapping sticks together and crying out: "Remain
within your houses." No one obeys, but it is
etiquette to keep off the main road when the
officers march. We saw that the people kept to
the coral on either side, so we did the same.
When we first came on shore this evening, Louis,
seeing a little girl about four carrying a naked
boy, patted him on the shoulder; he howled,
whereupon the little girl laughed and ran away.
As we waited for the procession to pass, the little
girl came up behind Louis in the darkness and,
slipping her hand in his, nestled close to him.
Her name was Fani, also Etetera; she was neat
as a little statue, as tight as india-rubber; so
was her sister; so was "Johnny Bull," who had
walked hand in hand with Louis all afternoon. The
type is well marked: forehead high and narrow,
cheek-bones high and broad, nose aquiline and
depressed (the depression probably artificial), the
mouth large, with finely chiselled lips, the bow of
the upper lip sharply defined, the eyes, of course,
[46]
the ^^ Janet N i c ho T '
admirable; and altogether there is a strong ap-
pearance of good nature and good sense.
Part of the night Louis had a second satelhte
in the form of a beautiful boy, so that he walked
between him and Fani, hand in hand with each;
but Fani was his affinit}^. The whole island seemed
interested; the King, not too well pleased, suffered
Fani to sit beside Louis in the speak-house on the
sofa of honour during the dance. Women came
up and commented on the resemblance between
Fani and Fanny and Etetera and Teritera (Louis's
Tahitian name). On a table in front of us were
the lights — a half shell of cocoanut-oil with a
twist of fibre swimming on top and a glass bottle
with the same oil and a wick. In the side of the
bottle a round hole had been ingeniously cut
through the glass for the convenience of cigarette
smokers. While we were sitting there, waiting for
the dance. Tin Jack came in wearing the false
nose and wig. At first there was a general feeling
of alarm, but most of the people soon penetrated
the disguise and were greatly amused. One old
dignitary, however, never discovered the jest,
and was very much frightened, asking me sev-
eral times in a trembling voice if it was the white
man's devil. Louis's little girl did not even shrink,
but looked up into his face with smiling confidence.
[47]
The Cruise of
The room was so dark that we could hardly
see the dancers, so Louis and I concluded to make
a few calls and go back to the ship. We had been
asked to spend the night by some people as we
passed their house in the afternoon, so we thought
to go there first. However, the man who had been
blown to Samoa caught us at the door and would
have us go to his house first. By this time all the
people knew my name and were calling me Fanny.
When we thought we had done our duty by the
mariner we said we must now visit the people
who had asked us to sleep in their house; the man
offered to guide us there, but instead took us to
the house where Fani belonged. It was a very
large house and the people seemed to be all
asleep; but in a moment they were broad awake
and in a state of lively excitement, with the ex-
ception of one very old man who remained lying
in his bed and yawned drearily. Louis tried con-
versing in a melange of Samoan and Tahitian,
with appreciable success. We drank cocoanuts
until we were "paea," and rose to go. A large fish
was laid at our feet in a plaited basket, then taken
up and carried to our boat. This was a handsome
present, as fish is a great rarity. Fani's father
followed me with an immense number of large
sponges tied on a long pole. We were again haled
[48]
the ''Janet NichoT^
away from our destination, this time by the boat-
man, who took us back to his house, waking, I
fear, his sick wife, who, however, was all smiles.
Pleaded "paea" and turned our faces toward the
boat, having given up our first intention in despair.
On the road we passed the schoolhouse com-
pound where a double row of people were singing
and dancing. The men were squatted on their
haunches on one side of the path, the women on
the other; down the centre an oldish, very re-
spectable-looking man, with the appearance of a
deacon, directed the dance, a staff in his hand.
We were received with shouts of welcome and a
bench set out for us. I was envious of the big
town drum, made of hollowed cocoanut wood and
covered with shark skin, very like one I had al-
ready got from the Marquesas, and deputed the
trader to buy it for me. With the arrival of Mr.
Henderson, who came sauntering down the road,
the deacon heartened up to a sort of frenzy,
suddenly bounding along the path and throwing
his body and legs about with the most grotesque
and mirth-provoking contortions. We sat here yet
awhile, and at last tore ourselves away from
the most charming low island we have yet seen,
Fani's father still following with the sponges. I
sent back, by the boatman, a piece of print for
[49]
The Cruise of
Fani, sufficient to make a gown for her mother
as well as herself. It was the correct thing to do
from the island point of etiquette, but all the same
a pity, for the less Fani covered her pretty brown
body the better she looked.
yth. — Fani, her papa and her sister, first thing
in the morning with a basket of green cocoanuts
and three packets of dyed pandanus leaves.
Fani at once possessed herself of one of Louis's
hands, the sister the other, while the lovely
''Johnny Bull," who was on board almost as soon
as they were, hovered about smiling, and when
he saw a chance slipped an arm round Louis's
neck. Johnny Bull was a tall lad of fifteen, and I
was told a half-caste, though he did not look it.
Louis, having been taken up by Fani, was con-
sidered quite one of the family. It is easy to see
how the copra eaters came by their "billets,"
and how decently whites must have behaved here,
that this little creature should have come up to
Louis in the dark as naturally as a child to its
mother. The sisters stayed by him until the whistle
sounded. They were thoroughly well-behaved,
obedient children, neither shy nor forward. No
doubt Louis could have eaten copra from that
day forth at the father's expense.
One of the beach-combers was wrecked on Star-
[50]
the ''Janet NichoV^
buck Island, his ship the Garsion; he lost all he
possessed, and says he is passionately eager to
get away and very sick of living on cocoanuts;
and yet, when offered a chance to work his way
home on the Janets he asked anxiously if it were
a "soft job," refusing any other. Louis gave him
the better part of a tin of tobacco, but he got very
little good from it. The hands of the natives who
had adopted him were stretched out on every side,
and one cigarette was his sole portion.
Have gone to another station on the same
island, a very bad landing, so Lloyd and I con-
cluded to remain on the ship, but Louis, more
venturesome, went on shore with Mr. Hird.
The}'' were nearly pitched into the water as the
boat struck on her side on the reef. The black
boys all went, with the seas breaking over them,
to shove her off. The town is described as most
delightful; very neat, with one straight, sanded
thoroughfare bordered by curbstones; the houses
with verandas, some of the verandas with carved
balustrades. The heat is very great. Louis sat on
the sofa in the missionary's house, the boat's
crew lying on the floor and being fed with dried
clams strung on cocoanut-fibre sennit. At the
same time they were interviewed by the mis-
sionary himself, a fine, bluff, rugged, grizzled
[51]
The Cruise of
Raratongan, universally respected. Two old men
asked for the news, giving theirs in return, their
latest being that Tahiti had been taken by the
French; they added a rider that the French were
** humbug," which was refreshingly British. **One
white man he say Queen he dead?" queried one
man anxiously. They were assured that it was the
Queen of Germany, and not Victoria. "Me-
thought," said Louis, "in petto, it was perhaps
Queen Anne." They are all well up in the royal
family, and most loyal subjects, the island flying
the Union Jack. The only "white man" in the set-
tlement was a Chinaman, dying for curry-pow-
der. It seemed impossible to get away without
carrying half the settlement with us, and even
after we thought they were all off, two young girls
and a boy were discovered trying to stow away.
We returned to the first landing yet again, but
by that time I was sound asleep.
8/A. — Sighted Penrhyn at five o'clock, but did
not attempt to go in as it is an exceedingly danger-
ous passage, and the night was black, with heavy
squalls. Lloyd and I had to leave our sleeping
place on the after hatch and take refuge in the
trade room where we slept on the floor. In the
morning I went to look up my wet pillows and
mats. Suddenly I heard a shout: "Mrs. Stevenson,
[53]
the ''Janet NichoV
don't move!" I stopped short, hardly moving an
e3'elash, but curious to know the reason of this
command. I soon found out; the captain threw up
one corner of a large tarpaulin showing me the
open hatch on the brink of which I was standing.
On the last voyage a seaman was terribly injured
by falling down the fore-hatch. He lay two hours
insensible before he was reported missing and a
search made.
9iA. — We enter the lagoon very early in the
morning; a most perilous passage, the way through
the reef seeming but little wider than the ship
itself; the captain calls it two ship widths. Our
route, until we dropped anchor, was studded with
"horses' heads" as thick as raisins in a pudding.
There would be a rock just awash on either side
of us, a rock in front almost touching our bows,
and a rock we had successfully passed just be-
hind us. We were all greatly excited and filled
with admiration for the beautiful way Captain
Henry managed his ship. She would twist to the
right, to the left, dash forward — now fast, now
slow — like a performing horse doing its tricks.
The native pilot was on the masthead nearly
mad with anxiety. It was the first he had had to
do with a steamer, and he was convinced that
the Janet was on the point of destruction every
[53]
The Cruise of
moment. At last, quite worn out with such breath-
less excitement, we came safely to anchor in front
of the village, a cluster of native houses gathered
together on a narrow spit of land, or rather coral.
A big wave, a short time ago, washed over the
village from sea to sea. Our men are working hard
getting out the boxes for the shell we are to take
in, and the mates are making new boxes, hurry-
ing as fast as their natures allow. There is quite
a fleet of pearling boats hanging about. One has
just come in filled with natives; the colours are
enchanting: the opaline sea, the reds and blues of
the men's clothing, running from the brightest to
the darkest shades, the yellow boats wreathed
with greenery, the lovel}^ browns of the native
skin, with the brilliant sun and the luminous
shadows. Boys are already swimming out to the
ship, resting on planks (bits of wreckage), their
clothes, tied in a bundle and hanging over their
heads, dependent from sticks. I can hear the
voices of the girls and the clapping of their hands
as they sing and dance on the beach. I see a man
hurrying along a path, a little child with him and
their black pig following like a terrier. Sometimes
piggy stops a moment to smell or root at the foot
of a palm, but always with a glance over his shoul-
der; if the distance seems growing too wide be-
[54]
the ^ ' J an et N ichoV ^
tween himself and his family, he rushes after
them, and for a moment or two trots soberly at
his master's side.
After luncheon we went over to the village in
one of the boats going for shell, landing at the
white trader's house. From the first, I had been
puzzled by a strange figure on the trader's ve-
randa. When we were nearer I discovered it to
be the figurehead of a wrecked ship, a very
haughty lady in a magnificent costume. She held
her head proudly in the air and had a fine, hooked
nose. All about the trader's house were great
piles of timber, and in one of the rooms a piano
woefully out of tune, and other signs of the wreck
of a big ship. It was a timber vessel, they told
us, this last one, that went to pieces just outside
the reef. Numbers of houses are being built of the
boards by the more thrifty-minded of the island-
ers. One of the sailors cast ashore still remains
here, a gentle, soft-eyed youth from Edinburgh,
now fairly on the way to become a beach-comber.
Fortunate lad! His future is assured; no more hard
work, no more nipping frosts and chilly winds;
he will hve and die in dreamland, beloved and
honoured and tenderly cared for all the summer
days of his life. He already speaks the native
tongue, not only fluently, but in the genteelest
The Cruise of
native manner, raising and lowering his eyebrows
in the most approved fashion as he whispers to
the elderly dames matter that is no doubt better
left untranslated.
When the figurehead came ashore people were
terribly alarmed by the appearance of the "white
lady." The children are still frightened into sub-
mission by threats of being handed over to her.
The trader's wife is a Manihiki woman, very neat
and well-mannered; we drank cocoanuts with her,
and were introduced to the native missionary's
daughter, an enormously large, fat girl of thirteen,
but looking twenty. I believe her parents are from
another island. Lloyd photographed the proud
lady with a lot of children and girls grouped round
her, the soft-eyed Scot familiarly leaning against
her shoulder. The girls went through an elaborate
affectation of terror and had to be caught and
dragged to the place, whence, I believe, nothing
could have dislodged them. After this photog-
raphy was finished we wandered through the
village, a large chattering crowd at our heels.
This is the least prepossessing population I have
seen since Mariki, and I am assured they are no
better than they look. As we walked along I hap-
pened to pick up a pretty little shell from the
beach; the missionary's fat daughter instantly
[56]
the ''Janet N i chol ' '
gathered and pressed upon me four other shells,
but as I held them in my hand living claws pro-
jected from inside and pinched me so that I cried
out in alarm and threw them to the ground.
Every one laughed, naturall}^, but an impudent
young man picked up and offered me a worn
aperculum, saying with a grin: "Buy; one pearl."
**I could not," I assured him with mock courtesy,
"deprive you of so valuable an ornament; tie it
round your neck." This feeble jest seemed to be
understood and was greeted with shouts of
laughter. The lad was cast down for a moment,
and fell behind; pretty soon he came forward
again, with a dog's bone. "Buy," he said; "very
good; twenty pounds." "I could not," I returned,
"take from )'ou a weapon so suitable to your
courage." Of course I used pantomime as well as
speech. The other young men, with shrieks of
laughter, pretended to be terrified b}'' his war-
like appearance, and he shrank away to annoy
me no further. Several men and women offered
us very inferior pearls at the most preposterous
prices, at which Tin Jack and I jeered them, when
the pearls were hidden shamefacedly. They knew
as well as we that their wares were worthless.
Lloyd and Louis planted their camera stand in
the centre of the village, and walked about to
[57]
The Cruise of
look for good points of view. While they were
awa}' a serious-looking man delivered a lecture
upon the apparatus, to the evident edification
and wonder of the crowd. During his explanation
he mimicked both Louis's and Lloyd's walk, show-
ing how Lloyd carried the camera, while Louis
walked about looking round him. I sat down on
a log to wait, when immediately all the women
and girls seated themselves on the ground, mak-
ing me the centre of a half circle and gazing at
me with hard, round eyes.
After the photography Louis and I went to call
on the missionary. He and his wife were at home,
evidently expecting us. His wife is enormously
stout, with small features and an unpleasant ex-
pression; the man rather sensible and superior-
looking. A number of women and the pilot who
had brought us into the lagoon ranged themselves
on the floor in front of us. One of the ladies, a
plain body, seeming more intelligent than the
rest, possessed a countenance capable of express-
ing more indignation than one would think pos-
sible. She wished to have our relationship explained
to her. Louis and I were husband and wife; this
statement was received with a cry of anger, but
at the announcement that Ivlo3'd was our son, she
fairly howled; even Lloyd's name seemed objec-
[58]
the ' ^ J an et N i cho I ' '
tionable. About mine there was a good deal of
discussion, as they appeared to have heard it be-
fore. We drank cocoanuts under the disapproving
eye of the intelHgent lady, and, after receiving as
a present a pearl-shell with a coral growth on its
side from the missionary's wife, and another,
somewhat battered, from his daughter, I gave, in
return, the wreath from my hat and we departed.
Louis and Lloyd went back to the ship, but I
remained, with Tin Jack, to see the church. All
but three Httle girls were too lazy to show us the
way; so, accompanied by the trio, we started on
a broad path of loose, drifting coral sand. The
church was a good, substantial structure of white
coral, with benches and Bible rests, but there was
no attempt at decoration. The room was large
enough to hold all the inhabitants of the village
twice over. As in most of the other islands, being
"missionary" — religious — goes by waves of fash-
ion. In Penrhyn, at any moment, the congrega-
tion may turn on the pastor and tell him he must
leave instantly, as they are tired of being mission-
ary. They have the "week of jubilee," which
means the whole island goes on a gigantic "spree,"
when Penrhyn is not a pleasant, or hardly a safe,
abiding-place. We stopped at the schoolhouse on
the way back, a large, ill-smelling room, contain-
[59l
The Cruise of
ing for furniture one table with pearl-shell disks
let into the legs, standing on a dais. The only really
neat house was the trader's, and he had a Mani-
hikian wife.
The laws of Penrhyn, some of them very com-
ical, are stringently enforced. There is no non-
sense about "remain within your houses" here,
for, after nine o'clock, remain you must. Last
night our cook was shut into a house where he
was paying a visit, and was not allowed out until
after the breakfast hour. There was also a rumour
that Tin Jack, being seen after curfew, had to
run, the poHce after him, to the house of the
trader, where he remained until morning. Our
sailors, to-day, somehow offended the natives
and came running back to the ship pursued by a
crowd. The children are much more prepossessing
than their parents, some of them, especially the
little girls, being quite pretty and well-behaved.
It is much easier to restrain them and keep them
within bounds than if they were white children
in similar case. Every scrap of orange-peel thrown
overboard was gathered up by them to be con-
verted into ornaments. A bit of peel cut into the
shape of a star, with a hole in the centre for the
purpose, would be drawn over the buttons of their
shirts and gowns, while long strings were worn
[60]
the ^ ^ J an et N i cho I * *
hanging over the breast, or twined round the head
and neck. The trader's Httle half-caste boy was
clad in the tiniest imaginable pair of blue jeans,
with a pink cotton shirt, and had little gold ear-
rings in his ears.
loth. — None of our party cared to go on shore.
I sent a chromo representing a "domestic scene"
to the trader's wife in return for her present of a
coral-grown shell. The shell I afterward gave to
the cook and another to the second steward, who,
by this time, was almost insane with excitement
and pleasure. We had a very busy day receiving
shell and packing it in the wooden cases that are
still being made on the forward deck. The black
sailors work extraordinarily well and with per-
fect willingness and good nature. They make
play of everything, and in spite of their small
stature and slender, elegant figures, handle great
weights with the utmost ease and dexterity. The
little native boys work as hard as any in help-
ing pack the shell. One Httle naked fellow of
about ten, I was told, was deaf and dumb, but I
should never have guessed it.
As soon as there was a movement on the ship
the young girls came swimming out to us like a
shoal of fish. The sea was dotted with the black
heads over which they held their parcel of clothes
[6i]
The Cruise of
in one hand to keep them drv, making their
toilets on the lower rungs of the ship's ladder.
One girl would stand at the foot of the ladder
where she received the clothes of the newcomer;
as the latter emerged dripping from the sea her
garment was dexterously dropped over her head,
so that she rose with the utmost decorum fully
clad.
Louis soon had his particular following, some
three or four little girls eight or ten years of age.
They made him sit down and then sang to him.
One of these children must have been the daughter
of the indignant lady we met at the missionary's
house, for her powers of expression were the same.
She was, however, pleased to signify approval of
Loia (Lloyd). If Louis attempted to leave these
small sirens he was peremptorily ordered to re-
sume his seat, and the singing redoubled in vigour.
They had shrill voices and sang not badly. Louis
bought a tin of "lollies" from the trade room
and regaled his little maids on that and plug
tobacco. Oranges and biscuits were given to the
people quite freely, and the leavings from our
table were continually passing about. The cook
said the contents of the swill-pail were eaten clean,
pumpkin rinds being a favourite morsel. Except
for the "lollies," the little girls generously divided
[62]
the ' ^ J an et N ichol ' '
with their friends, but the boys were more selfish.
One little fellow who had secured a whole pumpkin
rind ran about the deck with a wolfish terror,
trying to find a hiding-place where he could de-
vour his prize safe from the importunities of his
mates.
Tin Jack, without my knowledge (I should have
stopped him had I known) donned the wig and
beard and false nose; his appearance created a
real panic. One girl was with difficulty restrained
from jumping overboard from the high deck, and
many were screaming and rushing about, their
eyes starting with terror; Louis's little girls ran to
him and me and clung to us. A fine, tall young
woman kept up a bold front until Tin Jack took
hold of her, when she slipped through his hands,
a limp heap on the deck. I tried in vain to get near
him to make him cease with his cruel jest, but he
was running among the frightened crowd, and
I could not make him hear me through the con-
fusion and noise. The girl who tried to jump over-
board collapsed among some bags on top of the
shell, where, covering her face, she wept aloud.
I climbed over to her and soothed her, and tried
to explain that it was not the devil but only Tin
Jack with a mask. The children were the first to
recover from their terror, soon recognising Tin
I63]
The Cruise of
Jack, either from his voice, or his walk, or some-
thing that marked his individuality, for in the
afternoon they returned to the ship, fetching other
children, and boldly demanded that these, too,
should be shown the foreign devil. All evil spirits,
and there are many in Penrhyn, are called devils.
Speaking about the superstitions of Penrhyn,
Mr. Hird recalls the following grisly incident that
occurred when he was stopping on the island. A
man who was paralysed on one side had a convul-
sion which caused spasmodic contractions on the
other side. One of the sick man's famil}^ began at
once to make a coffin. "But the man's not dead,"
said Mr. Hird. "Oh yes," was the repl}''; "he's
dead enough; it's the third time he has done this,
so we are going to bury him." Mr. Hird went to
the native missionary, but his remonstrances had
no effect; he kept on protesting until the last
moment. "Why look," he said, "the man's limbs
are quivering." "Oh that's only live flesh," was
the reply, and some one fell to pommelling the
poor wretch to quiet the "live flesh." The belief
was that the man's spirit had departed long before
and a devil who wished to use the body for his
own convenience had been keeping the flesh alive.
Mr. Hird thinks that the man was insensible
when buried and must soon have died.
[64]
the ''Janet NichoV
At another time some natives had been "wak-
ing" a corpse; tired out, they all fell asleep ex-
cept a single man who acted as "watcher." By
and by he, too, dropped ofF. The party were
awakened by a great noise. The watcher explained
that he had been napping and suddenly opened
his eyes to behold the dead man sitting up. "A
corpse sitting up just like this!" he exclaimed
indignantly; "but I was equal to him; I ran at
him and knocked him down, and now he's de-
cently quiet again." And so he was, dead as a
door-nail from the blow he had received.
Another thing Mr. Hird saw in Penrhyn. A
very excellent man, but a strict disciplinarian,
died and his family were sore troubled by the
appearance of his ghost. They had suffered enough
from his severity during his lifetime, and were
terrified lest his spirit had returned to keep them
up to the standard he had marked out for them.
The day after the apparition was seen, the grave
was opened, the body taken out, and the hole
deepened till they came to water; the corpse was
then turned over in the coffin and reburied face
down.
At about five o'clock we weighed anchor and
went through the exciting ordeal of the passage
out of the lagoon, taking with us as passengers
[65]
The C 7^11 is e of
to Manihlki a woman and her two children.
After we were quite away, outside the lagoon, a
boat came after us with a quantity of timber
from the wreck; this extra and unexpected work
of taking the timber on board and stowing it
away, instead of being received with grumbling
by our black boys, was taken as gleefully as
though it were a pleasant game of their own
choosing.
The passengers slept on the after hatch with us.
The baby cried in the night, and the mother
quieted it by clapping her hands, 3^awning, mean-
while, with a great noise like the snarling of a
wild beast; consequently I did not sleep well. For
the first time the wind is aft and the ship very
airless and close.
nth. — The captain's eyes, which have been
dreadfully inflamed, are much better, thanks to
an eye lotion from Swan, the chemist at Fiji,
that we had in our medicine-chest.
In the evening, about nine, we made Manihiki.
Mr. Henderson burned a blue light which was
answered by bonfires on shore. We did not anchor,
but lay off and on, as we were only to stay long
enough to land our passengers. Louis wished to
go on shore with the boat, but as it did not get
off until ten he gave it up and went to bed. I
[66]
the ''Janet NichoT*
made up a little parcel for him to send to Fani,
and Mr. Hird carried it to her, a few sweeties
carefully folded up in a Japanese paper napkin
and tied with a bright-green ribbon. The child was
in bed and asleep, but waked to receive her parcel
which she resolutely decHned to open until the
next day, though earnestly persuaded by the whole
family to let them have a peep inside. She ap-
pealed to Mr. Hird, who upheld her decision, so
she returned to her mat and fell asleep holding
her present in her hands.
I am trying to paint a small portrait of Tin
Jack, who is a beautiful creature, but during the
reluctant moments he poses he sits with his back
toward me, his eye fixed on the clock, counting
the minutes until his release. We took from the
island a man, woman, and boy for Suwarrow, our
next stopping-place. Mr. Hird had a singular
dream, or rather vision, of the white trader in
Suwarrow lying dead and ready for burial. He
was so impressed by this that he took note of the
time and feels very anxious.
I3^A. — I awoke at six, after a night's struggle
with my mats, which the wind nearly wrested
from me several times, to find we are just off
Suwarrow. At breakfast Captain Henry presented
me with a gorgeous hibiscus flower and Mr. Hen-
The Cruise of
derson laid beside my plate a couple of bananas
and a vi-apple, products of the island. At pres-
ent there are only six people living on Suwarrow;
our three passengers, counting the boy, will make
nine.
I went on deck to look at the island and was
told that the flag was at half-mast. Sure enough,
the trader was dead; the date of his death tallied
with that of Mr. Hird's vision. The poor fellow
was most anxious to be relieved the last time the
ship was here, wherefore one of the native pas-
sengers was brought to take his place. A neat
white paling fence enclosed the grave. I asked
from what disease he died. "Sickness in here,"
was the answer, indicating the liver; "a long time
he no stand up; all the time lie down. Pain — cry
out — cry out — then die."
Suwarrow and its attendant isles have been
planted in cocoanuts by Mr. Henderson. A few
pandanus are here and there and more varieties
of small weeds than is usual in low islands. There
is, also, a great deal of fine, feathery grass, worth-
less, unfortunately, for feeding animals. Mr. Hen-
derson tried goats upon it, and sheep, also, I
believe; they ate the grass greedily but did not
thrive, and soon dwindled and died. It was found,
on examination, that the grass did not digest but
[68]
the "'Janet N i cho T *
remained in balls in the intestines. The cocoanuts,
though most of them were planted eight years
ago, do not bear very heavily; Mr. Henderson
thinks the}'' were not planted deep enough. He
says they should be planted four feet under the
soil, the sprouts being about five feet high. Ba-
nanas planted in imported earth are growing well,
and some have taken kindly to the native soil;
also chilli peppers from the high islands. Vi-trees
are in full bearing, the hibiscus is gaudy with
blossoms, and cotton-plants, not indigenous, but
now become wild, flourish luxuriantly.
Suwarrow at some former period must have
been a thriving and important settlement. One
has the feeling that stirring events have happened
here and that its history should be wild and ro-
mantic. At present it is very like the desert strong-
hold of a pirate. The pier is a very fine one and
must have cost much money and labour; a num-
ber of houses are clustered near it, giving at first
sight the impression of a village; there are beacons
to guide the mariner and a ''lookout" on the
opposite side of the island. Turtles are caught
occasionally, and large crabs and excellent fish.
There are also birds, very good eating, and in the
season innumerable eggs of a fine flavour may be
gathered. One bird, no larger than a dove, lays
[69]
The Cruise of
an egg as big as a hen's, out of all proportion to
her size.
I first walked over to the weather side; here I
found it delightfull}' cool, but the tide was high,
forcing me to the shingle, so I returned, marking
on the way a fine, clear pool where I mean to have
a bath to-morrow. The room where I am writing
looks as though it were meant for a church or a
schoolhouse; but of course that is only conjecture.
It is a large room, long and narrow, with double
doors at each side, a single door at one end, and
four unglazed windows. The windows are pro-
tected by foot-wide slats arranged to move up and
down like Venetian blinds; both doors and slats
are painted green. The roof, open to the peak, is
neatly thatched with either pandanus or cocoanut
leaves, I am not sure which. A table, originally
very sturdy, but now fallen into the rickets,
holds the dead man's books: "Chetwynd Cal-
verly" by W. Harrison Ainsworth, **The Mystery
of Orcival," by Gaboriau, and an advertisement
book about next of kin. Behind the table is a
cotton-gin, the "Magnolia," with a picture of
the flower indifferently well done on its front. I
sat awhile on one of the two wooden benches
that help furnish the room and studied the walls,
over which are scrawled names: Etelea, Mite-
[70]
the ^^ Janet N ichoV '
mago, Saviti, Patawe, Polohiu, Atolioinine, Salhisi,
Kari, Fuehau, Laku, Mitima, Paopave, Munokoa,
and many others.
In another large house of a single room, roofed
with corrugated iron, I found all sorts of treasure-
trove from vessels that had been wrecked on Su-
warrow. Piled up in one end of the house are
ship's blocks, oakum, strange, antiquated fire-
arms, iron parts of a ship, and the two stairs of
her companionway. There is a single oar, and a
tool-chest with rope handles at either end, the
word Sweden on it, and the top covered with
canvas; an iron gate, two steering-wheels, a winch,
a copper blubber dipper green with verdigris, the
handle of wood and iron; two life-preservers, one
marked Le-Ji Stevens; small, glass-bottomed boxes
for searching the bottom of the sea, wheels, hatch-
covers, and I know not what. At the other end of
the room a ladder leads up to a loft, where sieves
for guano, a harpoon, a double-handed saw, and
iron shell baskets are heaped together. Two im-
mense iron tanks, painted red, stand at either
side of the seaward doors.
Next to this house came the ** office," with a
little cubby partitioned off one side. I looked
through the pigeonholes of the cubby and found
a packet of thin sheets of tortoise-shell and a
[71]
The Cruise of
large parcel of a native woman's hair. Mildewed
maps hang on the walls, the ceiling is adorned
with ten rusty cutlasses, old ledgers lie about, and
a bag of cotton lies on the floor as though it had
just been dropped there. On one of the sides of
the room is a broad, white band with painted
black letters ** Peerless wrecked on Suwarrow
Island." In one corner stands a box of bits of old
iron which are put in with cocoanuts when they
are planted. It is called ''cocoanut manure." This
reminds me that the Paumotuans plant with their
cocoanuts a rusty nail and a ship's biscuit. In the
outer room sixteen decaying muskets are ranged
in a rack. Shelves are filled with all sorts of tools,
nails, axes, bush knives, tins of sardines and sal-
mon, and a quantity of mouldy shoes in children's
sizes only; among the shoes were a toy chest of
drawers and a box of moulting feathers.
Passing another building containing miscella-
neous wreckage, blue and white china among
the rest, I came to the manager's house, a large,
wooden-floored structure with a thatched roof.
Here I found a native man at work on accounts,
his old dog at his feet, which were wrapped up in
the Union Jack to keep them warm. This room
was evidently designed by a sailor and gave one
quite the feeling of being on board ship. Instead of
l72]
the ''Janet NichoT*
windows there were port-holes, three on either
side, with a couple flanking the front door. Covers,
painted black to imitate iron, could be screwed
over the ports like deadlights on shipboard. The
doors, one in either end, opened in two parts,
being divided across the middle. The furniture
consisted of two bedsteads of native wood with
cocoa sennit laced across them to serve for mat-
tresses, A couple of bunches of bananas hung from
the roof. Against the wall hung the death certifi-
cate of the dead man, which, in such cases, must
be the only proof that the death was due to nat-
ural causes, and not a crime. I copied the certifi-
cate.
Samuli lee aho 2 . . . .
he motu nai mate he malu va he tau
fro ia gauali 2 1889 Ka Papu
Ko Maro tola ne ha nie ne tamu
Ka Patiti ma miti San ma
J ketiti ma Paemani Koe tau wine
Kwenia kia mounina kelie iki lagi ke
he tan ban nei kua hobooko kiai a tautala
June ati 2 — 1890
Next comes "government house," as Louis calls
it, neatly thatched, the floors of wood, and sepa-
rated into two rooms by panelled wood from a
wreck; the rooms are connected by a wide, open
[73]
The Cruise of
doorway, the arched top and sides edged with
brass. In one room is a table with a Bible and other
books lying on it, a home-made sofa covered with
a mat; two corner shelves, spread with newspapers
cut in points where they hang over, are filled with
miscellaneous books; chests, a compass-box, and
a water-monkey with its neck gone stand about.
On the walls are some rather pretty engravings,
a few framed and one glazed. On each side of
the house are small, square windows protected by
solid wooden shutters that drop down when not
upheld by a stick. The front and back doors
are strong and divided across the middle. In the
back room are two home-made bedsteads, sennit
crossed, one with a mosquito curtain. Chests are
on the floor, mats lie about, and a roll of fine
mats is lashed to the ceiling. In front of the house,
the gable end, are two large, rusty, iron boilers
such as are used on ships. Inside the compound,
which is neatly fenced with whitewashed palings,
are two small, mounted cannon with a couple of
vi-trees growing beside them. Returning to what
I call the church, I passed a tool house, a large
room filled with rusting tools. Two small casks
of fresh water lie waiting there in case a boat
should come ashore in distress for water. There is
also an immense cistern sunk in the ground, filled
[74]
the '^ Janet NichoT*
with rain-water caught on the iron roofs, but that,
I believe, is kept locked.
Leaving the dog that boarded us at Auckland,
and some cats, we departed from the most ro-
mantic island In the world, regretting that to us
its history must always remain a mystery un-
solved.
i6th. — Arrived at Danger Island. Boats put out
to inform Mr. Henderson that, despite all their
promises when we were here before, there is no
copra ready, it being the season when the natives
collect subscriptions for the church and hold the
**Me" meeting. "No tobacco," says Mr. Hender-
son with malicious glee as he orders the people
off the ship. To my joy he says to the captain:
"Can you make Nassau by night!" The captain
can; and we arrive the same night and lie off and
on until morning. We give Nassau a blue light,
and the inhabitants respond with a bonfire, keep-
ing it blazing all night, apparently afraid if they
let it go out we may steam away.
I'jth. — Nassau is a small, high-low island enclos-
ing a lagoon which has now dwindled to a pond.
It is triangular in shape and roughly measures
five miles round. We could see that the ground rose
up from the beach at a considerable slope, and
between the ti-trees I could make out that grass
[75]
The Cruise of
was growing. With a glass I could distinguish a
breadfruit tree. Nassau has no anchorage and
the landing was thought to be too dangerous for
me to attempt, so, to my great disappointment,
the men went without me; from the description
they gave when they returned, and from the out-
side view, it must be the loveliest of all the high-
low islands. There are many pigs and fowls, and
all the high-island fruits flourish exceedingly;
turtle abound, both the green turtle beloved of
aldermen and the turtle that produces the shell
of commerce. The owner of the island had not
visited the place for two years, so the few people
living there felt as though they had been marooned.
They sent two pigs on board, and offered Mr.
Hird a large piece of tortoise-shell which he re-
fused because of its value. There were some forty
boxes of copra ready for sale, but, as the sea was
high and the landing bad, Mr. Hird did not care
to take it. Mr. Henderson, however, gave them
what "trade" they wanted, some fifteen dollars*
worth, as a present.
When Louis came back he gave me the follow-
ing account of his visit, starting from the very
beginning:
"First thing in the morning we saw the whole
population gathered on the beach. As we came
[76I
/
the ^' Janet NichoT'
nearer in and lowered a boat it was a strange
thing to see the two women dancing Hke jumping-
jacks for joy. All three men came down to the
edge of the reef. H. signed to them from the
bridge to jump in, and swim, which two of them,
Joe and Jim, did, the boat meeting them half
way. We could see them scramble in solemnly
and shake hands with Johnny, who was at the
steer oar, and sit down. The}^ had a good many
old friends on board, Joe especially, and it was a
treat to see the absurd creature dance up to them
for all the world like a clown in a pantomime.
A little later, seeing Lloyd come out from under
a blanket where he had been changing plates in
the camera, he made us all nearly die laughing
with his pantomime of terror. He called every-
body 'old man'; and was always either laughing
himself or the cause of laughter in others. He said
they had no fish; 'got no canoe,' he said, 'why not
make one,' asked one of us; 'Too much wo'k!'
cried Joe with infinite gusto. He is very strong,
and in reality most industrious, only he is simply
marooned and means to do nothing needless.
After breakfast we go ashore. The third man and
a dog met us on the reef; and singular thing, the
dog is afraid of us. At the house we are introduced
to Mrs. Joe, Mrs. Jim and the five children, the
[77]
The Cruise of
whole party like crazy folk, dancing and clapping
their hands and laughing for mere excitement.
On into the island, a garden-like place, with limes,
bananas, and figs growing, and the ground in many
places carpeted with turf. Not in all, however,
and as I had bare feet, and the morning was hot,
I presently turned back and arrived alone at the
settlement. Mrs. Joe was out waiting for me with
a green cocoanut; while I was drinking she tried
to abstract my ring. Failing in this she led me
into a shed where Mrs. Jim was, piled up pillows
at my back, supported me in her arms and pro-
ceeded to feed me like an infant with cocoa-
nut pudding. Mrs. Jim, meanwhile, patted _and
smoothed me, and both at the pitch of their ex-
cited voices plied me with questions as to my
age, countr)% family, wife and business. When
they heard my wife was on board, they cried out
with regret that she had not come; and Mrs. Joe
intimated that she was dying to go on board to
see her but lacked clothes. (Both were quite well
dressed, Mrs. Joe a comely fellow, in blue, Mrs.
Jim in red; they began at once to build up a
heap of presents for the fafine (lady). In the
meanwhile, or concurrently, they were all through
my pockets and robbed me of all I possessed;
all my money, tobacco, matches, and my pocket
[78]
the ^ ^ J an et N icho T '
handkerchief; some capsules I saved, telling them
they contained poison, and (more fortunate than
the rest) my cap. They were perfectly good na-
tured when refused anything, but returned again
to the assault like flies. Mrs. Jim offered to give
me her baby in exchange for Lloyd, which I ac-
cepted. When the party arrived they were all
subjected to similar pillage; though, being so
many, scarcely to the same endearments. (I was
simply petted, smoothed, caressed, and fed like
a pet animal.) The scene was one of the wildest
excitement and I am sure they all had headaches.
All came down to the reef to see us off; Joe and
Jim were to take us out; the ladies stood a little
back up to their knees, and when the boat was
launched, I saw Mrs. Joe make a sudden plunge
under her skirts, and next moment her gaudy
lava-lava was flying in the air for a signal of fare-
well. When a native woman dons a civilised gar-
ment she still retains her native garment, the
lava-lava twisted round her body. Once we were
clear of the breakers under the able pilotage of
Joe, 'this is very beastiness' said he severely, to
one of our black boys who volunteered advice.
Jim and he stood upon the thwarts, 'good-bye,
old man,' heels up, head down, and next moment
they were pushing for the shore."
[79]
The C 7' u is e of
19^/1. — Quiros (the Jennings) in the morning.
After Nassau it seems commonplace and tamely
prosperous. We walked across to the lagoon which
is very large and only slightly brackish. Lloy4
and Tin Jack took a swim, and I went back to
the women. After drinking many cocoanuts we
returned to the ship.
20th. — Mrs. Jennings and her sister-in-law, with
a singing boat's crew Samoan fashion, visited us.
Unfortunately, one of the ladies became seasick,
which cut their visit short.
2ist. — Fakaafo, of the Tokalau group. Louis and
I went on shore very early in the morning. There
was a big swell and all our boatmen had different
views at the same moment, the consequence
being that we broached to and were nearly
swamped. I got drenched from head to foot and
felt very cold. We walked about the village and
were taken to the house of the King. The Queen
spread a mat on the ground for us and we sat
down beside her; she was holding a precocious
little baby in her arms, her grandchild, I pre-
sume, for she looked quite an old woman. The
King came to the opening of the hut and, thrust-
ing out his head and shoulders, shook hands with
us and tried to converse. Cocoanuts were offered
us, but I felt too chilly for that refreshment. It
[80]
the ''Janet N ichoV
seemed a languid place; the very children soon
tired of following us.
As I felt symptoms of rheumatism from the
wetting I had got, I hunted up the trader, a pal-
lid Portuguese, and asked if his wife could lend
rae a gown. He said if we crossed the island we
would find a board house, belonging to him,
where his wife would give me a native dress. As
we drew near the place several handsome, smiling
women joined us; we all sat down on the veranda
and waited for the trader, who was not far
behind us, and I was soon clad in comfortable
dry clothes. We refused cocoanuts but accepted
brandy and water. I gave the trader's wife the
wreath from my head and a gold ring, after which
we came back to the ship, very nearly upsetting
our boat in the surf. I had with me a number of
plain gold wedding rings; I always wore a few
that I might take them from my own hand to
offer as presents.
In the afternoon the trader's wife sent me a
present of a hat. The trader used the most puz-
zling English possible; in passing Lloyd's room he
caught sight of a guitar. "Who that music?" he
asked. When told, he asked to have the guitar put
in his hands and demanded that Lloyd be sent
for. In the meantime he examined the instrument
[8i]
The Cruise of
and found two broken strings. When Lloyd came
the trader said he wanted two fine guitar strings.
Not having too many, Lloyd was loath to part
with the strings, but the man was so bent on
having them that the box of strings was sent for.
On Lloyd asking the man about his own guitar,
to our surprise he said he had none at all, and yet
he went on choosing out strings with the utmost
excitement. ''Really," said Lloyd, "I can't let
you have all those; I will give you this lot but no
more; and I don't see what you want with them
if you have no guitar"; apparently, he wanted
them to "play with." Then it occurred to us that
he might have some other sort of instrument on
which guitar strings could be used; but no, he
said he had no sort of instrument whatever. At
last, after great perplexity and wild endeavours
to find out what he would be at, Lloyd suddenly,
as if by inspiration, asked: "Do you want to buy
this guitar?" That was the mystery. As we had only
one guitar we could not give it to him, so the poor
fellow sadly returned both strings and instrument,
22(1. — We celebrated the anniversary of our
marriage^ in front of the trade room. Champagne
^ We forgot it on the nineteenth, which was the real
anniversary, hut thought there would be no harm in
a belated celebration.
[82]
the ''Janet NichoV
was set to cool in wet towels, and at about four
we gathered together at the appointed place, each
person to do what he could for the amusemer.t
of the others. Tin Jack gave a reading from
Shakespeare, standing in a pulpit that was part
of our cargo. Mr. Hird sang ''Afton Water"
charmingly with much grace and feeling. Llo3'd
sang, and Louis, taking what he saw before him
as a text (it was an advertisement of St. Jacob's
oil), mounted the pulpit and delivered a sermon.
Sight land, Atafu, where I hope to get Tokalau
buckets, which are very useful in place of port-
manteaus.
23^. — Mr. Henderson went ashore very early
this morning, at Atafu. He boasts that he ate
three chicken legs as well as half a breast and
quantities of taro. As I have a little rheumatism
from wearing my wet clothes so long at Fakaafo,
and it rains, I decided to stay on board and take
a dose of salicylate. Later the sun comes out; my
rheumatism flies before the salicylate, but too late;
Louis has gone in the boat and there is no other
for me. I spend a dreary time watching the people
with an opera-glass. The wind occasionally brings
the sound of singing to my ears. Then the opera-
glass gives me a headache, and I try reading,
first *'011a Podrida," which I cannot manage, and
[83]
The Cruise of
afterward the South Pacific Directory, with which
I succeed better. The boat comes back at dinner
time, everybody talking at once about the curi-
ous experiences they have had.
2^th. — To my regret I did not feel well enough
to go on shore. A trader, the brother of the man
who wished to buy the guitar, told me his wife
was coming to see me and introduced his son, a
fine, little, brown fellow of about eleven. Mr.
Hird informed me that he is quite a travelled
youth. He, himself, told me he had been to Sydney,
and when I asked, **To San Francisco?" he re-
plied: "No, but I have been to Frisco." This child
was on board a schooner when she was nearly
destroyed by fire, and also when she was in im-
minent danger of being shipwrecked. The fire
was an incendiary act. One of the sailors had sev-
eral times been very impudent to the captain of
the schooner and was regarded as a dangerous
character. He, one day, in a fit of rage, attacked
the cook w^ith a knife and nearly murdered him.
The captain, who seemed a pitiful fellow, was
frightened at the thought of putting the man in
irons and bungled to such an extent with the
handcuffs that the culprit, himself, obligingly
put them on. The supercargo asked that the cul-
prit be confined in the cabin next his, but the cap-
[84]
the ''Janet Nichol
tain was alarmed at the idea of having him so
near. It was not long before he managed to get
loose, set the ship on fire, and jump overboard.
A few hours after the fire they were nearly driven
on a rock before a heav}^ squall. When they were
so close that they could almost have jumped on
the rock, the vessel stopped dead and remained
perfectly quiet. The rock had taken the wind out
of her sails, and the backwash held them off.
By and b}^ the trader's wife and her friend, a
handsome woman with a haughty, high-bred ex-
pression, came on board. With a simplicity that
was almost cynical, the trader explained that at
one time there had been a great many German
sailors about the islands, so, as his wife had
yellow hair, he just took it for granted that she
was a German half-caste. She certainly did look
very like a sentimental German governess, with
her yellow hair and blinking eyes, but I per-
ceived at once that whatever else she might be,
she was certainly an albino. She brought me a
basket and a small Tokalau bucket. In return I
gave her a gold ring which she replaced with three
tortoise-shell rings and a thicker one ingeniously
tied in a true-lovers' knot. I gave the friend a
wreath and received a hat as an exchange present.
These people are desperate flatterers; we call this
[8S1
The Cruise of
"The Isle of Flatterers." A native met Mr. Hen-
derson in Louis's hearing. "You handsome man !"
he cried, his voice thrilling with emotion as he
eagerly studied Mr. Henderson's face. "You good
woman!" said Mrs. Trader to me continually, her
eyes melting into mine with admiration and af-
fection as she tenderly embraced me. I asked for
a lock of her beautiful hair, which, after asking
permission of her husband, she gave me; I pinned
it in my diary and she wrote under it, '' Fa7ii mai
feleni" (Fanny, my friend) and her own name,
"Amalaisa"; then she fanned me, and caressed
me, and flattered me, and finally, getting hold of
m}^ photograph, pressed it to her bosom and face,
saying: "All same you." I wonder if they really
do "rub noses" anywhere! All I have seen is a
pressing together of the two faces with a slight
inspiration through the nostrils. While I was sit-
ting with Amalaisa and her friend, holding a
hand of each, I became aware that a very ragged
but superior-looking young native man had joined
our party. "That boy. King," whispered Amalaisa,
so I shook hands with his majesty and called
Louis to be introduced. The last words of royalty
were "You good woman," delivered in most se-
ductive tones.
Most of these natives are suffering from a skin
[86]
the ^ ^ J an et N i c ho T ^
disease which covers them with whitish scales
and is contagious. I trust we have not all caught
it. The scaliest boy in the island has been walking
about all day with his arm round Louis's waist,
patting and smoothing down his hands with a
purring: "You good papalagV (foreigner).
When it came time to part Amalaisa gave me
another hat and put more sentimental expression
into her tofa (farewell) than one would think
possible. We shook hands, Amalaisa suddenly
kissed me and was gone in a flash.
Louis has written here the following account
of his adventures in Atafu: "Immediately on land-
ing I was surrounded by boys more or less scaly;
the Httle girls fled before us in a squadron, look-
ing coquettishly back; if they came too near the
boys cast handfuls of stones upon the ground by
way of a hint. *You Peletania?' (British) they
asked, one after another and again and again,
always receiving my affirmative with 'Peletania —
Aloha!' taken in an indrawn breath. One boy
walked all the way, caressing me. 'You good papa-
lagi,' he cried at intervals. I suppose I had fifty
of our escort. Presently we found some twelve
stalwart dames sitting on a wall. They made me
sit by them, sent for cocoanuts, caressed me with
the most extraordinary fervour of admiration,
[87]
The Cruise of
and breathed, from time to time, in an emotional
chorus: ' Pelctania — Aloha!'' Although not accus-
tomed to the offer of gallantry based upon po-
litical considerations, I suspected something was
intended; and presentl}' one of the boys was
called by the ladies and stood forth as an inter-
preter. 'All these girls he laugh at you' (these
ladies smile upon you is what he meant). 'You
flatter me,' said I. The disappointment caused by
this miscarriage was inconceivable. A little later
one of the boys asked me: 'You want wife.'" *I
got wife on board,' I said. 'Wife on board,' cried
he with unmistakable scorn, 'no good!' The new-
comers laid traps for me as to my nativity. I could
hear them asking and hearing what I claimed to
be; and then they would come up and ask in a
fine, offhand manner: 'You Melican?' (American).
Certainly we have no possession more loyal than
Atafu. Another specimen of Atafu English (they
all speak some) is this: I had given a boy a stick
of tobacco; another asked for one. 'No,' I said,
'all done.' 'Eet ees feenished,' said the boy who
had the stick; but the boy who had it not re-
garded me with a pla\'ful smile. 'You go hell! no
done.'
"I saw the cure for scaly itch, invented by old
Jennings of Olesenga — a barrel sunk in the earth
[88]
the ''Janet NichoV
where they are smoked with sulphur. The girl
who was undergoing treatment was the most Eu-
ropean little soul — skin of a fair brown, eyes a
light hazel, hair golden chestnut. Strange that
folk of a low island should so incline to fairness.
Amalaisa first claimed me as 'mat felenV ; hearing
of my wife, she transferred her allegiance and
began to write her love-letters; the factitious
nature of this sentiment {me judice) didn't pre-
vent its being an immense success."
2yth. — We expect to make Funafuti, the first
of the Ellices, by daybreak; at nine o'clock there
was no sign of the island. "Bad steering," growled
the captain. "We've run past it, and now we have
to turn round and run back." At about two we
anchor in the lagoon, and almost immediately
the traders are aboard, two wretched-looking ob-
jects. One was a half-caste from some other island,
with elephantiasis, very bad, in both legs. There
were recent scarifications as though he had been
attempting the Samoan plan of tapping. The
other trader was not thin but the most bloodless
creature I ever saw; his face, hands, legs, and feet
were without sunburn, smooth, and of a curious
transparent texture like wax. It seemed an over-
exertion to raise his large, heavy eyes when he
spoke to us. The two men had pulled the boat in
[89]
The Cruise of
which they came. The pallid one panted and held
both hands over his heart as though suffering
acutely. I asked him if he liked the island. ''Not
at all," he answered and went on to describe the
people; he said he could not keep chickens, ducks,
or pigs; no one could, for their neighbours, jealous
that another should have what they had not,
would stone the creatures to death. The same
with the planting of fruit-trees; the soil was good,
and there were a few breadfruits and bananas,
but any attempt to grow more is frustrated. The
young trees are torn up and even the old ones
are occasionally broken and nearly destroyed.
Before the great earthquake in Java there were
plenty of good fish fit for eating. The half-caste
can remember when a poisonous fish w^as a thing
unknown; now all outside the reef are poisonous,
and many inside. The worst of it is that a fish,
to-day innocuous, may to-morrow become deadly.
Turtle do not come to the islands at all; so there
is no food besides copra except what chance vessels
may bring. I fear this poor man is simply dying
of starvation. A steward on board the missionary
ship, who knew a little about medicine, had told
him that he only needed iron and good food.
"They gave me a bottle of iron," he said, "and I
got better on that, or I'd be dead by now, but
[90]
the ^^ Janet NichoT*
how could I get the nourishing food?" I suggested
his leaving the island, but the loyal soul replied
that, though he knew he could save his life by
doing so, he would not desert his native wife and
children.
The half-caste told us several stories that sick-
ened us to hear and yet were most interesting.
In 1886 he was away from Funafuti. During his
absence two American vessels, under the Peru-
vian flag, came to the island and distributed pres-
ents right and left to all who came to receive
them. Naturally, the people were delighted, and
when it was proposed that as many as liked
should go to Peru to be educated by these kind
people, they flocked on board in crowds. The King,
anxious that as many as possible should partici-
pate in this good fortune, blew his horn, which is
the royal summons. On the return of the half-
caste two thirds of the population had gone, and
the King was in the very act of blowing his horn
again to gather in his remaining subjects, now
reduced to the very young and the very old. It
is needless to add that the vessels were slavers,
and the entrapped islanders were never seen again.
Throughout the islands (Funafuti and her chicks,
one might call them) there are not now above
one hundred and fifty inhabitants all together.
[91]
The Ci'uise of
They have a bad name — are said to be a dirty,
rough, dishonest lot; dishonest, that is, as far as
cheating goes, but they do not steal. No wonder
they are dishonest, for the}'^ learned in a good
school. Here is another tale of the half-caste.
Mata, of Samoa, come to buy copra; there was
none but what had been engaged by another
vessel, the price being one and a quarter cents.
**ril give you two," said Mata promptly, which
ofFer was as promptly accepted. But Mata's scales
w-eighed nothing higher than one hundred and four
pounds; so, though he paid two cents, he left with
tons for which he paid nothing.
Resterau, the pallid trader, had sailed with
both "Bully Hayes" and "Bully Pease," ^ of
whose names I am quite sick and hope I'll never
hear them again. Louis and I went with Mr.
Henderson over to the island, where we met the
wives and children of the traders, handsome,
healthy, and with excellent manners; two young
girls were quite beautiful. Resterau's wife had
but one eye and was a plain, kindly old body.
After a little, Louis and I strolled across the
island, becoming more and more amazed by what
we saw. Everythmg that one naturally expects to
' Two somewhat picturesque desperadoes of the South
Seas, now dead fortunately for the rest of the world.
[92]
the ' ^ J an et N ichoV '
find on a low island is here reversed. To begin
with, the fact of the poisonous fish being outside
the reef is contrary to what one has reason to
expect. The soil is very rich for a low island,
with ferns and many shrubs and flowering plants
growing. We saw a little taro and quite a large
patch, considering, of bananas. There was much
marsh and green stagnant pools, and the air was
heavy with a hothouse smell. The island seemed
unusually wide, but what was our astonishment
when we pushed through the bushes and trees to
find ourselves not on the sea beach, as we had
expected, but on the margin of a large lagoon
emptied of its waters almost entirely by the low
tide. The lagoon was everywhere enclosed, but
the traders told us there w^as a blow-hole outlet
into which the natives had thrown piles of coral
hoping to block it up. A little girl had once fallen
into the lagoon when the tide was turning; three
days after her body was found far out at sea. It
was then that the blow-hole, where she had been
sucked through, was discovered. Off on one side
there seemed to be an opening by which we hoped
to reach the beach. We crossed a bit of mangrove
swamp, climbed over loose piled-up shingle that
rang with a metallic sound very unlike coral, and
at last reached the beach. I wandered away from
[93]
The Cruise of
Louis, gathering shells, but was recalled by a
wild shout. I found Louis bending over a piece
of the outer reef that he had broken off. From the
face of both fractures innumerable worms were
hanging like a sort of dreadful, thick fringe. The
worms looked exactly like slender earthworms,
more or less bleached, though some were quite
earthworm colour. They lengthened out and con-
tracted again until I felt quite sick and had to
fly from the sight. Afterward Louis broke other
pieces of rock; one kind always contained worms;
another kind, lighter in colour and firmer in tex-
ture, contained much fewer worms, also empty
holes in the process of closing up; still others were
close and hard and white, like marble. I got a
good many shells, and after a fruitless search for
some other way across the island than round
the inland lagoon, I gave it up and we retraced
our footsteps; that is, for a certain time, when
we became lost, or as Louis indignantly put it:
"Not lost at all; we only could not find our
way.
The two traders dined with us, and I was glad
to see that the bloodless man ate a large double
helping of meat. Lloyd, fortunately, thought of
giving him some stout and asked Mr. Henderson
[94]
the ' ^ J an et N i c ho T '
if the man were the sort to give stout to; Mr.
Henderson thought it a good thing to do, and
Louis explained to the trader that it was given
him as medicine, not as a beverage to be handed
round to others, asking him to promise that he
would drink it all himself. He readily enough
gave the promise but said in that case Mr.
Henderson would have to smuggle it over to him,
as he must drink it in secret. I also gave him a
large and small bottle of iron, all that we had,
telling him when that was done to put nails in
his drinking water. I went to bed early, very tired,
but was driven below by repeated squalls, and
slept on the saloon floor.
Not long ago the George Nohle called at this
island, her destination being the island of Piru
(pronounced Peru). The natives who were on
board heard the word and fled incontinently, nor
could they be persuaded to go back; the dread
word "Peru" was enough.
2%th. — Left Funafuti early this morning. After
every one was off", Lloyd photographed the ship's
company to the delight of the black boys, who
posed themselves with great dramatic eff"ect.
Arrived at Natau after dark. Mr. Hird called to
us that there was another vessel close at hand.
[95]
The Cruise of
We rushed on deck and saw a schooner putting
up a Hght. In a few moments the mate was on
board the Jajiet. There is no landing at this island,
and an unusually heavy swell will make a big
surf in the morning. The only one of the EUiccs
I have as yet seen gave me such an unpleasant
impression that I shall not be disappointed if I
cannot go ashore.
2()th. — Early this morning we anchor near the
schooner. She is painted white and looks just like
the Equator} Louis says that every time he looks
at her he expects to see ourselves. There seems to
be great excitement aboard the little vessel;
canoes filled with people are going to and fro,
continually, between her and the shore. Only one
canoe has as yet come near us; it was filled with
women who paddled about the ship, following my
movements; one of the women handsome, and the
others by no means plain. The canoe was very
long, tapering off into a beautiful fish's tail,
something like this: N-^-wys and was ornamented
at both ends with (/""^^ mother-of-pearl let
into the wood in bands and patterns. The
people here wear ridisy not so good as the Gil-
berts, however. The ridis are too full, too much
^ We made a former cruise, our second, in the
Equator, a little trading schooner.
I96]
Native boys setting sail on S. S. "Janet Xichol"
the ^^ Janet N ichor'
like ballet-dancers' skirts, though the colour is
pleasantly gay, a mixture of dull red, blackish
maroon, and faded yellow. The surf, as I expected,
was too high for us to get on shore dry, so we did
not attempt it.
In the afternoon the schooner (of 8o-ton bur-
den) began to fill up with natives; we were told
that she was going to take a party of one hun-
dred and eighty people on an excursion round
the group, for which a lump sum of twenty-five
tons of copra was paid. The decks of the little
vessel were closely packed with laughing, chatter-
ing people; the hum of their voices came to us
like the sound of bees. It was just so, not very
long ago, that slave-ships used to carry them
away. "What a haul that would be for labour!"
remarked Tin Jack when he first caught sight of
them.
There is a small enclosed lagoon in this island.
Tin Jack, while on shore, broke off some of the
reef coral and found it full of the same living
worms as Louis discovered before on the other
island, only here there were two varieties; one
like a pallid earthworm and the other something
like a small centipede. Tin Jack brought me a
wreath of gardenias, and a spray of scarlet leaves.
Mr. Hird brought me a bunch of jack-fruit leaves
[97]
The Cruise of
to polish my Tokalau buckets with. Some young
banana plants were sent on board, I suppose for
friends on another island.^ Tin Jack was strongly
tempted to stop here as is his custom at most is-
lands. The trader at Natau was a rather dreadful-
looking person, apparently afflicted with leprosy.
He shook hands with me, to my dismay, for his
fingers were dropping off. *'I think I've got some
native disease," said the poor fellow as he held
out his hand.
30^A. — Still a heavy swell and the surf too strong
for boats to venture in. A great crowd of natives
on shore and many canoes drawn up on the
beach. Pretty soon the canoes swarmed about the
ship and we were overrun with eager venders of
merchandise, mats, chickens, and eggs. One man
followed me about beseeching me to buy a silver
half dollar. "You want buy money.''" said he.
"How much tobac you give?" I bought one mat
for ten sticks of tobacco, one for a comb, and one
for a pattern of calico. I saw Mr. Henderson, in
the midst of the harassing business of weighing
copra, stop and paint a broad mark, with violet
ink, down the breast of a fine young lad who
' This must have been a high-low island, though in
many atolls the earth is brought in schooner loads in
which trees and flowers flourish.
[98I
the ^^ Janet N ichoV '
swaggered about afterward with a conscious air
of superiority.
For a long time we saw no women, but at last
a canoe containing two, pretty and young, was
seen paddling wildly up and down beside the
ship; the women were shouting for a sight of the
*' Beretani jajine'' (white woman). I was called,
and showed myself, whereupon they threw up
their hands and shouted with excitement. Soon
after this I met on the companion stairs the cap-
tain, half dragging, half persuading one of the
young women I had seen in the canoe to come
down to the saloon. Naturally she did not under-
stand that he was only trying to bring her to me.
At the sight of me she gave a cry and, breaking
loose from the captain, flung herself upon me
and clung to me like a frightened child. I could feel
her heart beating against my breast and she
was trembling from head to foot. As she held me
she bent down, for she was taller than I, and
smiled in my face. Plainer than words her smile
said: *'You are a woman, too; I can trust you;
you will protect me, will you not?" I put my arm
round her and talked to her in English and tried
to soothe her fears. She understood my English as
well as I her smiles. I brought her into the saloon
and Louis gave her sweetmeats; she turned to me
[99]
The Cruise of
with a gesture that asked if the}^ were safe to eat.
She had already a bit of ship's biscuit tightly
clinched in her hand, and of that she alternately
took a bite with the sweetmeats; but at the sound
of a footstep she was trembling again and would
throw her arms round me with the same pathetic,
questioning smile. I placed a wreath of yellow
and red tulips on her pretty head — she was a
lovely young creature — and the captain brought
her a necklace of large blue beads and a pair of
earrings. All the while, though I did not know it,
the girl's father was hanging about the companion
way with a very dangerous expression on his
countenance.
After a little, another woman, seeing that no
harm came to the first, was persuaded to come
down to the saloon where she stood, quivering
and starting like a timid, wild animal, read}^ to
fly at a sound. The difference between this place
and Manihiki is very marked. So far from there
being any fear shown in Manihiki, the very chil-
dren pushed through the darkness to clasp the
white man's hand, and after that there was no
getting rid of the gentle, affectionate, little crea-
tures. I remember, at Manihiki, seeing Louis sit-
ting with a tall boy of fourteen, beautiful as an
angel, holding him round the neck, a young girl
f lool
the '^ Janet N icho T '
leaning over his shoulder, while a little child
nestled up to his breast. But these islands were a
favourite recruiting place for slavers and, worse
still, a haunt of the loathsome "Bully Hayes." I
gave a wreath to the other girl also, and after
Llo3'd (they seemed to have no instinctive fear
of either Lloyd or Louis) had sprinkled them with
scent from a bottle of "Jockey Club" they pad-
dled to the shore to be met by a crowd of friends
who rushed into the surf up to their necks to
hear the news. The wreaths, necklaces, and ear-
rings were taken off and examined, criticised,
and tried on by all who could get hold of them;
the excitement was tremendous. All the while
the young girl was in the saloon the three large
port-holes were entirely closed up by the faces
of men, who watched every movement with the
keenest anxiety.
In the meantime the ship was noisy with the
squawking of fowls and the squealing of pigs.
The latter are of a curious mouse colour and most
amiable creatures. Later on our pretty girl, ac-
companied by an elder sister, very handsome, and
the startled one who had visited me before, came
back to the ship. Lloyd took the younger girl's
photograph at the end of the bridge. I had to
stand beside her with my arm round her for some
[loil
The Cruise of
time before she would keep in one spot long
enough for the camera to be pointed at her.
Though much less frightened, she was still sus-
picious. She brought a chicken and some cocoa-
nuts for a present to me, also another fowl which
she wished to exchange for a comb, and a mat
to exchange for cotton print, both of which I
gave her. The startled one brought some shells
which she wished to have me understand cancelled
the gift of the wreath. I wish I knew how to ex-
plain that I do not want return gifts; but that
might be an unpardonable breach of etiquette.
I was sitting on a box near the trade room
when a fine, intelligent-looking man, a missionary
from another island, came up and began talking
to me. Unfortunately, his English was so hopeless
that I could understand but little that he said,
except that a native he presented to me was the
King, and that if we would call at the island on
our way back there would be an immense load of
copra ready. The King had a look of breeding,
and only one of his ear-lobes hung down to his
shoulder in the native fashion, the other having
somehow miscarried. The outer rim of the ear is
sliced round and grafted against the jaw, thus
making a much larger hole than can be managed
at the Gilberts with mere boring and stretching.
[I02]
the ^^ Janet NichoV'
Moving through the crowds on deck were three
unmistakable lepers, one with elephantiasis also.
The toes of the man with elephantiasis were drip-
ping blood, not very pleasant for us barefooted
people. I have asked the steward to hang all the
mats, some of which are very handsomely deco-
rated, over the side when next we anchor and
let them be thoroughly washed by the sea. Just
before we left the King asked for me; he had
brought me a present of a large mat, a bunch of
husked cocoanuts, and a very fine nW of different
colours. I bought one, also, not so fine, from a
woman for seven sticks of tobacco. I had nothing
to give the King in return for his present — I am
bound to say he seemed to expect nothing — so I
pulled a gold ring from my finger and gave him
that. He was overcome by the magnificence of
the gift, as were the crowd who gathered round
him to examine it.
During dinner we weighed anchor and shoved
off. The captain had expected to meet the schooner
^ The ridi is the only garment worn by the women
in most of the atolls. It is a thick fringe, shorter or
longer, according to the prevailing fashion in ridis, made
of pandanus leaves cut in strips, oiled, and smoked.
In the Gilberts a man may not lay his hands on a ridi
under penalty of death, even when the garment is
not in active service.
[ 103 ]
The Cruise of
at this island; there were no signs of her until
late at night, when she was sighted, apparently
on a wrong tack. The captain fears they may be
out longer than they expected and the provisions
run out; however, there are always the twenty-
five tons of copra at hand in case of an emergency,
and the passengers can eat their currency, which
is more than we would be able to do. The Janet
has taken to her old trick of rolling, which makes
things ver}^ uncomfortable. When I went to bed
the cackling of hens, the crowing of cocks, and
the grunting of pigs gave quite the effect of a
farmyard. Our three cats seem to be getting the
"rattage" well under; at least there are no more
rats on deck and the old, businesslike Tom now
takes his ease and sleeps all night.
list. — The Island of Nanui. A very violent
surf and very broad. Louis goes on shore and re-
turns with a mat. Tin Jack is in great feather as
the Nanui people speak the Gilbert Island tongue
which he knows. Louis is instantly accepted as
a kaupoi (rich man), though he cannot imagine
why, as he was clothed only in an old, ragged
undershirt and a lava-lava.
June IJ/, Sunday. — Still at Nanui. Mr. Hen-
derson asked his black boys, as he was afraid of
a change of weather, to work to-day. He said it
I 104]
the '^ Janet Nichol*'
was a case of necessity, so they consented and fell
to like good fellows. After work was done they
all gathered together, as is their custom on Sun-
day, and held a service. It was strange to hear
them singing a Scotch hymn tune with words in
their own tongue — or tongues, I should say.
2d. — Still taking on copra. Johnny, one of our
men, the cleverest one, brought his wife, a native
of Nanui, to see me — a strapping fat wench of
sixteen, though she looks twenty-five. I gave her
some cotton print and a silk handkerchief. A
little after Johnny came, with a most serious
countenance, to ask Louis to go on deck, where
he found a large, mouse-coloured pig and a great
pile of cocoanuts awaiting him. Among the peo-
ple on deck I saw a man the facsimile of the
leper at the last island; involuntarily, I looked at
his feet, and, sure enough, the poor fellow had
elephantiasis also.
The captain offers to make me a plan of a surf-
riding canoe. There was a light rain last night
which the captain thinks must have fallen on
my eyes, as they are inflamed and swollen to-day.
When rain in these latitudes touches the captain's
eyes, which happens often on the bridge, he is
affected in the same way.
4/A. — At the Island of Nanomea. Two traders
[los]
The Cruise of
come on board, the company's trader known
through the groups as "Lord " and an "in-
dependent" trader, a pathetic figure of an old
man with both legs bound up; he said he suffered
from boils. Soon after, the missionary and his
wife came on board, both Samoans, the woman
a fine, kindly looking creature with a very sad
expression. I said as much to Louis and she
wished my remark translated. With the aid of a
dictionary Louis told her what I had said. "I am
sad," was the reply. She brought me a present
of a mat, and I gave her a print gown. I bought,
also, a few mats from the people. One man, fol-
lowed me about, insisting that he and I should
be brothers. He had a mercenary countenance,
wherefore I refused steadily the proffered relation-
ship. In spite of me, however, he managed to
thrust a bunch of cocoanuts into my cabin door
to ratify the tie.
The surf is very high. When the boats went off,
the one containing the traders and the mission-
aries turned over, end for end, and the poor, old
"independent" was nearly drowned. The mission-
ary woman dived for him again and again, and
we could see people carrying him along the beach
after she rescued him. Several canoes smashed
during the day and some bags of copra were lost.
I io6 ]
the ^' Janet NichoV*
In the evening we had a long discussion as to
whether Lord is a gentleman, I taking the
affirmative with no more to go upon than the
way he raised his hat.
']ih. — Have been lying at Nanomea, the last of
the Ellices we shall visit, for three days, unable
to get the cargo on board till to-day owing to the
fearful surf. A good many canoes are broken to
pieces, and our own boats have had many escapes.
While I was looking through the glasses a great
wave swamped one of our boats and pressed her
down out of sight. In a moment black heads
popped up everywhere and the boat was hauled
on shore. Another boat was just on the point of
crossing when the steersman was snapped off his
perch and flung into the sea; he was almost in-
stantly back and crossed in triumph. Every suc-
cess was cheered from the ship by the watching
men.
It is always a great pleasure to the natives to
help raise the ship's boats to the davits for the
night. They know that white sailors make a sort
of cry or "chanty" when hauling on a rope, so
they, too, try to do the correct thing. The result
is a noise very like a mob of schoolgirls let loose,
a confusion of soprano screams. No one would
suspect the sounds to come from the throats of
[107]
The Cruise of
men. Our own black sailors are the same; we hear
them screaming and laughing in the forecastle
exactly like girls. We are so used to island life
that it has but just struck us as odd and pictur-
esque that our almost naked sailors (they wear
only a short lava-lava round their loins) should
be working in wreaths like queens of the May.
It is only to-day that any women have been
able to get on board. Not knowing there were
any on deck, I started toward the trade room.
There was an instant loud cry of ^' Fafine! Beretani
Jafine!''' and I was in the midst of them. The two
who seemed of higher rank than the others took
possession of me, and it was explained to me by
our Johnny that they had come prepared to make
a trade. Each had an elaborate ridi for which she
wanted two patterns of cotton print. The bargain
seemed so unfair that I added a necklace apiece
of yellow and white beads. They were enchanted
with the necklaces, calling everybody to look at
them. Then they began pulling off their rings to
put on my hands; I did not like taking their rings,
but I need have had no scruples, for one of them
with prompt energy removed a gold ring from my
finger to her own. These exchanges made, they
fell to examining my clothes, which filled them
with admiration. The next thing, they were try-
[io8]
the '^ Janet Nichol
ing to take my clothes off; finding this stoutly re-
sisted, they turned up my sleeves to the shoulders.
Their taste differed from mine, for, while I was
thinking what a cold, ugly colour a white arm
looked beside their warm, brown ones, they were
crying out in admiration. One woman kissed my
feet (the island kiss) and sniffed softly up and
down my arms. She was plainly saying to the
others, "She's just like a pickaninny; I would like
to have her for a pet," holding out her arms as
she spoke and going through the motions of toss-
ing and caressing a baby. My hands and feet
were measured by theirs and found to be much
smaller (they were large women made on a more
generous scale than I). "Pickaninny hands and
feet," they said. The discovery of vaccination
marks caused great excitement, especially as one
of them could proudly show similar " Beritani'*
marks. Whether they were real vaccination scars
or only accidental, I could not be sure. She, how-
ever, declared that they were true Beritani.
Suddenly they all began calling out names; there
were now five or six women sitting in a circle
round me on the floor of the corridor at the head
of the companion stairs. In a moment all their
husbands' heads appeared at the doors and win-
dows. My sleeves, in spite of my struggles, were
[109]
The Cruise of
dragged to my shoulders and, to my dismay, my
petticoats were whipped up to my knees. At that
I began to cry, when the men instantly disap-
peared, and except for an occasional sniffing the
women behaved with more decorum. One woman
was most anxious that I should stop on the island
with her. I really think she had some hope that
she might keep me as a sort of pet monkey. At
last they were warned that the ship would be off
soon, so they fled to their canoes.
For some time eight or ten canoes, loaded with
people, hung to the ship's sides, rocking to and
fro with her as she rolled. It was a beautiful sight,
and Louis and I leaned over admiring them. Sud-
denly a lovely young girl (we were told she is to
be married next week) climbed up to me like a
cat, pulled off a ring, and pushed it on my finger.
I ran back and got a blue-bead necklace for her
and she climbed down in a state of great delight.
The beads will doubtless serve as wedding jewels,
for she did not put them on but tied them up
carefully in a bit of cotton stuff. We watched the
canoes go over the surf; one, filled with women,
upset, but nobody appeared to mind so small a
mishap.
Mr. Hird tells us a story it is well to remember.
There was some sort of disturbance at Penrhyn,
[no]
the ^ ' J an et N i ch o T '
where his vessel was trading, and all on the ship
were afraid for their lives to go ashore except
himself. The moment his boat touched ground he
dashed up to a Httle maid of seven, the chief's
daughter, and, taking her by the hand, calmly
walked to where he wished to go.
Last night, as we were sitting round the lamp,
some one looked up and perceived that all three
port-holes had as many faces looking through them
as could find an eyehole. Mr. Henderson went
into his room and arranged a few conjuring tricks.
When he returned he made money disappear in a
box, bits of cork change places, etc. While speak-
ing to one of us he carelessly tore off a piece of
newspaper and handed it to a man at the port-
hole, but as the man's fingers closed on it the
paper disappeared. '' Tiaporol" (the devil!) he
cried, his e3^es almost starting from his head.
This was followed by the throwing up of money
which apparently fell back through the crown of
a hat and jingled inside. The last and most thrill-
ing feat was after Mr. Henderson had been pull-
ing money from all our heads, noses, and ears.
He seemed to be retiring quietly to his room when
he gave a start, looked up in the air over his head,
and with a leap caught a silver dollar that seemed
to be falling from the ceiling.
[Ill]
The Cruise of
I forgot to say that in the afternoon Louis was
dictating to Lloyd, who used his typewriter. All
the air and most of the light was cut off from them
by heads at the port-holes. I watched the faces
and saw one intelligent old man explaining to the
others that Lloyd was plaj-ing an accompaniment
to Louis's singing; the old man several times tried
to follow the tune but found it impossible. He
did not appear to think it a good song, and once,
with difficulty, restrained his laughter.
9/A. — We should have picked up Arorai yester-
day at four o'clock, but somehow missed it and
did not arrive until this morning. An atoll about
six miles long, the first of the Kingsmills (or Gil-
berts). Natives swarmed round the ship in canoes
built somewhat after the pattern of the American
Indian birch-bark canoe. The pieces are tied to-
gether with cocoanut sennit and the boats leak
like sieves. Louis, Lloyd, and I went on shore in
the afternoon, Louis, to my distress, for it was
very hot, with a hammer to break off bits of the
reef for examination and Lloyd with the camera.
Louis found the rock he wished to break but was
a little afraid to use the force necessary. Seeing a
powerful young man standing near, he offered a
stick of tobacco for the job. The fellow smiled
with delight, took the hammer, and struck one
[112]
the ''Janet N ic ho T ^
blow. "Too much work," said he, dropping the
hammer.
Lloyd and I were taken in tow by an old man
and led to the house of the missionary, who was
himself on board the ship; but his wife and family,
a handsome young Samoan woman with a pair
of sickly twins, were at the door to give us wel-
come. We drank cocoanuts with her and took a
photograph of the group.
There is very little soil on the island, which is
subject to severe droughts; yet there are a num-
ber of breadfruit and jack-fruit trees growing
luxuriantly, not many, however, old enough to
bear. The village looked clean and prosperous.
Children and women were pulling weeds and car-
rying them away in baskets. Lloyd and I strolled
along a wide avenue that ran through the town
for about a quarter of a mile, stopping once to
photograph an old woman who had evidently
dressed up for the ship. She was standing in the
doorway of a neat house built of stockades tied
together — the first I've seen in these islands. The
house belonged to a trader who was abroad at
the time. Returning, we saw two women, tall and
superior in carriage and looks to the common
people, marching abreast toward us; they were
dressed in gala-day ridis of smoked and oiled pan-
[113]
The Cruise of
danus strips and swung the heavy fringe from
side to side, as thej' walked, in the most approved
and latest style. As they came nearer to us their
four tyts were fixed on the horizon behind us, and
they swaggered past as though unaware of our ex-
istence, though we were attended by a following
of the greater part of the village. I stopped and
looked after them, but neither turned a head.^
At the veranda of the mission house we found
Louis entertained by the old man and indignant
at receiving no attention from the missionary
people; we suggested that his chopping at the
reef in the hot sun had convinced them that he
was a lunatic.
We had heard of a sick trader, so we all three
went to his house with an immense tail of fol-
lowers, who seated themselves outside in a circle
eight or ten deep while we talked to the sick man.
A forlorn being he looked, lying on a mat, his head
thrust out into the open through the thatched
sides of the hut to catch what air there was.
He had been ill a month and a half, he said; the
whole population had been ill, also, his wife and
children with the rest. With them it came first
' At this island I remember that the women wore
what looked like doll's hats as ornaments on their
heads. They were about the size of the top of a tumbler.
[114]
the ''Janet NichoV^
as a rash, then a fever, followed by convalescence.
He had no rash, but after feeling very badly for
a week or two, fell down in a fit, foaming at the
mouth and black in the face. Since then he had
been suffering from an intolerable pain in the
head and could not stand for weakness. I asked
if he had proper food, which Louis followed by
asking if his appetite was good. When he could get
anything to eat, he replied, he liked it well enough;
but he could not get anything. A bit of fish or a
chicken he could relish, but the people seldom
fished and a chicken was impossible. His food
consisted almost entirely of pounded pandanus
seeds, in which there was about as much nourish-
ment as in chopped straw. His hands and feet were
pallid and bloodless and he looked very near the
end. He was born, he said, in Colton Terrace,
Edinburgh. ''I'm frae Edinburgh mysel','' said
Louis. "We are far frae hame," returned the poor
fellow with a sigh. We went at once to the beach
to get a boat, intending to consult ''Hartshorn,"
our medical authority, as to his case, which I be-
lieved to be suppressed measles. Louis spoke to
Mr. Henderson about sending the man a case of
soups to begin with, anything heavier being danger-
ous in his weak state and semistarved condition.
Mr. Henderson, who is generosity itself, seemed
[115]
The Cruise of
rather hurt that we had not taken it for granted
that anything the man needed would be supplied
him at once. Mr. Henderson's only fear was that
the man would, in the usual native custom, give
all the food away. He first divides with his family,
and then they divide with the outside relations, so
that provisions sufficient for a month may only
last a day. It is an amiable weakness, certainly,
but one could wish that the recipients of his
bounty showed a little more gratitude. Fishing
would be no more than play for them; but I fear
neither fish, flesh, nor fowl can save him now.
The missionary who came aboard showed Louis
his eye, in which he was blind, the effect of measles,
and begged for a cure. Of course there was none,
but Louis advised him to live as generously as
possible and, instead of a continual diet of panda-
nus seeds, to try and get some fish. As soon as it
was dark the sea was crowded with fishing-boats,
lighted up with flaring torches, made by wrapping
sennit round a dry cocoanut leaf; so we hope our
poor trader may receive some benefit, also. We
could see that they were scooping up in their nets
many flying-fish. The light from the torch attracts
the fish, which come to the surface of the water
round the boats and are then dipped up in little
nets on the ends of long poles.
[u61
the ''Janet N ic ho T '
While I was resting after my excursion to the
island I heard a great commotion; a native had
been discovered trying to stow away in the hold
among the coal. Two large men could not over-
power him, and for a long time he refused to come
out. One of the white firemen finally leaned over
the open hatch and held out a stick of tobacco.
"Won't you come out for that.^" he asked with
an insinuating smile. "He is making signs that he
will," he continued, looking at me quite proud of
his cleverness. Sure enough, up came the native,
a beautiful youth with a sullen face and blazing
eyes. He strode haughtily past the fireman, look-
ing neither at him nor his proffered tobacco,
sprang upon the side of the ship, where he bal-
anced himself a moment, and then jumped into
the sea and swam ashore. I sympathised with
the boy and was sorry he was caught, the more
especially that another man had chosen a better
hiding-place and was not discovered until we
were well at sea.
When we left the island we should have sig-
nalled a boat, but a canoe lying at hand, we took
that instead. We waded out toward the canoe, but,
as the water began rising above my knees, I stopped
in alarm when a native caught me up in his arms,
unawares, before I had time to arrange my skirts,
[117]
The Cruise of
and I was carried out, willy-nlll}', my legs waving
frantically in the air. I tried to shield them from
the view of the ship with my umbrella, which I
was unable to open, but I fear ray means were in-
adequate. The canoe was a fourth filled with
water; its owner sternly commanded Louis and
me to bail and Lloyd to paddle.
From the last island we took on some passengers
— two cats in an onion crate — and at this island
exchanged them for a woman and a sickly bab}'.
I was much amazed at seeing the mother spread
a thick, dry mat on the wet deck for her own com-
fort, her baby being planted on the cold boards.
I made her take it up and lay it beside her on the
mat, which seemed to amuse her a great deal.
As the baby still shivered, I got an old lava-lava
of Tin Jack's and wrapped it up in that, charging
the mother not to dare remove the lava-lava.
This is the island where, in 1871, three slave-
ships, the Moroa (bark), Eugenie (schooner), and
a barkentine, name unknown, came for "recruits."
The King, in his fright, offered them all his peo-
ple except the very young, the very old, and a few
young girls reserved for his harem. It is needless
to say that his offer was accepted. I have since
met and conversed with a man who was on board
one of these ships.
[118]
the ^ ^ J an et N i choV ^
I2th. — Arrived early this morning at Onoatoa.
The missionary's child is named Painkiller.
i^th. — Noukanau in the morning. Met the Ger-
man "labour" brig CitOy after recruits, doubtless
for Samoa; then ran over to Piru and back again
to Noukanau at night. At Piru we met the Ameri-
can schooner Lizzie with two passengers.
At Peru came on board a man named Cameron,
another named Briggs, and a person with an Italian
name I forget. Briggs said he made much more
money by "doctoring" than by trading. A strange
disease, he told us, had broken out in the island;
the Samoan wife of a trader had died the night
before and many others were down with it. It is
contagious, and the natives take no care to avoid
infection. I said it was measles, which Briggs
denied, declaring it was typhus. I asked him where
he got his knowledge of "doctoring." "Straight
from my father," said he; "my father was the
celebrated Doctor Briggs, and if you buy a bottle
of his patent medicine you can read an account
of his life on the wrapper."
Cameron is a Scotsman with a twinkling, hard
blue eye, the daft Scotch eye. He followed every
word we said with sly caution (partly, no doubt,
in consequence of drink) as though he feared
being trapped into some dangerous admission. He
[119]
The Cruise of
was one of the men of the Wandering Minstrel that
was so mj'steriously wrecked on Midway Island,
and was afterward charged by the captain with
not reporting the fact of there being other starv-
ing castaways left on Midway when he was rescued.
To us he denied this vehemently, and said he at
once delivered a letter written by the captain.
Louis tried to get a hint of how and why the vessel
was wrecked, but failed. *' Mosey," the Chinaman
who was in the boat with Cameron, was after-
ward wrecked again on the Tiernan, the schooner
we so nearly took passage in ourselves.^ Louis
got this much from Cameron — but I am sure very
little, if any, of it is true — that he had written an
account of the wreck which, with the log he kept
on the boat, had been left on one of the islands
we are about to visit, for safe-keeping. Before
Cameron left he had given Louis a signed order
for the apocryphal manuscript. Of the two men
we brought one back with us. Captain Smith,
who, having lost his schooner on this island, re-
mained as a trader. He seemed a modest, intelli-
gent young man, rather above the South Sea aver-
age. Tom Day, however, is — must be — the "flower
of the Pacific." Tom is fifty years of age, with a
' When we were accidentally marooned at Apemama
during a former cruise.
[I20]
Tom Day — a trader of Noukanau Island
the ' ^ J an ei N i cho T '
strong, alert figure and the mobile face of an actor;
his eyes are blue-grej" in deep orbits, blazing with
energy and drink and high spirits. "Tom Day" is
not his real name, he says, and Tom Drunk would
do quite as well; he had found it necessary to go
to the expense of a shilling to have it changed, as
he had three times deserted from men-of-war.
*'rve been in prison for it," he said cheerfully,
"and I got the cat for it, and if you like you can
see the stars and stripes on my back yet." He took
pleasure in representing himself as the most des-.
perate of ruffians. Tin Jack asked him to go back
to Sydney with him. "I couldn't leave my old
woman behind," said he; "and besides, you see,
I got into trouble there. The fact is, I've got an-
other wife there, and I think I'd do better to keep
away." He then began to tell of a quarrel he'd
had with his "old woman" when he took her to
Auckland. How she chased him along the street
with a knife in one hand and a bag of sovereigns
— his entire fortune — in the other; he begged for
the bag of sovereigns, trying to lay hold of it and
at the same time avoid the knife wielded by the
"old woman" (a young native girl, no doubt),
who alternately lunged at him with the knife and
cracked him over the head with the bag of sov-
ereigns. The bursting of the bag, which scattered
[121]
The Cf^uise of
the sovereigns in every direction, fortunately ended
the quarrel. He mentioned Maraki, on which
Louis called to mind a story he had been told
man}^ times over.
"You are the Tom Day who had a native's
head cut off," said he; "now tell me the story,"
which Tom presently did. A native had shot at
him without provocation. Some one said: "Don't
shoot; it's a white man." "A white man can cut
a bullet as well as another," was the native's reply
as he fired. Tom put his hand to his ear, found
that the shot had grazed it and his head, and the
blood was running from the wound. Infuriated, he
rushed into the house for his rifle, but when he
got back the man, frightened at what he had
done, had disappeared. Tom tried to persuade the
people standing about to go after the man, pinion
him, and fetch him back to be tried. To this they
objected; they could not get him, they said, as he
was a chief and had people to protect him. One of
the men came close to Tom. "Better we kill him,"
he said in a low voice, which Tom imitated. "If
you do," was Tom's answer, "fetch me the head."
Then turning to us with an apologetic air he ex-
plained that "If I had not asked to see the head
they'd just have gone and killed some poor, in-
offensive fellow and I'd never have known the
[ 122]
the ''Janet NichoT'
difference." That night he was called up by the
men who had the head, sure enough. "I made
'em stick it up on the wall," said Tom, "and then
I got a Hght and looked at it. I jerked it down and
slung it as far as I could; and, by golly, the old
woman was in the way, half scared to death, and
it took her on the side of the head and knocked
her down, and I had to pour three or four pails
of water over her, for she had fainted dead away."
And after that," he continued with an air
of virtuous indignation, "they wanted to make
trouble about it in Sydney — they said I had killed
a man. What did the}^ mean b}^ it, I'd like to know .?
I never killed no man; I only told them to fetch
his head so I could be sure it was him."
It was very cold last night and my bed and tent
and things nearly blew away; I could not leave
them and go below where it was warmer, but had
to stay and hold on to my belongings lest I should
lose them entirely; so to-day I lashed everything
securely. No one stayed on the hatch but Lloyd
and me. The onions alongside Lloyd's and my
beds are decaying, and smell horrid, as do a great
lot of sharks' fins drying over our heads.
15/A. — Waked to find that we were lying off
Tapituea, Tin Jack's station. He had packed the
day before and was all ready to land, his pig
[123]
The Cruise of
tied up and lying on deck. Tapituea looks a large
and dreary island, the whole lee side submerged,
making it ver}^ dangerous. We could not venture
inside the lagoon, and even if we did we should
have to anchor far away from the landing-place.
It was a long time before any one came on board,
but finally a Hawaiian who spoke a little English
came out in his canoe. As Tin Jack appeared to
be rather depressed with the news from his place,
and it was almost impossible to land his stuff, we
left Tapituea and ran on to Nanouti, where he
thought he might prefer to stop. He has a sort
^of partner at Nanouti, known as "Billy Jones's
cousin." The partner w^as soon on board, a man
with a big head and one hand blown off by dyna-
mite. A new arrangement was made with Tin
Jack, who said he preferred staying in the ship
as long as possible. We are now to carry him on
with us, and land him at Nanouti as. we return. A
pleasant-looking young native came on board with
the trader. He wore a rosary round his neck, which
reminded me that there were Catholic missionaries
on the island; I therefore made a little parcel of
four Catholic pictures for them, and Louis put in
his card; Tin Jack added a bag of garlic.
We left Nanouti before dinner, had a beautiful
golden sunset, and arc now steaming on to some-
l 124]
the ''Janet NichoT'
where else, Apemama/ I trust. To-night the eve-
ning star is extraordinarily brilliant, with the
blue fire of a diamond. Last night Mr. Hird came
to the hatch and called out in a most excited voice:
* It seems easier to explain our relation with Tem-
binoka, King of Apemama, at whose island I hoped we
would call, by giving an extract from a former diary
written on the trading schooner Equator:
We have been now about a month on the island of
the redoubtable Tembinoka, an absolute monarch, who
holds the lives of his subjects (our own also) in the
hollow of his hand. He says: "I kill plenty men, him
'praid (afraid) now. I no kill any more." That he does
not mean to kill any more his subjects do not believe,
nor I, quite, myself. He once shot five men, one after
another, as they sat in a "moniap" (native house)
where they had been brought to be examined by him
concerning some breach of his laws. There were seven
men in all, but two escaped and are still at large in
another island. He says his father had a head house
where he hung up the decapitated heads of his enemies
— or in other words, people who differed in their opin-
ion from him or whom he did not like (a friend of ours
afterward saw this moniap with its grisly decoration
of skulls). No missionaries and no white people are
allowed on Tembinoka's islands (he rules over three)
with the exception of Johnny, an inoffensive, dying
**poor white," who lives some four miles from the vil-
lage. We did not know in the least whether we should
be allowed to remain, and waited with some anxiety
for the appearance of his Majesty. In the meantime
the whole ship was in a commotion, scouring the decks
[125]
The Cruise of
*'Osbourne,wearejust passlngthe equator!" Lloyd
jumped out of a sound sleep and ran aft, crying:
"Where is she? I don't see her!" It was a sorry
joke; we were crossing the line, and it was not
and getting everything into apple-pie order; I did not
know that the Equator could be brought to such a
pitch of cleanliness. Finally the King's steps arrived,
were made fast to the sides, and the royal boat was seen
to put out. We thought it more dignified to remain
in the cabin and show none of the curiosity we felt
concerning this very remarkable man. We had been
told that he was grossly stout, and that was all the
description we had been able to get from the stupid
people we had talked with; consequently, we were not
prepared to meet the most magnificently royal person-
age that it has yet been our lot to behold, a gentleman
by nature and a king every inch of him. He gave us
a long and careful study; afterward he said it was first
the eyes and then the mouth he judged by. We passed
muster, Louis's eyes being specially commended, and
were told to come ashore and remain as long as we liked
as his guests. The next day we chose a spot where we
thought it would be pleasant to live, and Tembinoka
ordered his men to carry houses and set them up there
for us. The captain and Lloyd stayed at the King's
palace all night; the next morning they were alarmed
to see Tembinoka shooting into the village with a
rifle. He explained that his men were lazy and should
be at work, so he was reminding them that accidents
were possible. The whole trembling village set to work
like bees, and by the time I came over, one sleeping
house was up, a little thatched bird-cage with flaps
[126]
the ^ ^ J an et N ichoV '
Captain Reid's schooner, on which we had passed
so many delightful months.
16/A. — Early this morning we were lying out-
side the lagoon of Apemama, just alongside the
on all sides to raise or lower as one likes, and an open-
sided cook house for Ah Foo (a Chinese servant we
brought from the Marquesas). The King sat on a mat
and directed proceedings. He motioned me to sit be-
side him and asked for a cigarette, of which he is very
fond. Whenever a native has to pass the King, or come
near him for any purpose, he must crouch and crawl;
even his Majesty's own sister did so when she came
to join our party.
• •••■•••
We have had a little ripple of excitement on the
usually smooth current of our existence. To go back
to the beginning: Soon after we were settled in "Equator
town," as we call our hamlet, the King proposed send-
ing the royal cook to learn from Ah Foo. The man
was an insolent, handsome fellow, with no intention
of either learning or working, and either lay on the
floor of the kitchen or squatted smoking, while Ah Foo,
who was in mortal terror of Tembinoka, prepared the
dishes which the royal cook, without doubt, passed off
as his own productions. This went on for some time,
and as the King's meal hours are the same as our own,
interfered a good deal with Ah Foo's work and con-
sequently our comfort. The climax was reached when
the cook, too lazy to walk down to the well for a can
of water for himself, came softly behind me as I was
watering my plants and impudently snatched a dipper-
fui from my pail. We then took the first opportunity
[127]
T Ji e Ci^uise of
little island at the entrance. There was no sign of
life, so, after waiting awhile, a boat with Mr.
Henderson, Tin Jack, and Louis w^ent to find out
the reason. They came back with the news that
to let the King know how things were going, advising
him to send a man who was willing to learn. Since then
his Majesty's steward, a capable, serious man, has ac-
companied the cook. Shortly after our complaint we
heard several rifle-shots from the palace, and soon
after met the cook, who passed us hurriedly, without
the usual salutations, his countenance bearing the marks
of furious anger and fear. It seems that he had been the
King's target, running and crouching behind piles of
stones, the bullets flying after him. Tembinoka came
over a few days later and apologised for having pos-
sibly alarmed or annoyed us. He said he had no inten-
tion of killing the man, which he might have done
easily, being a dead shot, but only wished to frighten
him. He said he had killed enough people to show the
rest what he could do, but thought it a good plan to
remind them occasionally that he had a rifle and the
power to use it as he pleased. "More better him 'praid"
(afraid), were his words. As may be imagined, the cook
bears us no good will, knowing that our complaints
had turned that fearful rifle against him. However, he
dropped his insolent airs and became almost obsequious.
Since we have been here, the schooner Tiernan came
in for copra. While she was lying in the lagoon, the King
spent most of his time aboard and some seven hundred
dollars of his money (he spent nearly one thousand on
[128]
the ^^ Janet NichoT^
the King was away visiting his island of Kuria, so
off we started to hunt for him. Arrived at Kuria,
a boat came out to tell us that the King was ill
from the sequelae of measles; also it brought an
the Equator)^ then he got very drunk, going on steadily
a little Worse or a little better, according to his head-
aches. Day before yesterday, he gave a feast and dance
to which he did not invite us. At noon he came to say
he would lunch with us. His eyes were wandering and
his voice excited and almost boisterous. It was plain
that royalty was not far from being vulgarly drunk.
We could see that he had been worried by our visits
to the palace having ceased and wished to have an
understanding that there was no ill feeling on either
side. He demanded beer, saying that he had been drink-
ing gin and port wine, and dozed off in his chair, start-
ing up in a few moments much mortified. I noticed
that even in this stage of semi-intoxication, he used
his knife and fork in our fashion, and not as he had
learned from the "South Sea merchants." It is an un-
ending pleasure to hear the King say: "I want to go
home." There is an element of appeal in it, reminding
one of a child who can bear the tedium no longer. It
is always directed to Louis or, he being absent, to me
as his representative. He wanted to go home very soon
after that luncheon. In the evening we could hear the
dancers in the big "speak house," clapping, stamping,
and singing. The sounds were so savage, so like an im-
mense pack of dogs fighting in a mass, that we did not
realise what it was, but thought that some form of
riot was going on. An absolute tyrant like Tembinoka
walks amid dangers of which he is fully conscious.
[129]
The Cruise of
insulting letter to Mr. Henderson, signed by the
King but written in a white man's hand; Mr.
Henderson, very angry, showed the letter to
Louis, who proposed that he should be present
Tembinoka dead drunk was not an idea to contemplate
with serenity, and the sound of a single shot did not
tend to reassure us, so we laid our pistols where they
would be handy. Louis's idea is that no one would at-
tack the King unless he were absolutely certain of kill-
ing him instantly, in which case we had better wait
here until the enemy came for us. I think on the con-
trary, that the commission of so enormous a crime
would make a pause. The terrors of the deed would
fill the childish minds of the natives to the exclusion of
anything else and there would be a short time of con-
fusion in which nothing would take place but shoutings
and aimless running about; then would be our time to
rush in and take possession of a stout wooden house
inside the palace walls, and the King's arms, and really
the King's throne. There would always be the chance,
a very slight one, to be sure, that we might still be in
time to save the King's life. I do not quite understand
what Louis's tactics would be, but aside from any other
consideration, there must be but one commander and
he should be absolute even though the others do not
agree with him.
After the shot (which was only aimed at a dog,
though that we could not know) we listened and found
that there was no interruption to the singing and
dancing, which reassured us. In the night, Louis,
being restless and not sleepy, took his flageolet and
wandered off into the woods, playing as he walked,
[ 130]
the '^ Janet NichoV
at the interview with the King. To this Mr. Hen-
derson consented. Of course we all went on shore;
Louis and Lloyd and I took our presents with us;
from Louis a chibouk, from Lloyd a filled car-
until I lost hearing of him. About midnight, or a little
later, I was out a short distance from the house watch-
ing with some anxiety for his return. Pretty soon I saw
him coming along the main path toward our house.
I also saw a dark figure dogging his steps. I called to
him, telling him what I had seen. He was convinced
that it was an hallucination of mine and I was quite
ready to believe him, but as we talked I caught sight
of the man running toward the palace. I pointed him
out to Louis, who dashed off in pursuit. When the man
saw he was outdistanced, for Louis is a fine sprinter,
he turned the face of the cook, smiling suavely. I heard
"sea language" in Louis's biggest voice, and saw him
leaping strangely in the moonlight, like a grasshopper.
He came back in fits of laughter, saying he had kicked
the cook, who fled in terror.
Ever since the cook found we had turned against
him I have had an uneasy feeling that some one was
about our sleeping house in the night, and several
times I was certain a hand was cautiously feeling about
inside our door flap. It seemed a foolish notion, so I
had said nothing about it until this night, then Louis
said he, too, had distinctly heard the same thing. We
cannot complain to the King for he would kill the man
instantly, and we do not go so far as to desire his death.
We have not seen or heard from him since. Ah Foo
thinks he has gone away in fear of his life. I have it in
my heart to be sorry for the fellow, for his terror must
[131]
The Crtitse of
tridge-belt with a sheathed dagger, mine being the
King's own flag after my design. I thought it very
generous of Mr. Henderson that he advised me
to keep my flag back in case the King came on
be extreme, and we who have brought this upon him
belong to the feared and hated white race.
We are getting to be rather anxious concerning the
Equator. She was to be gone two weeks, but it is now
over a month since she left us. The Tiernan met her at
Butaritari, she leaving the day before Captain Saxe
of the Tiernaji. Captain Reid intended to go to Maraki
to take a man known as "the poisoner" over to another
island, Taravao, I think. Now Taravao is so near to
Maraki that Peter Grant had been over there in a
small boat. There may have been trouble in Maraki —
certainly it was imminent — which has kept the cap-
tain, but still it is a long time. He promised, if the
schooner were lost and he was saved, that he would
make his way here somehow. In these dangerous and
uncertain waters one is easily made uneasy. Fortu-
nately for us, the Tiernan was able to let us have some
stores. Our salt beef was finished, and we were abso-
lutely sickened of wild chickens shot by Ah Foo with
the King's pun.
I had a little strip of coral dug out, got rotted leaves
from under a tree, put them into the hole, and into
this I emptied the half-decayed filth that was left in
the onion basket. I should think I have nearly two
dozen onions now growing finely. I have invented a
salad for Louis of which he is extremely fond. In all
these islands there is one cocoanut that has a sweet
[ 132]
the ''Janet NichoV
board, so we might get a better effect by break-
ing his colours man-of-war fashion — this after the
insulting letter and before what promised to be a
very unpleasant interview.
husk, used for cleaning the teeth. In Butaritari the
baron often caused me great embarrassment by chew-
ing a brush for me. This sweet nut when green has a
little crisp portion at the stem end which I cut up and
made into salad with oil and vinegar, or rather oil and
lime-juice, as we have no vinegar. We have put out a
bottle of sour toddy hoping to get vinegar from that.
My diary ends here, abruptly; I had too much on
my hands to find any further time for writing diaries,
for Ah Foo fell ill, and I must be cook, purveyor, house-
maid, and what not, as well as nurse. Ah Foo announced
his illness (something alarmingly like diphtheria) in
these words, "Me sick: no can work; no can cook —
no good any more — more better you kill me, now,"
offering Louis, as he spoke, a large, keenly sharpened
carving knife and his bared throat ready for the sac-
rifice. He was severely ill for some days, needing almost
constant attention. His undisguised surprise that I
would stoop to nurse a Chinaman was pathetic, and
his gratitude afterward was sometimes shown in un-
expected and embarrassing ways, as, for instance, when
he insisted on shooting several men who waked me
from an afternoon nap by singing Christmas songs be-
neath my window; or when he proposed to burglariously
enter a trader's house to steal something for me that
could not be procured otherwise.
[133]
The C 7^ u i s e of
Our black fellows pulled us across in splendid
style, passing the King's returning messenger, who
made a fine though unsuccessful spurt to catch
up with us. As we rowed along the beach surprised
cries of "Pani! Pani!" (Fanny! Fanny!) ran
through the moniaps (native houses) where the
King's wives were sitting. The King, looking older
It seemed a rash thing to let the Tiernan sail away
without us as we had finished, not only our own sup-
plies, but the King's also. True, Mr. Lauterbach, the
mate of the Tiernan, let us have several kegs of salt
beef, and Reuben (which was the nearest we could
come to pronouncing his name), the King's majordomo,
had fetched three big hawkbill turtles from another
island. The turtles were for the King's own larder, but
he sent us a generous portion of each; we, of course,
divided accordingly when we opened our kegs of beef.
But these provisions would soon be finished, and if, as
we each feared but dared not say, the Equator were lost,
"cocoanut steaks" might become our sole diet. Indeed,
I had packed the most of our belongings in some large
camphor-wood chests ready to go on board, and we
had even chosen our bunks when a picture of Captain
Reid's face if he arrived to find us gone rose before
my mind's eye. "Louis," I suddenly whispered, "I
don't want to go." Without a question Louis immedi-
ately cancelled our passage and the Tiernan sailed
away without us. Not many days afterward she cap-
sized and sank in a very odd way. A heavy gale that
had piled the sea up into enormous waves was followed
by a dead calm. The Tiernan, lying quite helpless, was
[134]
the ''Janet N ichoV ''
and thinner, received us in the native fashion
with no apparent astonishment. The presents were
given, and then Lloyd and I left the party to get
their explanations over, the King smoking his chi-
bouk the while with great enjoyment, while the
cartridge-belt hung over his shoulder.
We soon found the moniap of the harem and
rolled over, further and further, until she "turned
turtle" and sank. Years after the mate, Mr. Lauter-
bach, whom I had supposed to be drowned, came to
see me in San Francisco. He, he told me, with some
natives, managed to turn over a boat that floated out
upside down from the schooner. With only the carcass
of the ship's pet pig which they had picked up and what
rain fell from the sky for sustenance, the boat went
drifting off. I am not sure that they had an oar, but
Mr. Lauterbach caught a native sleeping-mat that was
floating on the water; the castaways took turns in hold-
ing up this mat, which thus served as a sail. They could
not hope for a rescue in these unfrequented waters, so
Mr. Lauterbach tried to work toward an inhabited
island with only the position of sun and stars for gui-
dance. When he did make land, after an incredible length
of time to have lived without food or water, there were,
as I remember, only himself, one man and a demented
woman left living in the boat. None of our party, ex-
cept, perhaps, Ah Foo, would have been able to endure
such hardships — if, indeed, we had not gone straight
down with the schooner — the most likely thing to hap-
pen. So it was as well that I asked to go back to our
meagre fare to await the Equator.
[i3Sl
The Cruise of
sat down beside the King's mother. The women
received us with fervent expressions of welcome
and pleasure. We passed through several houses
on our way, and in every one our attention was
called to a "devil box" similar to one we bought
from the medicine-man at Apemama, then the
only one in the three islands. In the centre of the
big moniap was a circular piece of "devil work"
with a ring of sacred white shells about It. Tin
Jack followed after us, and we got him to act as
interpreter. It seems they have been suJfFerIng here
severely with measles, though there were only
four deaths, two men and two women. Children
escaped with slight attacks, but grown people
were very ill, the King himself being at one time
very near death. The first question put to us by
the women was concerning Louis's health; then
what had we done with our devil box ? I fear that
our accidental reconversion of Butaritari to Chris-
tianity^ has been offset by our having inadver-
tently strengthened these Apemamans in their
heathen superstitions. A sick foreigner comes, is
' Butaritari had lapsed into heathenism when we ar-
rived there, but, by showing a magic lantern which
included some Bible pictures among the shdes, we quite
unconsciously reconverted the whole island, King and
all.
[136]
the ^' Janet Nichol''
cured by means of a devil box manipulated by a
"dog-star" (doctor), and naturally he desires to
possess an article so valuable, going so high in his
offers for it as the worth of a ton of copra. The
foreigner is a very clever and learned man. "He
savee too much," they say. And when measles
falls upon the land the first thought is the devil
box, and a praying place for devil worship is
erected in the very centre of their moniap. I wish
I could find out if they really worship the spirit of
evil or whether, having been enlightened by the
missionaries, they have not given their god that
name. If the latter, how much better to have ac-
cepted their god and shown them where they had
mistaken his attributes? And that reminds me
that when I heard the people with the scaly dis-
ease on the other islands erroneously called lepers
I wondered if that could have been the leprosy of
the Bible that was miraculously cured. The dark-
est people turn quite white when covered with
the scales.
But to return to Tembinoka, the King. Louis,
fortunately, was able to clear up the misunder-
standing caused, no doubt, by a white man, though
the King loyally refused to give the name. Louis
proposed that the King should apologise for the
insulting letter, at which his Majesty looked very
[137]
The Cruise of
black, indeed; but when Louis told him that under
the same circumstances an English gentleman
would certainly offer an apology, his countenance
cleared, the apology was handsomely made and
accepted, and so, all being well, the King proposed
to go on board. We wished some of our party to be
on the ship to break out the flag at the right mo-
ment, so hunted up our black boys who were fill-
ing bags with grass for the ship's sheep; Mr. Hird
went off with them, and the rest of us begged per-
mission to accompany the King, who invited us to
ride out with him to his boat in the royal litter.
I was told to get in first, then Lloyd, then Louis
and Mr. Henderson together, and then his Majes-
ty. The black boys passed us on the way with
Mr. Hird, and afraid that the flag might be forgot-
ten by some mischance, Mr. Henderson shouted:
"Hird, elevate the royal bunting." That was be-
cause the King would have understood had he
said: "Break the flag." The black boys put their
elegant backs into it and were in time to send up
the flag in fine style. Every one cried out in ad-
miration; it could not have had a better setting
than the "long, low, rakish black" steamer. The
King, who steered his own boat, and was greatly
pleased to learn that the Hawaiian King was a
good sailor as well as himself, had been smiling
[138]
the ^^ Janet Nichol''
on Louis, and Louis on him, in the most melting
way. He now directed his attention to the flag,
and there was no doubt but the sight gave him
the keenest gratification. We came down to the
cabin, where "champagne was opened," and then
Mr. Henderson left Louis and me alone with the
King.
The moment that Mr. Henderson was gone the
apathy that in these islands "doth hedge in a
king" broke down. The dear old man clasped
Louis in one arm and me in the other and kissed
us and wept over us for joy. He told us how, day
after day, he looked through his glass out over
the sea pretending to himself that he could see us
coming back. Sometimes, he said, he deluded him-
self so far that he beheld our very faces. This day
he had been looking out as usual and was not sur-
prised when our boat came near; he had seen it all
like that before in his day-dreams. Suddenly he
recognised a particular dress I wore that he had
given me. "Then I felt like this," he said, mak-
ing a gasping sound of surprise and emotion —
*'0-o-oh!" — and pressing his hand on his breast
with a dramatic gesture. Often, he said, he made
an errand over to his taro pits that he might look
upon the place where our houses had stood. "I
too much sorry," he said; "I want see you."
[139]
The Cruise of
The time came to say good-bye until the Janet
came back on her return voyage; the flag was
hauled down and presented to the King, and he
went off in his boat with a very depressed coun-
tenance.
Reuben is now called "the governor." As we
were sitting at dinner some one said: "The an-
chor's coming up. There's a man at the port
wants to speak to you, Mr. Stevenson." We all
looked up, and there, grinning like an ape, was
"Uncle Parker !" (Uncle Parker was a servant the
King had lent us when we visited him before.) He
thrust as much of himself through the port-hole
as was possible, and we all climbed up and shook
hands with him. He told us that there had been
further trouble with the impudent cook, and in
consequence the King had shot him. Louis gave
Uncle Parker a magnificent gift of six sticks of
tobacco. The King said he had sent us ten mats
by Captain Reid. On this island is a house of re-
fuge, an octagon to which criminals may run. I
am told that the people have a system of palmis-
try.
lyth. — Maraki. We stopped at the wrong settle-
ment, and, as men were seen on the beach, Mr.
Henderson sent a boat for them in case they
wished to go on with us to the other settlement.
[140]
the ''Janet N ichoT '
One was a stranger, the other an old friend known
as the "passenger."^ We heard his meagre news
and he heard ours, and drank stout with Louis
and Lloyd. It was pleasant to meet him again.
He expects to be in Samoa in a twelvemonth.
Left the silk dress, ''blackee coat," and other
presents with him to forward to Maka and
the Nan Toks, and I gave a gold ring to the Ha-
^ We were forced to kidnap "the passenger," Paul
Hoeflich, a very pleasant, agreeable German, when we
were on the Equator. Mr. Hoeflich had taken passage
on the schooner from Butaritari to another island,
only a few miles distant, where he meant to start busi-
ness as an independent trader. All his worldly goods,
including the stuff for stocking his store, were on board
the Equator. It was the beginning of the bad season,
and we had continual contrary winds with heavy seas.
In vain we cruised round and round his island — we
could not make a landing. We were losing much time,
so my husband informed Mr. Hoeflich that he must
join us in a trip to Samoa, our next destination. It so
fell out that Mr. Hoeflich, who had helped greatly to
lighten the tedium of a long voyage in bad weather
(we arrived at Apia in a somewhat wrecked condition,
with one foretopmast gone), took an immense liking to
Samoa and remained there instead of returning to the
Gilberts. He has prospered exceedingly and blesses the
day he was kidnapped. At this time, when we met him
he had come back to the line islands for a final arrange-
ment of his affairs preliminary to settling permanently
in Samoa.
[141]
The Cruise of
waiian missionary for his wife. This missionary
expects to return to Honolulu on the Morning
Star in company with Maka, so our presents will
fall in at the right moment. Louis also sent one of
his photographs to a young Hawaiian I met under
peculiar circumstances when we were here before.^
^ As we neared the end of our walk we came into
quite a large village. The aspect of the people was more
savage and ugly than we had heretofore seen, the faces
brutal and unintelligent. Half-grown children, and, in-
deed, some more than half-grown, were entirely naked.
The young boys were like little old men, their faces
hard and their eyes haggard and anxious. I saw one
with St. Vitus's dance, several with hydrocephalus, and
a number who had affections of the eyes. Many of the
little girls had their heads entirely shaved, with the
exception of a small tassel at the nape of the neck
which gave a very curious effect. The older ones wore
their hair bushed out to a great size. Almost all wore
necklaces of braided hair with an oval bit of red or
white shell hanging to it like a locket. One haughty,
impudent, fat young fellow, evidently a beau, swaggered
about with a white handkerchief, twisted most ingenu-
ously into a crown, on his head. Almost all of the women
wore a girdle of flat, round beads (made of cocoanut
shells) above the ridi.
As we walked along the village street the whole
population joined us. We stopped at the sight of a
church neatly made of wattled cocoanut leaves bear-
ing at the peak of its front gable a belfry of braided
leaves. There was actually a bell in this belfry which
[142]
the ^^ Janet Nichol''
We stayed a very short time, and then, with sev-
eral sails set, took our way toward Jaluit. A
sheep and a pig struck attitudes and dared each
other to fight — a comical sight. Both were delighted
when the strained situation was broken b}^ a chance
passerby. The black boys are playing cards in the
looked as though a breath would disperse it. The floor
of the church is covered with mats, which are renewed
each new year. A very odd thing was an arrangement
of strings which, inside of the building, crossed each
other with a sort of pattern just above a tall man's
height. All along these strings, at regular intervals,
strips of bright-hued calico were tied — I thought in an
attempt at ornamentation, but was told it was for a
game of the children. I should like to see the game
played. Indeed, I do not believe it to be a game. (We
found afterward that these decorations were for the
purpose of propitiating "chinch," a terrible evil spirit
— the devil, in fact.) We asked for the missionary; a
fine-looking young Hawaiian came up to us, saluting
us with the pleasant '^^loha!" His house was our ap-
pointed place of meeting with the captain. The mis-
sionary, we were told, was in council with the "old
men."
This island is a republic governed by the "old men."
To arrive at the distinction of being an "old man,"
one must be either very rich or have performed some
prodigy of valour in war time. Accompanied by the
Hawaiian, we wandered along to the Council House.
The missionary looked extremely like a mixture of na-
tive and Chinese — a large, imposing man with a long,
[143]
The Ci'iiise of
forecastle. Mr. Hird and Foo-foo (black boy) sang
in the evening.
i^th. — Very hot weather. Our sails are still up,
and one of the boats hanging over the side has
its sail also set. It looks very odd.
thin, white moustache and thick, grey hair. As we sat
outside in the circle surrounding the Council House,
conversing with the Hawaiian, it occurred to me that
I might buy one of the cocoanut beaded girdles worn
by most of the women. The Hawaiian turned to one
of them and asked what she would take for her girdle;
a dollar was the answer; at that I handed a half dollar
and two quarters to the 3^oung man who, saying that
it was too much, gave me back half the money. "They
sell them for two fish-hooks," he said, "and this is
simply extortion; however, as she has seen the money
she will do her best to get it, so you might as well give
her the half dollar." The exchange was made, and after
a moment's confabulation with a crowd of her neigh-
bours the woman demanded the other half dollar. At
this the Hawaiian asked for the piece of money she had,
took it, and gave back the girdle. In an instant the
whole place was in an uproar. Men bounded up with
furious gestures; the old men in the Council House
shouted with threatening yells, while the Hawaiian,
leaping to his feet, his eyes flashing like a cat's in the
dark, defied them all. Fearful that harm might come
to him after we were gone, I begged him to let me give
the people whatever they might ask for, but he would
not hear of it, and matters were the worse fr)r my offer,
as the people evidently understood it had been made.
Finally, leaving the crowd in a state of ferment, we
I 144]
the ^^ Janet NichoT*
igth. — Jaluit, the German seat of government
for the Marshalls. We could see the commission-
er's house, painted a terra-cotta red, looking very-
pretty under the green trees. Went on shore, a
blazing hot day. We were all dressed up for the
walked away with the Hawaiian to his very pleasant
house, he entertaining us on the way with a list of the
laws made that day by the "old men." They were as
follows: "Dancing, one dollar fine; concealed weapons,
five dollars; murder, fifteen; stealing, twenty-five, and
telling a lie, fifty dollars." Pretty soon the crowd began
surging round us; there was more furious talk, the
Hawaiian looking very fine as he walked toward the
mass of people, shaking his fists and, I am bound
to say, interlarding his language with English oaths.
When he had forced the crowd back by, I really think,
the fire of his eye, he laughed in their faces contemptu-
ously and turned to me translating the meaning of the
scene. The "old men" had made another law, against
him, placing him under tapu so that he could neither
trade nor be traded with. I felt very miserable at being
the innocent cause of so much trouble. He said he did
not care a rush and meant to leave the island anyway.
He had married a native of Maraki, bringing her home
to visit her people, with whom she had proposed they
should stop, but now, he said, she was as eager to go
as he was. When we left he presented us with a girdle
that he had somehow got hold of and his wife gave
me a young fowl. I, very fortunately, had a handsome
wreath of flowers on my hat which I took off and gave
the wife. It was amusing to watch the dandy of the
village, the haughty and insolent fat young man who
[145]
The Cruise of
occasion, Louis with his best trousers, yellow silk
socks of a very odd shape, knitted by his mother
for a parting present, dirty white canvas shoes,
and a white linen coat from the trade room that
had been too languid to see us before, trying to keep
all speculation out of his eyes when I passed over the
wreath. He could not do it. The red imitation currants
held his gaze like fish-hooks.
We sailed away quite gaily from Maraki, fell into a
calm, and had to turn and come back again, so had yet
another day, and all together four, before we really
got away. All the time, more or less, we were overrun
by the traders, who came to beg drink and buy and sell.
We have now seen the South Sea "bad man" of the
story-books, Peter Grant. He always comes with "Little
Peter," a kindly, simple lad who has been on the island
since he was thirteen and speaks excellent English
with the native tossing and eyebrow lifting. (Little
Peter died from poisoning some years after; it was sup-
posed to be a murder.) Peter Grant is the most hideous
ruffian I have ever beheld. The skin of his face has the
quality of a burn scar and is crossed with wrinkles in
places where no other human being has wrinkles. His
forehead is narrow and retreating, his eyes very light,
with a strange scaly look, not a pair in size, colour, or
movement, and set too close together in a large, gaunt
face. His nose, hooked at the end until it almost touches
his upper lip, is unusually bony and is bent over to
the left as though from a blow. His coarse-lipped, stupid
mouth is creased with slashes like cuts. One of his un-
pleasant peculiarities is what Louis calls "crow's-feet
between the eyes."
[146]
the ^^ Janet NichoT'
could not be buttoned because of its curious fit.
It was hoped, however, that a gold watch and
chain might cover all deficiencies. I wore a blue
linen native dress, entirely concealed by a long
The next to the last day at Maraki Lloyd and I
went ashore with the captain, who had, as he said,
"business to attend to" with a missionary. (The Ha-
waiian missionary who was to travel in the Morning
Star with our dear Maka of Butaritari.) I knew the
business had something to do with a tapu put upon
Peter Grant some six months ago, but that a concerted
attack was to be made upon the old missionary I did
not suspect or I should never have gone. We were met
by my friend the young Hawaiian, who accompanied
us to the missionaries' house. There the best seat was
offered me, all being received with dignified hospitality
as they dropped in, one horror after another. Little
Peter was appointed interpreter. The missionary was
charged, first, with having instigated the natives to
tapu Peter Grant. It was supposed he denied this, but
in reality he did not. Head and shoulders above the
rest he sat, a fine, massive figure, with impenetrable
Chinese eyes, master of the situation. I only noticed
once any sign of perturbation in him; that was when
the head of the "old men" was brought in to be ques-
tioned. The missionary made a quick attempt to put
the old man on his guard, but was instantly checked
by a trader, who leaped to his feet and shook his fist
in the missionary's face, ordering him to be silent. The
missionary smiled contemptuously, but a thick sweat
gathered upon his face and neck, his hands trembled
slightly, and his great chest rose and fell, slowly and
[147]
The Cruise of
black lace cloak, and on 1113- head a black turban
with a spotted veil. Our feet were certainly the
weak point, my stockings being red and my shoes
cut in ribbons by the coral. Not having gloves, I
put on all my rings which flashed bravely in the
heavily. Feeling that to gaze upon him was an indeli-
cacy, though I was doing so in sympathy and admira-
tion, I made a slight movement to turn away; as though
he knew my thought, the missionary suddenly looked
me in the eyes with a charming smile, fanned me a
moment with a fan that lay beside him, then handed
me the fan with a bow.
Fortunately, the attempt to warn the "old man"
had been enough, for he seemed idiotic in his apparent
endeavours to understand what was wanted of him.
The charge against the missionary then changed to
theft. He was said to have stolen a murdered man's
property. In answer to that he said: "Then place the
affair in the hands of either the first man-of-war that
comes to the group or the Morning Star," which is
daily expected. The traders all cried out with fury at
the mention of the Morning Star, and, all speaking at
once, charged him with instigating the natives to all
sorts of evil when he should be setting them a good
example. For the first time he retorted, saying that the
missionaries came only to try to make the people better,
and that the only difficulty was the wickedness of the
white men. I am sorry to say that I got the impression
that there was something in danger of being discovered
which would have been to the disadvantage of the
missionary, hut not exactly what the traders were
looking for. They were too stupid to see that, and were
[ 148 ]
the ^^ Janet N ichoV
sun. On board ship our appearance caused a de-
cided sensation and was considered most respect-
able, and reflecting great credit on the Janet.
The commissioner received us at his door, offered
us wine, and while we were drinking it in came
forced to come to a pause, having gained nothing.
Both Lloyd and I had a distressed feeling that we might
be confounded with their party in the mind of the mis-
sionar)'-, but he reassured us with his eyes, and, pushing
aside those in his way, shook hands with Lloyd and then
with me. I held his hand and pressed it and said all
that eyes and smile could manage.
As we went out of the house the missionary's wife
made me a present of a fowl. The Hawaiian joined us
as we passed his place and his wife ran out with an-
other fowl. I had made up a little parcel for her, a
red comb, a bead necklace, a bottle of fine scent, and
a striped blue-and-white summer jersey, with a large
silk handkerchief for her husband. The next day they,
with their little daughter, came to pay us a visit on
board, fetching with them three young fowls and a
very fine, beautiful mat of a pattern I had not seen
before. Louis was greatly pleased with my friends and
promised to send the man his photograph. When he
said good-bye, to our surprise he asked for Louis's
card, which was a piece of civilisation we were not pre-
pared for. We have touched at no island where there
has not been at least one person we were sorry to leave
and should be glad to meet again, though this was
the only place where these friends were foreign to the
land.
• •••••••
[149]
The Cruise of
Captain Brandeis,^ a slender, sallow man with a
small head and the most extraordinary eyes of
glittering blackness which seemed to shrink from
meeting one's gaze and yet to challenge it with
a nervous defiance. He was pale, and I thought
he was prepared for an unpleasant meeting with
Louis; that wore off very quickl}^, and the two
were soon deep in conversation, I talking twaddle
with the commissioner that Louis might have the
captain alone. Louis is fascinated by the captain
and I do not wonder; but his eye is too wild, he
is too nervous, and his nose is not to be depended
on — a weak and emotional nose. A man, I should
say, capable of the most heroic deeds, sometimes
preternaturally wise, and sometimes proportion-
atelj' foolish; a born adventurer, but never a suc-
cessful one.
The commissioner showed me the "garden,"
an acre or so of high-island plants grown in for-
eign soil brought in vessels. The commissioner's
room was decorated with trophies of native arms,
armour, etc. He promised to have a native sailing
chart made for Louis. These charts are very curi-
ous things, indeed, made of sticks, some curved,
some straight, caught here and there by a small
yellow cowry. The cowries represent islands, the
^ A political refugee from Samoa.
[150]
the ^^ Janet NichoT'
sticks both currents and winds and days' sailing.
The distances between the islands have nothing
to do with miles, but with hours only. These charts
are very little used now, only one old chief know-
ing how to make them, but the time was when
each young chief must pass his examination in
the charts, knowing them by heart, as they were
never taken to sea but kept at home for reference
and continual study. We lunched with the com-
missioner and, the steam-whistle calling us soon
after, we went on board to start immediately for
Majuro.
20th. — At Majuro early in the morning, a pearl
of atolls. The lagoon, large and round, but not so
large that we cannot distinctly follow the coast-
line. At the entrance it is broken into the most
enchanting small islets, all very green and soft,'
the lagoon clear and in colour like a chrysoprase.
Mr. Henderson offered us a little house on the
windward side, so we took our mats and blankets
and a lantern with us in the boat. The house was
the old "lookout" consisting of a single room with
latticework running along two sides of the wall
under the roof; this lattice served for windows.
The door had a padlock so we could lock it as we
came and went.
I had taken my paints with me and made a
[151]
The Cruise of
little portrait of a native girl called "Topsy" by
her white husband. She was a very small, very
thin creature, greatly given to dress. She seemed
to live with several other women in a sort of boat-
builders' shed, where I would always find her, her
thick hair shining with oil and carefully braided,
a different head-dress for a different hour — her
keys hanging below her rows of necklaces, busily
employed at something or other; sometimes it
was a necklace she was stringing on shreds of
pandanus leaves, sometimes a new print gown she
was cutting out with a most capable, businesslike
air; or she might be feeding her monkey {'' mon-
kaia," she called it) or her gentle-eyed dog; or,
most interesting task of all, sorting her possessions
into order. She had two pretty large camphor-
wood chests quite filled up with cotton prints,
coloured handkerchiefs, and various accessories of
the toilet. She dressed for the portrait in a gown
of cheese-cloth drawn in at the waist by a white
cotton belt edged with blue and white; the yoke
of the bodice and the sleeves were trimmed to
match, and the hem of the skirt was marked with
a black braid. Her hair, smoothly drawn back over
her little rabbit head, was ornamented by two
bands worked in a design with beads, and her
necklaces were innumerable. On one arm she
[152]
II ////( trader and his U'ije " Topsy," Majiiro Island
the '^ Janet NichoT'
proudly showed me the word Majuro tattooed
and on the other, Topsy. It seems that she was a
castaway from another island, everj^ other soul in
the canoe being lost. She was absolutely ignorant,
and when something was said about her heart,
gravely assured us that she had no heart, being
solid meat all through. Topsy sat for her portrait
most conscientiously as though it were a photo-
graph, not moving a hair's breadth, nor hardly
winking. After each sitting she returned to exactly
the same position. I tried in vain to make her take
it more easily; when I talked to her (she knew
half a dozen words of English) she responded with
stiff Hps, trying to speak without moving them.
I took her a wreath which delighted her, and just
before we left I came across a red silk bodice with
a smocked yoke and embroidered cuffs; just the
thing, I felt, for Topsy. The captain, Louis, and
Lloyd were with me when I gave it to her. She
instantly slipped off her upper garments, showing
a very pretty little figure, and we all together
robed her in the bodice. Topsy is quite a great
lady with her female attendants, living in her
boat-house, sleeping on her mat beside her two
chests with her dog, and that rich possession the
"monkaia." Some one the captain knew took a
large monkey to Savage Island, but the people
[153I
The Cruise of
would not allow it to remain; it was, they said,
derogatory to their dignit}^
There are broad, well-kept walks on Majuro,
and to cross the island to our cabin was like pass-
ing through a palm-house. When somebody re-
membered it, fresh palm toddy^ was brought to
us in the early morning, and once tea. Louis slept
on shore with me one or two nights, and then, as
it rained a good deal, it was judged better for him
to remain on board. The next night I slept alone.
At about two in the morning I waked with the
consciousness that some one was in the room be-
sides myself. I peered about without moving and
saw two native men who moved into the moon-
light so I could see them distinctly. I said, "Who's
there .'' What do you v/ant ? Get away with you !"
in the gruffest voice I could assume, and after a
few moments' hesitation, they made off. One eve-
ning, while Louis still slept in the lookout, quite
late, the room became filled with a peculiar and
pleasant fragrance. For some time we could not
make it out, but it finally occurred to us that it
was the scent of pandanus nut. Some native, over-
come by curiosity, must have crept to the house
' Fresh palm toddy tastes like sweet champagne
and is very wholesome; sour or fermented toddy is
quite another thing.
[154 1
the ^^ Janet NichoV*
so softly that we did not hear him, but the pan-
danus he had been chewing betrayed him. As they
all seemed to think that I should not stop alone
so far away, Lloyd came over and slept on Louis's
mat. Some of the pandanus nuts here I like very
much; the}^ are juicy and of fragrant, tart flavour
like a good apple.
One day while I was talking to Topsy at her
door, the monkey being fastened by a long, light
chain to a tree close by, a girl fell down in a fit.
Her head struck a woman's lap, but the woman
hastily thrust her off so that she lay, half smother-
ing, face down, in the sand. She sniflFed, and
moaned, and clicked her teeth together, but neither
frothed at the mouth, nor protruded her tongue,
as I supposed people did in fits. Not a soul moved
to help her, but " monkaia''^ leaped on her head like
a demon and began biting and plucking at her
hair and face. I tore him off with difficulty, the
men and women standing by quite helpless with
laughter. I had to threaten a woman with physical
violence before she would drag the girl away from
the monkey while I held the brute. The next
morning, while I was painting at Topsy's portrait,
the girl who had the fit sat on the floor beside me
watching the process. My bottle of oil and a
basket of coral just given me were standing be-
[155]
The Cruise of
tween the legs of the easel. Suddenly the girl
lurched fonvard, upsetting the bottle of oil, and
had a fit with her face in the basket of coral. The
instinct of saving property brought Topsy to my
aid this time, however, and together we dragged
the girl to a safer position.
One afternoon I asked the name of a particu-
larly bright-looking girl who came to visit the
ship. "Neel," was the reply. "How did she get
that name?" I asked. "Oh, it came in this wa}^:
She was a sharp little child, and some white man
said she was sharp as a needle, so they called her
needle." Neel is the nearest they come to pro-
nouncing it. I was told that Neel was a capital
mimic and actress. I made an offering of a wreath
and she agreed to give me an example of her skill
if all the white men went away. First, she said
(Johnny, a half-caste, interpreting), she would
represent a well-known native woman, with an
impediment in her speech, on a visit to a neigh-
bour; immediately her round, fat face twisted it-
self into a thousand wrinkles, and her thick, pro-
truding lips became pinched and thin, on one side
lifted like a harelip. She spoke like a person with
a cleft palate, very garrulously, making polite in-
quiries about different members of the family she
was supposed to visit, but never waiting for an
the '^ Janet N ichoV '
answer. After this impersonation she assumed a
prim air and, with a dry, nipping precision of
speech, and neat little persuasive gestures, gave
us a bit of an English missionary's sermon. The
voice was a man's voice, and the English accent
in speaking the native words perfect. Had I not
been aware that the girl was speaking, I should
have felt certain I could pick out the man by
his face; I knew it, and his figure, and his um-
brella.
I am told the}^ go in for "devil work" heie;
they call it "bu-bu," which reminds one of the
negro word. When their old witch women (they
are always old) wish to lure a vessel to destruction
they run up and down the beach shouting their
incantations, waving, as they run, a long stick
with a red rag on the end. A man whose vessel
was wrecked on these islands told me that as the
ship neared the rock where they struck they could
distinctly see an old woman rushing along the
beach waving her red rag.
A Mr. R told Lloyd that in New Ireland
he had had a similar experience to that of Tom
Day. A man had attacked him, and he had said
to the bystanders: "I'll give an axe for that man's
head." The next morning he discovered the head
stuck on his gate-post. He said he had often
[IS7]
The Cruise of
bought victims set apart to be eaten for ten sticks
of tobacco. If he paid up honourably, the natives
were honourable in return, and never after mo-
lested his man.
One evening I stopped at Mr. M 's to
wait while some one went on board for my key,
which I had forgotten. Tin Jack, who was there,
promptly presented me with a fine piece of stag-
horn coral belonging to our host, following up the
coral with presents of elaboratel}^ worked mats,
some of which he gave in his own name and some
in Mr. M 's, until he had made me the
embarrassed recipient of four. The captain, who
dropped in, was also requested to make choice of
a pair of the best. Poor Mr. M , feeling
that it would be more graceful to give his own
presents, then offered me a curious fish preserved
in a bottle which Mr. Hird, much to my distress,
scornfully refused on my behalf as a present
**unfit for a lady."
The Marshalls seem a very damp, rainy group
of islands, but, in consequence, breadfruit grows
on most of them, and bananas on many. We had
expected to fill up with copra at Majuro, but
measles has been ravaging the islands. The King
himself, whom we had wished greatly to see, old
Jebberk, lay dying and tapued to whites. Two
Kaibuk,—ij)u of the kings of Majura
the ^' Janet NichoT'
other Kings came to visit us on the vessel, both
very fine, intelligent-looking men. One was dressed
in a mat breech-clout and a comical red shirt or
jacket, and had his hair done up on the top of his
head Japanese fashion. The other wore a red-and-
blue-figured petticoat, very full at the waist, where
it was gathered in with native cord. Around his
neck he had a pink shell necklace, and his hair
was done in the same high knot as affected by the
first King. We had finished luncheon when the last
king came, so he had his alone spread at one corner
of the table. I gave him a wreath, of the best, for
his queen; he admired it greatly, and examined it
over and over. Finally he turned to me saying,
*'What you want?" pointing to the wreath. He
meant to ask what would I like for a return pres-
ent. I said "Nothing," which was a mistake, after-
ward cleverly rectified by Louis. The King asked
through an interpreter how long it would be before
the Janet sailed, as all his things were at his own
village, and he wanted to get some mats for me.
Louis replied that we were sailing almost immedi-
ately but that when we returned we would be
most happy to receive his present. This proved
satisfactory, and the King was put at his ease.
24^ A. — Left Majuro.
26th. — Again at Jaluit. Went to see the com-
[159]
The Cruise of
missioner, where we found our island charts await-
ing us. Louis and the commissioner and Captain
Brandeis tried to make out the names of the islands
by comparing the charts with our European map,
but failed; a man who had been thirty years in
the islands was consulted, and afterward a na-
tive, but still they were baffled. It was finally set-
tled that the thirty-year resident should see the
maker of the charts (now absent) and get a com-
plete key to be sent to Samoa. Lloyd bought some
German beer, which is excellent, and I bought
two jars of sweeties, a couple of Pleasant Island
baskets, several pieces of tortoise-shell, and some
abominable sausages. The commissioner gave me
two shells and Captain Brandeis gave me a lovely
one, also a black mother-of-pearl shell, such as
the Gilbert Islanders use for trade.
Left the same day, towing out a schooner.
2jth. — Arrived at Namorik. Louis went on
shore and met a wicked old man who afterward
appeared in the "Beach of Falesa."
28/A. — First thing in the morning at Ebon; an-
chored in the passage nearly opposite the wreck
of the IIazelti?ie, American schooner. Left early
in the afternoon.
July 1st. — Arrived Apiang, lay outside. Louis
ill. Captain Tierney came off in a canoe. No copra.
[160]
the ' ^ J an et N ichoV ^
The missionaries in power and a general tapu.
On to Tarawa.
3J. — Aranuka, one of Tembinoka's islands.
Louis still ill. He was lying in his bunk when the
King and his people came on board. A pleasant-
faced man, who, with the rest, was shaking hands
with me, asked for Louis. I said he was ill, where-
upon he demanded to be taken at once to the sick
man. I guessed that he was a medicine-man.
Louis said he stood beside his bed, with the gently
soothing, insinuating, professional manner of the
European practitioner, asking his symptoms and
very anxious to know if there was a "dog-star'*
in Samoa.
A little later a soft hand tapped me on the shoul-
der; I turned — it was the King, Tembinoka him-
self, smiling and holding out both hands to me.
He looked much better and was greatly concerned
at Louis being ill. Mr. Henderson is going to take
the King's boat back to Apemama for him with
his harem and court.
\ih. — Got under way at eight o'clock with about
two hundred deck passengers — all the King's wives
and body-guard and retainers generally — and
steamed down to Apemama flying the royal en-
sign at the main truck. The whole ship, every
plank of her, covered at night with sleeping na-
[161I
The Cruise of
tives. Among the rest were babies and three dogs,
the latter with strange, glassy, white eyes. The
King's favourite wife had a snub-nosed puppy,
which, when it became restless and whined, she
put to her breast and suckled. All the head women
had their devil boxes, taking the greatest care
of them. They consulted me about ours through
every interpreter they could find. They always re-
ferred to the box indirectly; the interpreter would
be told first to ask if I had not carried away from
Apemama something very precious. Upon my
answering that I had, questions were then put as
to its whereabouts, etc. Louis and I were talking
to the King on a difi^erent matter in which the es-
cape of hissing steam was mentioned. His Majesty
jumped to the conclusion that we were speaking
of the devil box, and assured us that we need feel
no alarm when the shell inside (representing the
devil, Tiaporo) made a noise. We had onl}^ to
give it a very small bit of tobacco and that would
settle him. He thought it a good sign, and that the
shell was in proper mediumistic order when Tia-
poro was noisy, thpugh he confessed it would be
better if we had a "dog-star" handy. A quarter
of an hour later all the King's women were in a
state of ferment concerning our devil box, the
news of Tiaporo's behaviour causing the most
excited comments.
[162]
the '^ Janet NichoV^
The getting on board of the people was a wild
affair of noise and confusion. Boat after boat was
unladen, and piles of the most extraordinary
household goods blocked up every space that
should have been kept clear; at least twenty-five
large zinc pails came from one boat. There were
sewing-machines, large rosewood musical boxes,
axes and spades, cutlasses, unwieldy bag pillows,
every conceivable sort of bag and basket, cocoa-
nut shells of toddy syrup, and shells of water; old
nuts, new nuts, every sort of nut; also large pack-
ages of the native pudding (giant taro pounded up
with pandanus syrup and cocoanut milk, baked
underground in taro leaves), and piles of neatly
done up sticks of what we call sweet sawdust,
made of the beaten pandanus nut. There were
camphor-wood chests of every size, and mat pack-
ages without end. One woman was trying in vain
to find a place for her ear piercer, a stick of hard,
black seaweed, some two feet long, tapering from
the circumference of a couple of inches in the mid-
dle to a smooth, sharp point at either end; round
each side of the centre, where it was intended the
hand should grasp it, was a ring of yellow feathers
worked with human hair; these looked just the
same as the royal Hawaiian feathers — also those
on the peace spears I got at Savage Island — but I
have never seen the bird that produces them.
[163]
The Cruise of
Our black boys are almost insane with excite-
ment and "Tom Sawyered" to such a degree,
showing off before the court ladies, that it was a
wonder and mercy none were killed. When they
were raising the boats to the davits, Louis said
they were upside down more often than not,
doing herculean feats of strength. The harem
ladies were gathered together aft and a tapu
placed round them. Ladies of a lower station
found what places pleased them best and had a
much gayer time than the great ones, for the
black boys sang, and danced, and shouted with
merriment the whole night through. The very old
ladies of high rank — the King's mother, hopelessly
drunk on gin, which she carried everywhere with
her, the King's aunt, and one or two others — spent
the night on the captain's bridge. The people all
showed the utmost affection for us, our old friend
and servant **Snipe" in particular. ("Snipe" was
one of three slave girls lent us by Tembinoka
when we lived at Apemama, in Equator Town.
The other two we called Stodge and Fatty.) She
would seize every opportunity to get beside me,
when she would smooth m}^ hair, fondle my hands,
and alternately put her arm round my waist and
poke me in the ribs with her elbows, giggling sen-
timentally the while.
[164]
the ^ ' J an et N i cho T '
Quite late at night Uncle Parker sneaked down
to the saloon and squatted on the floor with a
kindly grin. He was not in the least surprised nor
offended when Louis hustled him out. I had not
had the heart to do it m3'self, as I should.
Among the rest of the people was a man who
had known us in Butaritari; he gave us full news
of our Cowtubs^ there. Tembinoka's governor,
whom we had known as Reuben, who now says
his name is Raheboam, begged that I would speak
to the King and ask that he might go away with
us. I assured him that it would be useless; the
King could not afford to part with a man of his
talents and acquirements, which is quite true. In
the forecastle were the unfortunate exiles of Peru,
among them our "Boat's crew" looking very
pretty and pert but grown no larger. Some years
ago, I do not know how many, a large party of
the natives of Peru, thinking to see the world,
bought return tickets from the Wightman line to
one of the other islands. They were warned that
they must take their chances of a schooner going
back to their own place. No schooner did; but
they were carried on from island to island, each
trip getting a little nearer home. The boy called
"Boat's crew" had been a servant of ours at
^ Retainers.
[165]
The Cruise of
Apemama, one of their halting places. They are
to be taken on to Nanouti, a station so much the
nearer home. An old man who was anxious to die
on his native soil is still living and looks a hundred
years old, his head entirely bald except for a tuft
at the nape of his neck.
5/A. — At Apemama, landing the court. Tin Jack
had to sell a pet canoe he was taking to his sta-
tion to the King, who insisted on having it. It cost
five dollars and the King gave twenty for it; so, as
a commercial speculation, it was no loss. When
the King came on board this morning he laid a
fine mat on my lap.
Later a great wailing arose from the forward
deck. A woman who had taken possession of an-
other woman's husband was being sent away with
her people of the Peru party, and conceived it
her duty to have an attack of nerves. She did not
do it so well as they manage in France, but it
was of the same order, and reasonably credit-
able. Her hysterical kicking and choking cries,
when held back by her companions from drown-
ing herself, was the most effective part of the
performance. She soon gave it up, probably be-
cause of the lack of interest shown by the by-
standers.
In the evening we had a farewell dinner with
[166I
the ''Janet N ichoV "*
Tin Jack, champagne, toasts, speeches, etc. At
night a party went on shore with fireworks; Mr.
Henderson answered with a display from the ship.
As I was watching them I overheard a conversa-
tion between a white fireman and our cook about
the dangers of the land. "Why, one of my mates,"
said the fireman, *'got lost in the bush once, and
it was a w^hole da}^ before he got a drink of water.
I wouldn't take the chance of that for all the
money you could give me." I reminded him that
wrecked sailors had been known to suffer from
thirst; he had never thought of that, he said, but
anyhow it didn't seem the same. The fireworks
were very successful, and I think pleased our
black boys more than any one else. The ship rang
with their shouts and musical, girlish laughter.
All afternoon they had been scraping the ship's
sides under water; it looked very odd to see them
kicking like frogs and working at the same time;
yet, after all this, they were ready for more danc-
ing and songs. Louis and I agreed that we would
willingly pay a high price for only Sally Day's
superfluous energy to use at our discretion. All
these men are from cannibal islands, but do not
like that fact referred to. When Mr. Hird teases
them about it they declare they were mere in-
fants when they were taken away and can re-
[167]
The Cruise of
member nothing about the savage customs of
their people.
6th. — Off Apemama, our black boys lying in a
row under the awning, one reading the Bible (it
was Sunday) and another playing hymns on an
accordion. The King took breakfast with us, and
we bade him good-bye, not so sadly as before,
because now we have some hope of seeing him
again.
yth. — Nanouti first thing in the morning. Went
on shore after breakfast to ''Bill}' Jones's cousin's"
place where British colours were flying. Tin Jack
wished to be photographed in his new place in the
midst of his new surroundings, so we had the
camera with us. Lloyd and I wandered about and
were astonished at the number of houses we saw
piled up with dried cocoanuts not yet made into
copra. We were told that a famine was feared and
these nuts were stored as provisions. Speaking of
provisions, we were struck by the difference in the
condition of our Piru friends since we were fellow
passengers with them on the schooner Equator.
Then they were in the most abject poverty, hardly
a mat among them, no food, only a few shells of
water and a few old nuts. When we took them off
Apemama they came as rich people, with bundles
of fine mats, stacks of "sawdust" food and dried
[i68]
the ^ ' J an et N ichoV '
pandanus fruit (very good, tasting like dried figs)
and quantities, generally, of the best food pro-
duced in Apemama. The people all have cotton-
print clothing as well as fine ridh and baskets full
of tobacco with plenty of pipes.
While Lloyd and I w^ere walking about in Na-
nouti, Tin Jack went back to the ship quite oblivi-
ous of the fact that we were left prisoners on ac-
count of the tide, for the entire day. When we
arrived we had to take down part of the wall
of a fishing ground to land at the house. We left
the ship at ten and were tired, hungr}^, and very
cross at being so deserted. Lloyd finally went off
to try and find a canoe, hoping to reach the ship
in that way and get something for me to eat. I
had got very wet in crossing the surf in our own
boat and was dressed in a filthy gown and chemise
lent me by a native woman. I asked for a dry gown
when I arrived and the woman gave me one she
had cast off; I did not know what to do, as it was
quite transparent, so I had to stay in the inner
room. Tin Jack, hearing of this, demanded a che-
mise for me. The w^oman removed the one she
was wearing, in a dark corner, folded it up, and
then pretended to take it out of a trunk which she
opened for the purpose. After this piece of either
pride or delicacy I felt bound to put it on. As
[169]
The Cruise of
my head ached, I lay down on a mat, with an in-
describably filthy pillow under my head, and tried
to sleep. The people of the house, some twenty in
number, came in every few moments to look at me;
if the children made a noise they were smacked,
thereupon bawling loudly enough to raise the
roof, and occasionally a crowd of outside children
would be beaten from the house with howls and
yells. I never saw so much "discipline" admin-
istered before in any of the islands. Outside my
window a child was steadily smacked for crying
for at least half an hour. I actually did fall asleep
once, but was quickly awakened by a savage dog
fight just under where I lay, the house standing
high on piles. This house, belonging to the trader,
was one of the best I had seen, containing four
rooms separated by stockades, with a lofty, airy
roof, while along the shady side ran a neat ve-
randa. The whole house was tied together with
sennit the sides and ends thatched as well as the
roof.
Lloyd, having searched for about an hour and
a half, had found a canoe, and a native willing to
take him off for the high price of ten sticks of
tobacco. In the meantime, Tin Jack, awakening
to a sense of the enormity of his behaviour, had
despatched another canoe from the ship with some
[ 170]
J
the ''Janet NichoT*
sandwiches, a tin of sardines (useless with no tin
opener), and a bottle of stout without a corkscrew.
When Lloyd discovered this, he would not wait
a moment, but tried to get back to me. In spite of
all he could do, he was landed in the surf some two
miles short of where I was. He struggled along the
reef, sometimes knocked down by the surf and
most of the time up to his armpits in water. He
had on shoes of leather which became water-logged,
and the nails, coming loose, tore the soles of his
feet, adding to the difficulty of walking. He also
cut his ankle on the reef and grazed his leg, both
serious things to have happen here. (A scratch from
dead coral is apt to cause blood-poisoning and is
greatly feared. The captain of a man-of-war was
said to have lost his leg in this way.) There was
also the fear in his mind that, thinking he had
landed, I might have given my leavings to the
natives. I really cannot imagine why I did not;
I several times made a movement to do so and
then something distracted my attention. It was
quite dark before the ship's boat could get in for
us, and very chill. Tin Jack, most eager in his
apologies, had a bad quarter of an hour.
A cat, I hear, has been added to our ship's com-
pany. At Majuro a man who had been shipwrecked
there, and was taken on board the Janet for
[171]
The Cruise of
Sydnev, had a pet cat. One of the sailors found
her swimming round the ship trying to cHmb up
the steep sides. An oar was put out for her and she
cHmbed in, ahnost drowned.
I begged a fish from one of the black boys, and
with a nut, a pinch of cayenne pepper, an old
dried lemon, and some sea water, I made "miti"
sauce and gave Louis a nice dish of raw fish for
his dinner. He reHshed it very much, and ate all
I prepared.^
^ Raw fish may seem a strange delicacy for a sick
man, but, properly prepared, there is nothing better
than fresh raw mullet. I first learned this in Tautira,
a lovely native village on the "wild side" of Tahiti.
My husband was alarmingly ill with pneumonia, and
had sunk into a state of coma. There was no way to
reach civilisation except by means of our yacht, the
Casco — and the Casco was gone to Papeete to have her
masts repaired. Crushed by this catastrophe I was gaz-
ing stupidly out over the village green, trying to gather
my wits together, when my attention was distracted
for a moment by the spectacle of a tall, graceful, na-
tive woman entering the house of the chief of Tautira,
amid the acclamations of a great crowd. I vaguely re-
membered that fur many days there had been prepara-
tions making for an expected visit from Moe, "the
great princess." In about half an hour there was a tap
at our door; there stood Moe with a plate of raw fish
prepared with miti sauce. Speaking perfect English, she
told me that she had heard there was a sick foreigner
in the village whose wife was troubled because he would
[ 172]
the ^' J an et N i chol
Sth. — Remained all day and left at night. A
long reef, and much trouble in getting Tin Jack's
things clear of the ship. Heard the labour brig
Cito had been landing rifles and cartridges. Tin
not eat, so, she said, she had made this dish herself,
and if we could only get him to taste it he would eat
more, and convalescence would follow immediately.
At first Louis turned his head to one side wearily with-
out opening his eyes, but by the advice of the princess
I slipped a morsel between his lips; to my surprise he
swallowed the bit, then another, and finally opened his
eyes and asked: "What's that.""' Several times a day
the princess came with her plate of fish and miti sauce,
which was soon eagerly watched for and devoured by
my invalid, and within the week Louis had so far recov-
ered as to be able to walk over to the chief's house,
where we took up our abode with him and Moe.
The raw fish, as prepared in Tahiti, instead of being
revolting in appearance, as one might imagine, is as
pleasing to the sight as to the taste. The fresh white
meat of the mullet is cut into neat little strips about
half an inch wide and a couple of inches long and
laid side by side on a plate — of course it is carefully
freed from skin and bones — and covered with miti
sauce. Miti sauce is made of milk pressed from cocoa-
nut meats (an entirely different thing from the refresh-
ing water of the green drinking nut), mixed with about
one third the quantity of lime-juice, a few tiny bits of
the wild red pepper, and a little sea water. This sauce
seems to cook the fish, which takes on a curdled look,
and curls up a little at the edges as though it had just
been boiled.
[173
The Cruise of
Jack gone; he left late in the afternoon, the boat
taking him to the reef, where we could see him
being carried over it on a native's back. There
were still fifty bags of copra to come on board;
these were packed out to the boat on the backs of
natives and our black boys. Mr. Henderson gave
Tin Jack two black pigs and a very fine, handsome
mat; I gave him a supply of medicines carefully
labelled, and a pillow with an extra case. When we
left we blew the steam-whistle in farewell, burned
a blue light, and let off two rockets, to which he
responded with a rocket from the shore. One of
our rockets was let off by the captain (who is
quite ill) on the bridge. It shot at us and fire was
sputtering all about the bridge, to our terror. A
woman has been following me about all day try-
ing to get me to adopt her little half-caste boy.
She tried to bribe me with a mat, which in the
end she gave me as a present. I gave her a bottle
of scent. Everybody bargaining for shells, even
the black boj^s and Mr. Stoddard, the engineer.
When the boat returned from landing Tin Jack
it brought me from him an immense spear, very
old and curious.^
^ Tin Jack came to a sad end. He possessed a certain
fixed income, which, however, was not large enough
for Jack's ideas, so he spent most of the year as a
I 174]
the ^^ Janet N ichoV '
gth. — Peru. I am disgusted by the apathy of our
exiles. Except one woman, they did not even raise
their heads to look on their native land. There
was no excitement, no appearance of interest. The
Samoan missionary and friends of his, all well-
dressed, superior-looking people, came on board.
The missionary demanded, in a high and mighty
way, that paper, and envelopes, and pen and ink
be brought him. Lloyd was working the type-
writer to my dictation, which amused them all
extremely. Mr. Clark, the missionary from Samoa,
has just been here. To our disappointment we
have missed him by only twenty-four hours. He
South Sea trader, using the whole of his year's income
in one wild burst of dissipation in the town of Sydney.
One of his favourite amusements was to hire a hansom
cab for the day, put the driver inside, and drive the
vehicle himself, calling upon various passers-by to
join him at the nearest public house. Some years ago
when Jack was at his station he received word that his
trustee, who was in charge of his property, had levanted
with it all. Whereupon poor Jack put a pistol to his
head and blew out what brains he possessed. He was a
beautiful creature, terribly annoying at times, but with
something childlike and appealing — I think he was
close to what the Scotch call a natural — that made one
forgive pranks in him that would be unforgivable in
others. He was very proud of being the original of
"Tommy Hadden" in the "Wrecker," and carried the
book wherever he went.
[175]
The Cruise of
has gone, the}'- say, to Apemama, to try and per-
suade the King to allow them to land a mission-
ary. I think he will not succeed. The King fears
the power missionaries get over the people. The
traders have also been on board, the braggart
Briggs and a Mr. Villiero from the Argentine
Republic. Mr. Villiero's father was Italian, his
mother Tyrolese. He seems an intelligent, pleas-
ant fellow, and I talked a long time with him. A
few years ago, he tells me, a man died on this
island who was once secretary to Rajah Brooke.
He asked to bring his wife and his adopted daugh-
ter, a half-caste Tahitian named Prout, to see me.
I was talking to the two traders to-day when
Briggs said that he used to carr}^ the lepers from
Honolulu to Molokai. "Did he know Father
Damien?" I asked. After much searching in his
memory, at last he said he did. "A Catholic priest
he was, who seemed to be all right when I knew
him, but some prettj* ugly stories have come out
about him since in Honolulu, I understand." I
gave them Louis's pamphlet without a word more.
The tides very low; there is a good deal of copra
here, and our black boys worked last night until
two in the morning, and to-night they expect to be
up still later. One of the black boys is ill with a
sore throat, headache, and diarrhoea. We gave him
[176]
the ^^ Janet N i chol* *
some castor-oil and laudanum, not knowing what
else to do. The captain very weak, indeed, with in-
tense headache, sickness, and an intolerable burn-
ing in his stomach. There is an odd dryness of his
skin, not like fever. He has taken no nourishment
but barley-water for days. Louis is better, the
haemorrhage having stopped.
lOth. — Still lying off Peru. Mr. Hird came back
yesterday wnth a sickening account of the man
Blanchard who was supposed to be implicated in
what was called "the Jim Byron poisoning case."
Blanchard has contracted some terrible disease
which makes it necessary for him to lift up his
eyelids with his fingers when he wishes to look at
one, and has swelled his nose to a monstrous size.
Blanchard is, he says, an American, and when he
first met the man, some years ago, had some pre-
tentions of being a gentleman, but has now fallen
to a state of degradation that is horrible. Blan-
chard spoke of the murder and confessed that he
knew it was to be done and that he was there
when it was done.
nth. — Still at Peru at ten o'clock p.m. Mr.
Villiero has come on board with his wife, a hand-
some young woman, to whom I gave a wreath,
some lollies for the children (all adopted, her own
being dead), and a piece of lace. A little later Mr.
[177]
The Cruise of
Hird brought in several traders and gave them
luncheon.
Lifting anchor.
I2th. — Left Peru last night, arriving at Nou-
kanau this morning. We carry with us a native
man, as an exile, to this island. The Samoan na-
tive missionaries told their people that for certain
crimes it was allowable to kill the offender. Such
a case occurred, and the guilt}^ person, who richly
deserved his fate, was put to death. Then the native
missionaries said that the taking of life called for
capital punishment. Fortunately, at this juncture,
a white missionar}^ from Samoa appeared in the
missionary ship, and it was arranged that the
avenger be exiled for an indefinite period. As this
man has large possessions in Noukanau, it is to
be hoped that he may not experience much dis-
comfort. He is a fine-looking, respectable man of
early middle age and had his family with him.
The ship all morning has been filled with crowds
of natives (among them the inevitable leper with
elephantiasis), all chattering like monkeys. I have
bought from them three pronged shark's-tooth
spears, one for a striped undershirt, the other two
for a couple of patterns apiece of cotton print. I
also bought a mat with rows of openwork run-
ning through it, just like hemstitching, and for a
[178]
the ^ ^ J an et N icho T *
florin I got an immense necklace of human teeth.
A httle while ago, in some of these islands, espe-
cially Maraki, a good set of teeth was a dangerous
possession, as many people were murdered for
them. I trust mine were honestly come by — at least
taken in open warfare.
Last evening our pigs fought like dogs, biting
each other and rushing about the deck like mad.
The noise they made was more like barking than
grunting or squealing. The cook has cut his leg;
Mr. Hird has a bad cold; the engineer, Mr. Stod-
dard, is sneezing, and Louis feels as though he had
caught the cold also; the captain still very bad;
he caught more cold last night. Lloyd's wounds,
from the reef on Tin Jack's island much better.
I bound them with soap and sugar first and then
covered them with iodoform.
We have been to two settlements to-day and
are now returning to the first. At the second Tom
Day came on board and had a meal; also Captain
Smith. Our coal is very low; hardly any left, in
fact, and we are all burning with curiosity as to
where we are going next — to the Hebrides, Fiji —
or perhaps to Brisbane. Spent the evening talking
to Tom Day. He told many tales of Bishop Patter-
son and of hunts for necklace teeth. A father who
has good teeth often leaves them as a heritage
[179I
The Cruise of
to his children. They are worth a great deal — or
were. He has known many murders for teeth. My
necklace seems a gruesome possession.
13/A. — Left Noukanau in the morning; arrived
at Peru at eleven o'clock; left at one, Monday
morning, for Onoatoa. Louis had a long talk there
with Frank Villiero. Land here is divided into
large and small lots; the large, one and a half acres,
the small, half an acre. There are never any smaller
divisions. A large lot is quite enough for a family
to live on. Some great families own many lots and
have picked as many as fifteen hundred nuts in
one month. Pieces of land are confiscated for theft,
or murder, by those who suffer loss through the
crime. A piece of land so taken from a murderer
can be regained by the criminal pouring a bottle
of oil over the body of the man he has murdered.
But this is never done if the person fined bears
malice or enmity toward the dead man. The is-
land was formerly in a far more prosperous state
owing to the fact that a large proportion of the
inhabitants were then kept as slaves.
The duties of the "old men" (the democratic
islands are supposed to be ruled by the "old men,"
who meet in a body to make laws) are really the
demarcation and recording of lands; they can go
back for generations in the division of island lands.
[180]
the ^ ^ J an et N i cho T '
The population of Peru is about twenty-five hun-
dred; the police, at present, number about one
thousand men uniformed in blue jumpers, jean
trousers, and a wisp of red on the arm. There are
three districts, each being patrolled at night by
the police, who call the roll of every grown per-
son, and must be answered. The fines go one half
to the teacher (for his private benefit) one fourth
to the old men, one fourth to the police. Villiero
has seen a policeman receive no more than ten
cocoanuts for a whole year's work, and he must
find his own uniform of which he is not proud.
Every portion of the island is owned and the de-
marcations owned. They are a mean lot here; their
fights mere broils, and very little feeling is shown
for each other. A canoe drifted away, or a man
dead, is almost instantly forgotten. Little or no
sour toddy is drunk since the missionaries came.
Mr. Clark, the missionary from Samoa, told them
that on Sundays when a ship came up to the island
they must allow a couple of men to take the trader
oflf; formerly these boatmen were always fined.
Mr. Villiero brought his wife and adopted daugh-
ter, Miss Prout, to see me in the afternoon. It was
very embarrassing, for they came laden with gifts,
and I had nothing suitable to offer in return. We
had an adoption ceremony by which I became
[i8i]
The Cruise of
either mother, or daughter, to Mrs. Villiero, no
one quite knew which, not even her husband. Miss
Mary Prout was quite the "young person," shy
and silent. Both were well dressed and wore Euro-
pean rings. Mrs. Villiero makes all her husband's
clothes. The presents consisted of a little full-
rigged ship inside a bottle, the mouth of which it
could not pass. Mr. Villiero was three weeks in
making it, working all the time, a regular sailor's
present; also a large, fine mat with a deep fringe
of red wool, in very bad taste, a couple of plaited
mats, a pair of shells, and an immense packet of
pandanus sweetmeat. When we met Mrs. Villiero
she threw round my neck a string of porpoise
teeth, thick and long, the preliminar}^ to adoption.
With Louis's help, Mr. Villiero made his will. (He
was afterward lost in a labour vessel — virtually a
slaver — that sank with many unfortunate natives
on board as well. It was on the way to South
America.) He has a feeling that his life is not safe
here with some of the other traders, the poisoners,
in fact. He told Louis of an unfortunate affair that
happened on the fourth of July. Villiero, Briggs,
and the Chinese trader made a signed bargain that
they would all buy copra at a certain fixed price,
with a fine of two hundred dollars to be paid by
the one breaking the bargain. Soon all the custom
[182]
the ' ^ J an et N ichoV '
had fallen into the hands of the Chinaman. On
inquiry it came out that while the Chinaman os-
tensibly bought at the agreed price, he gave a
present of tobacco besides, thereby evading the
letter of the bargain. Following Briggs's foolish
advice, the other traders armed themselves to the
teeth and went at night to the Chinaman's house.
Briggs and Blanchard guarded the door, while
Villiero, holding a pistol to the Chinaman's head,
demanded the two hundred dollars fine. Of course
it was paid. When the missionary ship came in
Villiero told this tale to the white missionary who
advised immediate restitution of the money, and
said he was bound to report the traders' conduct.
I wonder that a man of Villiero's intelligence
should have been led by a person like Briggs.
The captain is very weak, but Louis better.
l\ih. — Onoatoa Island.
\<^ih. — At Tamana early in the morning. One of
our passengers taken on at Tom Day's island and
introduced by Tom as "Captain Thomas, this old
Cinderella," went on shore with all his belongings.
Another passenger whom we are taking to Sydney
made me a native drill which will cut through the
most delicate shell, or through the iron of a boiler,
or a dish, or a glass tumbler. I made holes through
some red and white bone whist counters and strung
[183]
The Cruise of
them into necklaces, really very pretty. Since we
were at Tamana before there has been a murder
and an execution. A man from another island, in-
dignant at being worsted in a wrestling match,
watched at the church and struck a spear into his
victim, who soon died. The execution was by hang-
ing. They dragged the man up by the neck, then
let him down to see if he was dead, then pulled
him up again onlv to lower him for another look,
continuing this barbaritj' until they were satisfied
no life was left in the wretch.
i6th. — Arorai in the morning. The first thing we
hear is that poor McKenzie, the man who was
starving, is dead, supposedly from a surfeit on the
soups we left him. He ate ravenously; said in reply
to a question of how he felt, "I feel full," imme-
diately became insensible, and so remained for
three days, when he died. It did not occur to me
to warn him against overeating; soup seemed such
an innocent thing; I was afraid to let him have
solid food at first.
"Cockroach," one of our black boys, has got
his fingers badly crushed. He has been crj-ing like
a child ever since. The captain still very ill; he and
I went through two medical books and both came
to the conclusion that he must be suffering from
inflammation of the stomach. He says he has been
[184]
the ''Janet NichoV
worse ever since one da}^ when three black bo}'s
refused to work on a Sunday. Sally Day, he says,
was very impudent, and he was too weak to knock
Sally down, which fact preys on his spirits.
To-day one of the boats steered by Mr. Hird
suddenly disappeared in the surf, and Mr. Hen-
derson at once put out for her. She had capsized
and stove a small hole in one end. Mr. Hird came
dripping from his involuntary bath. Fortunately,
no one was injured but the engineer and Mr. B
(a passenger from Jaluit) and they only in their
feelings. They were waiting a long way down the
reef when the accident happened, and could not
get another boat in time for dinner. We killed a
pig to-day, the first, our sheep being now done.
Charley, passenger from Jaluit, working his way,
gave me a belt of human hair. Some natives
brought off a shark they had just killed, hoping
to sell it to us for food. Mr. Hird told a story of a
shark he had seen chasing a fish. The shark could
easily catch the fish, swimming in a straight line,
but could not turn quickly, so the fish knowingly
swam round and round him. They were very near
the ship when the fish jumped out of the water.
With the quickness of hghtning the shark struck
it with his tail straight into his mouth. There is a
swordfish here with a snout like a spear, long and
[185]
The Cruise of
sharp, which follows the flying-fish. When the na-
tives are fishing they have to be on the lookout,
as he jumps at them and tries to stab them with
his sword. One of our passengers knew a man who
was killed by such a stab. I forgot to mention
that Tom Da}- told me that during this present
epidemic of measles he saw a woman buried alive.
*'She was too weak to resist, so her husband just
buried her"; the same sort of tale as Mr. Hird's
of Penrhyn.
lyth. — Had a sharp squall in the night. Lloyd
slept through it all, his things swimming in the
water. I put my head out of the port and watched
the rain-drops strike the sea, each producing a
spark like a star. It looked as though the heavens
were reversed. I often find my bath, when I take
it after dark, blazing like liquid fireworks. The
weather continues bad, and we are rolling a good
deal. Louis much better; the captain very weak
and ill. Lloyd's leg, hurt on the reef at Tin Jack's
island, shows uncomfortable symptoms. I suppose
I should burn it out, but it requires courage to
perform that operation.
18/A. — Arrived at Vanumea at ten o'clock. Left
at nightfall under sealed orders, steering S.S.W.
2^th. — First thing in the morning sighted Ero-
mango about fifteen miles away, and a little later,
[186]
the ^^ Janet NichoT^
Tanna. Eromango is the place where the mission-
ary John WilHams (alwaj^s spoken of as "the
martyr Williams") was killed by the natives.
Some time ago a good deal of amusement was
got from discussions concerning the mango and
the proper way to eat it. Mr. Stoddard said it
should be eaten with a spoon, which is impossible.
We soon discovered that he had confused the
mango with the barbadine, though he would not
confess it. One evening when the bread was under-
baked I pressed the crumb into the semblance of a
spoon and solemnly presented it to him as a
*' mango spoon." This morning I found a large
pumpkin hanging up to ripen. I borrowed it from
the cook, and Mr. Hird and I tied it up in an
enormous parcel, while Louis wrote out a card
in printing letters to go with it.
For Walter Stoddard Esq.,
— One Mango —
With the fond love of the
inhabitants of Eromango.
(This is gathered, with a spoon, from the finest
mango swamp in the island. But beware of the
fate of the martyr Williams, who died from
trying to eat one with too short a spoon.
O mango and do likewise.)
To make the presentation scene more impressive,
I made a pair of false eyes to be worn like spec-
[187]
The Cruise of
tacles by hooking wire round the edges of a very
large pair of green cat's-eye opercula, which Mr.
Henderson donned at the appearance of the pump-
kin. The parcel was brought in at dinner by the
chief steward with the assurance that it had come
off in a boat from Eromango, sent by the people
of the island. Anything more truly diabolical than
the expression of the cat's-eyes cannot be well
conceived. I chose very clear, dark ones, with a
well-marked white ring on one side, which I made
the upper, so that the eyes were apparently start-
ing from their sockets with fiendish surprise and
malevolence.
2^th. — Mare Island, Loyalty group; lay off the
Sarcelle passage all night, about forty-five miles
from Noumea, our first civilised port and the last
we shall make until we reach the end of our cruise
at Sydney. A large, most strange, and picturesque
island. At first sight it seemed only desolate cliffs
and terraces. Here and there at wide intervals a
tree, very tall and close-growing, stood up straight
like a needle. As we drew nearer, however, en-
chanting little bays began to open up. We could
make out groves of cocoa-palms and the needle
trees clustered together, making a curious edging
to the cliffs. In one of these bays was the mission
station; we could see the white wooden house
[i88]
the ^ ^ J an et N ichoV ^
smothered in trees, the plantation of palms follow-
ing the indentations of the shore-line, and stretch-
ing far back to the white and coloured cliffs that
ran up into the precipitous hills. In a niche on a
cliff side was a great statue of the Virgin, dazzling
white in the sun. Before the mission house ran a
broad, smooth beach. We could distinguish many
people standing there, and a fine large boat.
2(^ik. — At half past one, Noumea. A succession
of the most lovely bays began to open up as we
steamed nearer. The surf runs out some forty
miles and is studded with small islands, some like
little hills rising from the sea, and some miniature
low islands fringed with cocoa-palms. We all don
the clothes of civilisation to go on shore, looking
very strange to each other.
[189]
DU Stevenson, Fanny (Van de Grift)
21 The cruise of the "Janet
SB Nichol"
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