The Coral Island

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE.

  A STRANGE AND BLOODY BATTLE--THE LION BEARDED IN HIS DEN--FRIGHTFULSCENES OF CRUELTY, AND FEARS FOR THE FUTURE.

  We had ascertained from the teacher the direction to the spot on whichthe battle was to be fought, and after a walk of two hours, reached it.The summit of a bare hill was the place chosen; for, unlike most of theother islanders, who are addicted to bush-fighting, those of Mango arein the habit of meeting on open ground. We arrived before the twoparties had commenced the deadly struggle, and creeping as close up aswe dared among the rocks, we lay and watched them.

  The combatants were drawn up face to face, each side ranged in rank fourdeep. Those in the first row were armed with long spears; the secondwith clubs to defend the spearmen; the third row was composed of youngmen with slings; and the fourth consisted of women, who carried basketsof stones for the slingers, and clubs and spears with which to supplythe warriors. Soon after we arrived, the attack was made with greatfury. There was no science displayed. The two bodies of savages rushedheadlong upon each other and engaged in a general melee, and a moredreadful set of men I have never seen. They wore grotesque war-caps,made of various substances and decorated with feathers. Their faces andbodies were painted so as to make them look as frightful as possible;and as they brandished their massive clubs, leaped, shouted, yelled, anddashed each other to the ground, I thought I had never seen men look solike demons before.

  We were much surprised at the conduct of the women, who seemed to beperfect furies, and hung about the heels of their husbands in order todefend them. One stout young woman we saw, whose husband was hardpressed and about to be overcome: she lifted a large stone, and throwingit at his opponent's head, felled him to the earth. But the battle didnot last long. The band most distant from us gave way and were routed,leaving eighteen of their comrades dead upon the field. These thevictors brained as they lay; and putting some of their brains on leaves,went off with them, we were afterwards informed, to their temples topresent them to their gods as an earnest of the human victims who weresoon to be brought there.

  We hastened back to the Christian village with feelings of the deepestsadness at the sanguinary conflict which we had just witnessed.

  Next day, after breakfasting with our friend the teacher, we madepreparations for carrying out our plan. At first the teacherendeavoured to dissuade us.

  "You do not know," said he, turning to Jack, "the danger you run inventuring amongst these ferocious savages. I feel much pity for poorAvatea; but you are not likely to succeed in saving her, and you may diein the attempt."

  "Well," said Jack quietly, "I am not afraid to die in a good cause."

  The teacher smiled approvingly at him as he said this, and after alittle further conversation, agreed to accompany us as interpreter--saying that although Tararo was unfriendly to him, he had hithertotreated him with respect.

  We now went on board the schooner, having resolved to sail round theisland and drop anchor opposite the heathen village. We manned her withnatives, and hoped to overawe the savages by displaying our brass gun toadvantage. The teacher soon after came on board, and setting our sails,we put to sea. In two hours more we made the cliffs reverberate withthe crash of the big gun, which we fired by way of salute, while we ranthe British ensign up to the peak and cast anchor. The commotion onshore showed us that we had struck terror into the hearts of thenatives; but seeing that we did not offer to molest them, a canoe atlength put off and paddled cautiously towards us. The teacher showedhimself, and explaining that we were friends and wished to palaver withthe chief, desired the native to go and tell him to come on board.

  We waited long and with much impatience for an answer. During this timethe native teacher conversed with us again, and told us many thingsconcerning the success of the Gospel among those islands; and perceivingthat we were by no means so much gratified as we ought to have been atthe hearing of such good news, he pressed us more closely in regard toour personal interest in religion, and exhorted us to consider that oursouls were certainly in as great danger as those of the wretched heathenwhom we pitied so much if we had not already found salvation in JesusChrist. "Nay, further," he added, "if such be your unhappy case, youare, in the sight of God, much worse than these savages--forgive me, myyoung friends, for saying so--for they have no knowledge, no light, anddo not profess to believe; while you, on the contrary, have been broughtup in the light of the blessed Gospel and call yourselves Christians.These poor savages are indeed the enemies of our Lord; but you, if ye benot true believers, are traitors!"

  I must confess that my heart condemned me while the teacher spoke inthis earnest manner, and I knew not what to reply. Peterkin, too, didnot seem to like it, and, I thought, would willingly have escaped. ButJack seemed deeply impressed, and wore an anxious expression on hisnaturally grave countenance, while he assented to the teacher's remarks,and put to him many earnest questions. Meanwhile the natives whocomposed our crew, having nothing particular to do, had squatted down onthe deck and taken out their little books containing the translatedportions of the New Testament, along with hymns and spelling-books, andwere now busily engaged--some vociferating the alphabet, others learningprayers off by heart, while a few sang hymns--all of them being utterlyunmindful of our presence. The teacher soon joined them, and soonafterwards they all engaged in a prayer, which was afterwards translatedto us, and proved to be a petition for the success of our undertakingand for the conversion of the heathen.

  While we were thus engaged a canoe put off from shore, and severalsavages leaped on deck, one of whom advanced to the teacher and informedhim that Tararo could not come on board that day, being busy with somereligious ceremonies before the gods, which could on no account bepostponed. He was also engaged with a friendly chief, who was about totake his departure from the island, and therefore begged that theteacher and his friends would land and pay a visit to him. To this theteacher returned answer that we would land immediately.

  "Now, lads," said Jack as we were about to step into our little boat,"I'm not going to take any weapons with me, and I recommend you to takenone either. We are altogether in the power of these savages; and theutmost we could do, if they were to attack us, would be to kill a few ofthem before we were ourselves overpowered. I think that our only chanceof success lies in mild measures. Don't you think so?"

  To this I assented gladly; and Peterkin replied by laying down a hugebell-mouthed blunderbuss, and divesting himself of a pair of enormoushorse-pistols, with which he had purposed to overawe the natives! Wethen jumped into our boat and rowed ashore.

  On reaching the beach we were received by a crowd of naked savages, whoshouted a rude welcome, and conducted us to a house or shed where abaked pig and a variety of vegetables were prepared for us. Havingpartaken of these, the teacher begged to be conducted to the chief; butthere seemed some hesitation, and after some consultation amongthemselves, one of the men stood forward and spoke to the teacher.

  "What says he?" inquired Jack when the savage had concluded.

  "He says that the chief is just going to the temple of his god, andcannot see us yet; so we must be patient, my friend."

  "Well," cried Jack, rising, "if he won't come to see me, I'll e'en goand see him. Besides, I have a great desire to witness theirproceedings at this temple of theirs. Will you go with me, friend?"

  "I cannot," said the teacher, shaking his head. "I must not go to theheathen temples and witness their inhuman rites, except for the purposeof condemning their wickedness and folly."

  "Very good," returned Jack; "then I'll go alone, for I cannot condemntheir doings till I have seen them."

  Jack arose, and we, having determined to go also, followed him throughthe banana-groves to a rising ground immediately behind the village, onthe top of which stood the Bure, or temple, under the dark shade of agroup of iron-wood trees. As we went through the village I was againled to contrast the rude huts and sheds, and their almost naked,savage-looking inha
bitants, with the natives of the Christian village,who, to use the teacher's scriptural expression, were now "clothed andin their right mind."

  As we turned into a broad path leading towards the hill, we werearrested by the shouts of an approaching multitude in the rear. Drawingaside into the bushes, we awaited their coming up; and as they drewnear, we observed that it was a procession of the natives, many of whomwere dancing and gesticulating in the most frantic manner. They had anexceedingly hideous aspect, owing to the black, red, and yellow paintswith which their faces and naked bodies were bedaubed. In the midst ofthese came a band of men carrying three or four planks, on which wereseated, in rows, upwards of a dozen men. I shuddered involuntarily as Irecollected the sacrifice of human victims at the island of Emo, andturned with a look of fear to Jack as I said:

  "Oh Jack! I have a terrible dread that they are going to commit some oftheir cruel practices on these wretched men. We had better not go tothe temple. We shall only be horrified without being able to do anygood, for I fear they are going to kill them."

  Jack's face wore an expression of deep compassion as he said in a lowvoice, "No fear, Ralph; the sufferings of these poor fellows are overlong ago."

  I turned with a start as he spoke, and glancing at the men, who were nowquite near to the spot where we stood, saw that they were all dead.They were tied firmly with ropes in a sitting posture on the planks, andseemed, as they bent their sightless eyeballs and grinning mouths overthe dancing crew below, as if they were laughing in ghastly mockery atthe utter inability of their enemies to hurt them now. These, wediscovered afterwards, were the men who had been slain in the battle ofthe previous day, and were now on their way to be first presented to thegods and then eaten. Behind these came two men leading between them athird, whose hands were pinioned behind his back. He walked with a firmstep, and wore a look of utter indifference on his face as they led himalong, so that we concluded he must be a criminal who was about toreceive some slight punishment for his faults. The rear of theprocession was brought up by a shouting crowd of women and children,with whom we mingled and followed to the temple.

  Here we arrived in a few minutes. The temple was a tall, circularbuilding, open at one side. Around it were strewn heaps of human bonesand skulls. At a table inside sat the priest, an elderly man with along grey beard. He was seated on a stool, and before him lay severalknives, made of wood, bone, and splinters of bamboo, with which heperformed his office of dissecting dead bodies. Farther in lay avariety of articles that had been dedicated to the god, and among themwere many spears and clubs. I observed among the latter some with humanteeth sticking in them, where the victims had been clubbed in theirmouths.

  Before this temple the bodies, which were painted with vermilion andsoot, were arranged in a sitting posture; and a man called a "dan-vosa"(orator) advanced, and laying his hands on their heads, began to chidethem, apparently, in a low, bantering tone. What he said we knew not,but as he went on he waxed warm, and at last shouted to them at the topof his lungs, and finally finished by kicking the bodies over andrunning away, amid the shouts and laughter of the people, who now rushedforward. Seizing the bodies by a leg or an arm, or by the hair of thehead, they dragged them over stumps and stones and through sloughs untilthey were exhausted. The bodies were then brought back to the templeand dissected by the priest, after which they were taken out to bebaked.

  Close to the temple a large fire was kindled, in which stones wereheated red hot. When ready these were spread out on the ground, and athick coating of leaves strewn over them to slack the heat. On this"lovo," or oven, the bodies were then placed, covered over, and left tobake.

  The crowd now ran with terrible yells towards a neighbouring hill ormound, on which we observed the framework of a house lying ready to beerected. Sick with horror, yet fascinated by curiosity, we staggeredafter them mechanically, scarce knowing where we were going or what wedid, and feeling a sort of impression that all we saw was a dreadfuldream.

  Arrived at the place, we saw the multitude crowding round a certainspot. We pressed forward, and obtained a sight of what they were doing.A large wooden beam or post lay on the ground, beside the other partsof the framework of the house, and close to the end of it was a holeabout seven feet deep and upwards of two feet wide. While we looked,the man whom we had before observed with his hands pinioned was carriedinto the circle. His hands were now free, but his legs were tightlystrapped together. The post of the house was then placed in the hole,and the man put in beside it. His head was a good way below the surfaceof the hole, and his arms were clasped round the post. Earth was nowthrown in until all was covered over and stamped down; and this, we wereafterwards told, was a ceremony usually performed at the dedication of anew temple or the erection of a chief's house!

  "Come, come," cried Jack on beholding this horrible tragedy; "we haveseen enough, enough--far more than enough! Let us go."

  Jack's face looked ghastly pale and haggard as we hurried back to rejointhe teacher; and I have no doubt that he felt terrible anxiety when heconsidered the number and ferocity of the savages, and the weakness ofthe few arms which were ready indeed to essay, but impotent to effect,Avatea's deliverance from these ruthless men.