The Island Home

by Richard Archer

  CHAPTER TWENTY.

  ARTHUR'S STORY.

  BROWNE ON "THE KNIGHTLY CHARACTER"--ROKOA--THE CANNIBAL ISLAND OFANGATAN.

  "This is no Grecian fable of fountains running wine, Of hags with snaky tresses, and sailors turned to swine: On yonder teeming island, under the noon day sun, In sight of many people, these strange, dark deeds were done."

  Having made a hearty and satisfactory supper, and concluded the mealwith a draught of cocoa-nut milk, we sat down, like the patriarchs ofold, "in the door of our tent" facing the sea, to enjoy the freshness ofthe evening breeze.

  Johnny, after having settled it to his own entire satisfaction, that theshell in which his pearls had been found, was properly a mussel, and notan oyster; and having also, by Arthur's help, resolved his doubts anddifficulties, touching divers other knotty points in conchology;successively raised and canvassed the grave and edifying questions--whether there actually were such creatures as mermaids?--whethersea-serpents were indigenous to the neighbourhood of Cape Cod andMassachusetts Bay?--whether the narratives of ancient and modernvoyagers, in regard to Krakens, and gigantic Polypes, with feelers orarms as long as a ship's main-mast, had any foundation in fact or wereto be looked upon as sheer fabrications?--and, finally, whether thehideous and revolting practice of cannibalism, really prevailed amongthe inhabitants of certain groups of islands in the Pacific?

  "This puts me in mind, Arthur," said Johnny, suddenly, while thelast-mentioned subject was under discussion, "of a promise you madeduring the voyage, to tell me a story about a cannibal island upon whichyou were once cast, and the adventures you met with there. This is agood time to tell it: it is quite early, and the night so beautiful,that it would be a shame to think of going to bed for two or three hoursyet; for my part, I feel as though I could sit here all night withoutgetting sleepy."

  "A happy thought, Johnny," said Browne, "it will be the pleasantestpossible way of passing the evening; therefore, Arthur, let us have thestory."

  "O yes, the story! let us have the cannibal story by all means!" criedMax, "this is just the hour, and the place, to tell it with effect. Thedash of the surf upon the reef; the whispering of the night wind in thetree-tops; the tall black groves on the shore yonder, and the waterlying blacker still in their shadow, will all harmonise admirably withthe subject."

  "I believe I did promise Johnny an account of an unintentional visit Ionce made to a place known as `the Cannibal Island of Angatan,' and Ihave no objection to redeem my pledge now, if desired. I wish you totake notice, however, at the outset, in order to avoid raising falseexpectations, that I do not promise you a `Cannibal Story'--how much mynarrative deserves such a title, will appear when you have heard it."

  The call for the story being quite eager and unanimous, Arthur settledhimself into a comfortable position, and after giving one or two ofthose preliminary ahems, common to the whole fraternity of story-tellersfrom time immemorial, he proceeded as follows:--

  ARTHUR'S STORY OF THE CANNIBAL ISLAND OF ANGATAN.

  "About a year and a half ago, and just before the time when I was tosail for the United States to complete my preparation for the seminary,I was induced to embark upon a voyage to the Palliser Islands, plannedby a young chief of Eimeo, named Rokoa, and a Mr Barton, an Americantrader residing at the island. The object of the young chief in thisexpedition, was to ascertain the fate of an elder brother, who hadsailed for Anaa, or Chain island, several months before, with theintention of returning immediately, but who had never since been heardfrom: that of Mr Barton, was to engage a number of Hao-divers, for apearl-fishing voyage, contemplated by him in connection with anotherforeign trader. He did not himself embark with us; but his son, a youngman, two or three years my senior, accompanied us instead, to make thenecessary arrangements for engaging the divers, and also to purchase anymother-of-pearl, pearls, and tortoise-shell, which the natives mighthave to dispose of, at such places as we should visit. With a view tothe latter purpose, he was provided with a supply of trinkets and cheapgoods of various kinds, such as are used in this species of traffic. Atthe Society Islands, the natives had learned the fair value of theircommodities, and would no longer exchange even their yams, bread-fruit,and cocoa-nuts, for beads, spangles, and fragments of looking-glasses;but among the smaller groups, lying farther to the eastward, where theintercourse with Europeans was comparatively infrequent, these, andsimilar articles, were still in great demand, the simple islandersreadily giving rich shells, and valuable pearls, in barter for them. Iaccompanied the expedition, at the request of Rokoa, and with scarcelyany other object than to gratify him; though I was made the bearer ofletters, and some trifling presents to a Tahitian native missionary, whohad recently gone to Hao, to labour there. I had long known both Rokoaand his brother, now supposed to be lost. The former was a remarkableand interesting character. He had accompanied my uncle and myself on avoyage to Hawaii, and visited with us the great volcano of Kilauea, onthat island, said to be by far the grandest and most wonderful in theworld, not excepting Vesuvius itself. In making the descent into thecrater, and while endeavouring to reach what is called the Black Ledge,he saved my life at the imminent hazard of his own. It was upon thatvoyage, that I first became acquainted with him. We afterwardstravelled together, through the most wild and inaccessible parts of theinterior of Tahiti and Eimeo; and in the course of this intimacy, Idiscovered much in him to esteem and admire. There was in hischaracter, such a union of gentleness and courage, such childlikeopenness of disposition, and such romantic fidelity to what heconsidered the obligations of friendship, as reminds me of young Edmund,in Johnny's favourite story of Asiauga's Knight. With a chivalrousdaring, that could face the most appalling danger without a tremor, wasunited an almost feminine delicacy of character, truly remarkable in asavage."

  "That," said Browne, "is the true ideal of the knightly character--courage, which nothing can daunt, but without roughness or ferocity evenin the hour of mortal combat. The valour of the knight is a highsentiment of honour, devotion, loyalty; it is calm, gentle, beautiful,and is thus distinguished from the mere animal courage of the ruffian,which is brutal, fierce, and cruel."

  "I think I shall like Rokoa," said Johnny, rubbing his hands together intoken of satisfaction, "and I guess this is going to be an interestingstory; there will be some fighting in it, I expect."

  "Of course, there will be plenty of fighting," said Max, "or else whatis the meaning of this preliminary flourish of trumpets, about Rokoa'schivalrous courage, and all that?"

  "I once more give fair and timely notice, in order to preventdisappointment, that I am merely relating a sober narrative of facts,and not improvising one of Max's florid romances about Sooloo pirates,Spanish bandits, Italian bravos, or the robbers of the Hartz mountains."

  "Or enchanted castles, captive princesses, valiant knights,fire-breathing dragons, and diabolical old magicians," added Browne,"which formed the staple of a highly edifying tale with which Ioverheard him entertaining Johnny the other afternoon at Castle-hill, aswe were taking our siesta in the shade."

  "And a capital story it was, too," said Johnny, "but go on, Arthur,please."

  "Well, every thing being arranged for our voyage, we set sail in a large`Vaa Motu,' or single canoe, furnished with a great outrigger, andmanned by a crew of nine natives. Our cargo consisted of Barton's stockof goods for trading with the islanders, and a quantity of stainedtappa, fine mats, shark's teeth, etcetera, which Rokoa had laid in forpurposes of his own.

  "The commencement of the voyage was pleasant and auspicious. We set outin the morning, with a fine westerly breeze, which is of rare occurrencein that latitude, and early in the afternoon we passed the high islandof Meetia, just in sight to the southward, showing that we had made atleast seventy miles, in about nine hours. The wind continued steady andfair, and the next day at sunset, we reached Anaa. Here we remainedonly long enough to enable Rokoa to obtain all the information to behad, that promised to throw any light upon the fate of hi
s brother. Allthat could be learned was, that a canoe from Tahiti had touched hereseveral months since, and after obtaining a supply of water, hadimmediately sailed for Motutunga, or Adventure Island, but from thedescription given us of the canoe, and of the number and appearance ofher company, there was little reason to believe that this was the partywith which Rokoa's brother had embarked. Barton being anxious toimprove the favourable breeze, which still continued to blow withunwonted steadiness from such a quarter, we resumed our voyage, andsteered eastward for Hao, on the day after our arrival at Anaa.

  "That night the weather suddenly changed, and a storm arose, the windblowing strongly from the south-west. Our crew became alarmed, and apart of them began to clamour to return to Anaa, which we might havedone, by three or four hours' incessant paddling, in the teeth of thegale. Rokoa, however, believed that the weather would change again inthe morning, and determined to continue on our course; we accordinglyran before the wind, with barely sufficient sail to keep the canoesteady, and enable us to steer her. The storm continued withoutintermission or abatement for the next twenty-four hours, contrary toRokoa's prediction; and to avoid the danger of being swamped, we wereobliged still to keep running before it. The second night, at sunset,the wind fell, and in the morning, the sea had become tolerably smooth,with only a moderate breeze blowing. But though the gale had ceased,the weather was still thick, and the sky so obscured by clouds that wecould not see the sun, or even fix upon the quarter of the heavens inwhich he stood. Thus, those means upon which the natives are wont torely for directing their course upon their long voyages, wholly failedus. The canoe was furnished with a small ship's compass, a present toRokoa from the missionaries, but this had been broken, by one of ourcrew being thrown violently upon it during the storm, while Barton wasconsulting it. We did not get even a glimpse of the sun all that day;nor the next, until late in the afternoon, when it cleared beautifully,and for the first time since the loss of the compass, we were able todistinguish north from south, and east from west. We found that we hadgot completely `turned round,' as the phrase is, and were heading duenorth; and we now put about, and steered in what we supposed to be theright direction. At dawn the next day, we were surprised to findourselves in sight of a strange island, which none of us rememberedhaving seen before. A remarkable looking black rock, resembling thehull of a large man-of-war, rose abruptly from the water about half amile from the shore.

  "Rokoa, who had sailed a great deal among the islands east of Tahiti,and had visited most of them, could form no conjecture in regard to theone now in sight. Presently some of our crew began to whispermysteriously together, and the word was passed from one to another, thatthis was no other than the ill-famed island of Angatan. I knew that anisland of that name, the subject of a thousand bug-bear stories, towhich I had often incredulously listened, was said to lie somewhere tothe north of Hao; but I had never met with any one who could give me anydefinite and satisfactory information respecting it.

  "According to general report, its inhabitants were cannibals, and werein the habit of murdering and devouring all who were so unfortunate asto be cast upon their shores, or who had the hardihood or temerityvoluntarily to land upon them. It was also said, that the island hadnever been visited by white men; and, owing to the popular belief inregard to the ferocious and warlike character of its people, it iscertain that the natives of the neighbouring groups could not, as ageneral thing, be induced by any consideration to engage in a voyagehaving this reputed cannibal island for its destination; voyages of thiskind having been sometimes contemplated, but never to my knowledgeactually undertaken.

  "Among the other marvellous reports concerning Angatan, was one, to theeffect that its inhabitants were possessed of immense hoards of pearlsand shell, of the value of which they were utterly ignorant.

  "One of our crew, a garrulous Hao-man, and an inveterate boaster,declared that, about a year since, he had embarked for Angatan with aparty of Chain Islanders, in a large double canoe, being tempted toincur the perils of the enterprise, by the prospect of the enormousgains that might be realised in trading with the natives, if a friendlyintercourse could once be opened with them. They had succeeded inreaching the island; but scarcely had they set foot upon the shore, whenthey were attacked by a party of the inhabitants, who issued suddenlyfrom the forest, and, disregarding all their friendly signs andgestures, fell upon them, and killed the greater part of their number,the rest making their escape with difficulty, and solely through thecourage, presence of mind, and extraordinary exertions of the narrator,without which they must all infallibly have perished. He described theislanders as fierce, wild-looking men, of gigantic stature, armed withlong spears, and heavy clubs set with sharks' teeth, and wearing littleor no clothing; yet, strange to tell, around the necks of these almostnaked savages were strings of the richest pearls, instead of the commonornaments of ovula-shells.

  "Our veracious Hao-man, most solemnly asseverated the entire and literaltruth of all these particulars, and declared that the island before uswas the veritable cannibal Angatan, the singular black rock enablinghim, as he said, to identify it beyond all doubt. To this story I wasmyself disposed to accord about the same degree of credit as to theadventures of Sinbad the Sailor; but it was easy to perceive that ourcrew, far from being so sceptical, were firm and unhesitating believersin Angatan, its man-eating giants, its treasures of pearl, and the wholecatalogue of marvels current respecting it.

  "I was the less inclined to repose any confidence in the man'sdeclarations, because all the best accounts located Angatan far to thenorth of Hao and Amanu, while we had reason to believe that we were nowto the south-west of them.

  "Barton's curiosity and love of adventure, were stimulated by what hehad heard; perhaps, also, the hints which had been dropped respectingrich shell and costly pearls, were not without their due share ofinfluence, and he declared himself desirous of taking a closer look atthis `terra incognita,' respecting which such marvellous tales werecurrent. Rokoa, too, no sooner heard the first whispered conjecture ofthe identity of the place before us with Angatan, than he resolved toland, notwithstanding the evident reluctance of the crew, and the openremonstrances and warnings of Sinbad. I suspected, I scarcely know why,that he cherished a vague hope of being able to gain here some clue tothe fate of his missing brother. On approaching the shore, we foundthat a heavy surf broke upon it, but there was a good beach, and alanding could be effected without much difficulty. We accordingly tookin our sail, and resorting to the paddles, made for what seemed to be afavourable spot. Soon after passing the black rock before alluded to, Iobserved several figures stealing along the shore, in the covert of arow of mangrove bushes, and apparently watching our movements. When wehad reached the edge of the surf, and were preparing to dash through it,they came out of the thicket, and with threatening gestures warned usaway. This created such a panic among our crew, that they could not beprevailed upon to paddle nearer. Rokoa stood up in the bow, and madesuch signs and gestures as are used to indicate peaceful and friendlyintentions, while Barton displayed some of his most attractive-lookingtrinkets. The people on shore now seemed to confer together, and in afew moments, one of their number, who, from his stained tiputa of yellowand crimson, appeared to be a chief or person of consequence, came downto the water's edge, waving a green bough, and beckoning us to land.Our Sinbad pronounced this sudden apparent change in their dispositiontowards us, to be a treacherous pretence, designed to lure us ashore, inorder that they might plunder, kill, and devour us; but, as he did notexplain why, if such was their object, they should in the first placehave menaced us as they had done, we gave little heed to his warnings.The party of natives did not seem greatly to outnumber us, and were notparticularly formidable in their appearance. They were, as well as wecould judge at such a distance, of no more than the ordinary stature.With the exception of the individual already referred to, in the gaytiputa, they wore nothing but the maro, and were armed with long spears.Nevertheless, our c
rew still refused to make any nearer approach,suspecting that more of the natives were lurking among the mangrove;ready to sally out upon us at the proper moment if we should venture toland.

  "Rokoa, finding all attempts to overcome the cowardice of our menunavailing, took a few trinkets in his hand, and springing overboard,swam through the surf to the shore. The personage in the tiputa waitedto receive him, continuing to wave the green branch, and to makeamicable signs. Rokoa advanced, and greeted him in the Tahitianfashion, by rubbing faces. The two then walked together to the skirtsof the wood, where the others still kept themselves, and Rokoa afterdistributing his trinkets, came down to the beach again, and beckoned usto come ashore, supposing that our crew might by this time be so farreassured as to venture it. Sinbad was about to remonstrate again, whenBarton drew a pocket-pistol, with a pair of which he was provided, andthreatened to shoot him, unless he kept quiet. This effectuallysilenced the croakings of the Hao-man, for the time at least and wefinally induced some of the others to take to the paddles, and pushthrough the surf to the spot where Rokoa awaited us. As soon as thecanoe was beached, and we were all fairly ashore, the natives cameforward, somewhat hastily, from the skirt of the wood, probably in theexpectation of receiving further presents; but our men, mistaking thissudden advance for a hostile movement, laid hold of the canoe, and wouldhave put her into the water again, had not Rokoa, armed with a heavypaddle, and backed by Barton with his pistols, interfered with so muchdecision and vigour, that their fears began to take a new direction andthey came to the sensible conclusion, that they had better run the riskof being roasted and eaten by the cannibals, than encounter the far moreimmediate danger of having their heads broken by the club of theirchief, or their bodies bored through by the pistol-balls of the youngPapalangi.

  "On the other hand, the leader of the party of natives spoke to them,and restrained their impatience; then, advancing before the rest, hewaved his hand, and throwing himself into an oratorical attitude, made alittle speech, thanking Rokoa for his gifts, and welcoming us to theisland. The language which he spoke was a dialect of the Tahitian,differing from it so slightly that I had no difficulty in understandingwhat he said.

  "When he had finished, Rokoa made an appropriate reply, according to therules of Polynesian etiquette. He commenced by paying ourgaudily-attired friend some florid compliments. He then gave a graphicaccount of our voyage, describing the storm which we had encountered insuch terms, that our escape must have seemed little short of a miracle;and concluded by stating the manner in which we had been driven from ourcourse, and finally reached the island. The natives listenedattentively, and signified their sense of Rokoa's eloquence by frequentexclamations of `Maitai! Maitai!' (good! good!) and by nodding theirheads emphatically at the end of every sentence."