by Adrien Paul
CHAPTER XIX.
EIGHTEEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE--THE MARY--COUNT UGOLINO--THESOURCES OF RIVERS--THE ALPS DEMOLISHED--NO MORE PYRENEES--THEFIRST SHIP--ADMIRAL NOAH--FLEETS OF THE ISRAELITES--THECOMPASS--PRINTING--GUNPOWDER--ACTIUM AND SALAMIS--DIDO ANDAENEAS--STEAM--DON GARAY AND ROGER BACON--MELCHTHAL, FURST, ANDWILLIAM TELL--GOING A-PLEASURING--UPSET VERSUS BLOWN UP--A DEADCALM--THE LOG--WILLIS'S ARCHIPELAGO--THE ISLAND OF SOPHIA--THE BREADFRUIT-TREE--NATIVES OF POLYNESIA--STRIPED TROWSERS--ABDUCTION OFWILLIS--IS HE TO BE ROASTED OR BOILED?--WHEN THE WINE IS POURED OUT,WE MUST DRINK IT.
At the date of the events narrated in the preceeding chapter,comparatively little was known of Oceania, that is, of the islands andcontinents that are scattered about the Pacific Ocean. Most of themhad been discovered, named, and marked correctly enough in the charts,but beyond this all was supposition, hypothesis, and mystery. Themighty empire of England in the east was then only in its infancy,Sutteeism and Thuggism were still rampant on the banks of the Ganges,but the power of the descendants of the Great Mogul was on the wane.California was only known as the hunting-ground of a savage race ofwild Indians. The now rich and flourishing colonies of Australia wererepresented by the convict settlement of Sydney. The Dutch hadasserted that the territory of New Holland was utterly uninhabitable,and this was still the belief of the civilized world; nor was itwithout considerable opposition on the part of _soi-disant_philanthropists that the English government succeeded in establishinga prison depot on what at the time was considered the sole spot inthat vast territory susceptible of cultivation. At the present time,these formerly-despised regions send _one hundred tons of pure gold_to England. The political state of Europe itself had at this timeassumed a singular aspect. Napoleon had made himself master of nearlyall the continental states; Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Holland, and apart of Germany were at his feet; and, by the Peace of Tilsit, he hadsecured the cooperation of Alexander, Emperor of Russia, in hisschemes to ruin the trade and commerce of Great Britain. England, byher opportune seizure of the Danish fleet, broke up the first greatnorthern confederacy that was formed against her. This act, thoughmuch impugned by the politicians of the day, is now known not only tohave been perfectly justifiable, but also highly creditable to thepolitical foresight of Canning and Castlereagh, by whom it wassuggested, to say nothing of the daring and boldness that Nelsondisplayed in executing the manoeuvre. When news of this event reachedthe Russian Emperor it threw him into a paroxysm of rage, and hedeclared war against England in violent language. He had the insolenceto make peace with France the _sina qua non_ of his friendship. At thedistance of nearly half a century, the actual language employed has apeculiar flavor. The emperor, after detailing his grievances, declaresthat henceforth there shall be no connection between the twocountries, and calls on his Britannic Majesty to dismiss hisministers, and conclude a peace forthwith. The British Governmentreplied to this by ordering Nelson to set sail forthwith for the mouthof the Neva. A bitter and scorching manifesto was at the timeforwarded to the emperor. It accused him flatly of duplicity, andboldly defied him and all his legions. The whole document is wellworthy of perusal in these lackadaisical times. It is datedWestminister, December 18, 1807. It sets forth anew the principles ofmaritime war, which England had then rigidly in force. Napoleon haddeclared the whole of the British Islands in a state of blockade. TheBritish Government replied by blockading _de facto_ the whole ofEurope. This was done by those celebrated orders in council, which,more than anything else, precipitated the downfall of Napoleon. Theythrew the trade of the world into the hands of England. Of course,Russia was deeply affected, so was Spain and all the other maritimestates; and they were all, one way or another, in open hostility withthis country. But England laughed all their threats to scorn; and inthe whole history of the country, there was not a more brilliantperiod in her eventful history. She stood alone against the world inarms. Even the blusterings of the United States were unheeded, and inno degree disturbed her stern equanimity. She saw the road to victory,and resolved to pursue it. But England then had great statesmen, and,of them all, Lord Castlereagh was the greatest, although he served aPrince Regent who cared no more for England or the English people,than the Irish member, who, when reproached for selling his country,thanked God that he had a country to sell.
At length the ill-will of the Americans resolved itself into openwarfare, and the United States was numbered with the overt enemies ofEngland. This resulted in British troops marching up to Washington andburning the Capitol, or Congress House, about the ears of the memberswho had stirred up the strife. Meanwhile, all the islands of France inthe east and west had been taken possession of; the British flag wavedon the Spanish island of Cuba, and in the no less valuable possessionsof Holland, in Java. Everywhere on the ocean England held undisputedsway. This state of things gave rise to one great evil--the seaswarmed with cruisers and privateers, English, French, and American;so that no vessel, unless sailing under convoy, heavily armed, or avery swift sailer, but ran risk of capture.
The _Mary_--for so Fritz now called the pinnace--had been ten days atsea, the wind had died away, and for some time scarcely a zephyr hadruffled the surface of the water, the sails were lazily flappingagainst the mast, and but for the currents, the voyagers would havebeen almost stationary. It may readily be supposed that, under suchcircumstances, their progress was somewhat slow, and, as Jackobserved, to judge from their actual rate of sailing, they ought tohave started when very young, in order to arrive at the termination ofthe voyage before they became bald-headed old men.
They prayed for a breeze, a gale, or even a storm; their fresh waterwas beginning to get sour, and they reflected that, if the calmcontinued any length of time, their provisions would eventually runshort, and the ordinary resource of eating one another would starethem in the face. Jack, being the youngest, would probably disappearfirst, next Fritz, then Willis would be left to eat himself, in orderto avoid dying of hunger, just as the unfortunate Count Ugolinodevoured his own children to save them from orphanage.
As yet, however, there were no symptoms of such a dire disaster; theywere in excellent health and tolerable spirits; they had provisionsenough to last them for six months at least, and consequently had notas yet, at all events, the slightest occasion to manifest a tendencyto anthropophagism.
"I can understand the sea," remarked Jack, "as I understand the landand the sky; God created them, that is enough; but I cannot understandhow a mighty river like the Nile or the Ganges can continue eternallydischarging immense deluges of water into the sea without becomingexhausted. From what fathomless reservoirs do the Amazon and theMississippi receive their endless torrents?"
"The reservoirs of the greatest rivers," replied Fritz, "are nothingmore than drops of water that fall from the crevice of some rock on ornear the summit of a hill; these are collected together in a pool orhollow, from which they issue in the form of a slender rivulet. Atfirst, the smallest pebble is sufficient to arrest the course of thisthread of water; but it turns upon itself, gathers strength, finallysurmounts the obstacle, dashes over it, unites itself with otherrivulets, reaches the plain, scoops out a bed, and goes on, as yousay, for ever emptying its waters into the sea."
"Yes; but it is the source of these sources that I want to know theorigin of. You speak of hills, whilst we know that water naturally, byreason of its weight and fluidity; seeks to secrete itself in thelowest beds of the earth."
"It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that water may come downa hill, although it never goes up. Rain, snow, dew, and generally allthe vapors that fall from the atmosphere, furnish the enormous massesof water that are constantly flowing into the sea. The vapor alonethat is absorbed in the air from the sea is more than sufficient tofeed all the rivers on the face of the earth. Mountains, by theirformation, arrest these vapors, collect them in a hole here and in acavern there, and permit them to filter by a million of threads fromrock to rock, fertilizing the land and nourishing the rivers thatintersect it. If, therefore, you were to
suppress the Alps that risebetween France and Italy, you would, at the same time, extinguish theRhone and the Po."
"It would be a pity to do that," said Jack; "there was a time thoughwhen there were no Pyrenees."
"That must have been, then, at a period prior to the formation ofgranite, which is esteemed the oldest of rocks."
"No such thing," insisted Jack; "it was so late as 1713, when, by thepeace of Utrecht, the crown of Spain was secured to the Duke of Anjou,grandson of Louis XIV."
"Howsomever," remarked Willis, "all the mariners in the French fleetcould not convince me that the Pyrenean mountains are only a hundredyears old."
"My brother is only speaking metaphorically," said Fritz; "when thecrown of Spain was assigned to the Duke of Anjou, his grandfathersaid--_Qu il n'y avait plus de Pyrenees_. He meant by that simply,that France and Spain being governed by the same prince, the moralbarrier between them existed no longer. The formidable mountains stillstood for all that, and he who removes them would certainly bepossessed of extraordinary power."
"I am always putting my foot in it," said Willis, "when the yarn isabout the land; let us talk of the sea for a bit. Who built the firstship?"
"Well," replied Fritz, "I should say that the first ship was the ark."
"Whence we may infer," added Jack, "that Noah was the first admiral."
"We learn from the Scriptures," continued Fritz, "that the firstnavigators were the children of Noah, and it appears from profanehistory that the earliest attempts at navigation were manifested nearwhere the ark rested; consequently, we may fairly presume that the artof ship-building arose from the traditions of the deluge and the ark."
"In that case, the art in question dates very far back."
"Yes, since it dates from 2348 years before the birth of Christ; butthe human race degenerated, the traditions were forgotten, andnavigation was confined to planks, rafts, bark canoes, or the trunk ofa tree hollowed out by fire."
"That is the sort of craft used by the inhabitants of Polynesia at thepresent day," remarked Willis.
"It appears, however, by the Book of Job, that pirates existed inthose days, and that they went to sea in ships and capturedmerchantmen, which proves, to a certain extent, that there weremerchantmen to conquer. We know also that David and Solomon equippedlarge fleets, and even fought battles on sea."
"Whether an ancient or modern, a Jew or a Gentile," said Willis, "hemust have been a brave fellow who launched the first ship, and riskedhimself and his goods at sea in it."
"True," continued Fritz; "but when once the equilibrium of a floatingbody was known, there would be no longer any risk; as soon as it cameto be understood that any solid body would float if it were lighterthan its bulk of water, the matter was simple enough."
"Very good," interrupted Jack; "but the words 'when' and 'as soon as'imply a great deal; _when_, or _as soon as_, we know anything, themystery of course disappears. But before! there is the difficulty.Particles of water do not cohere--how is it, then, that a ship of war,that often weighs two millions of pounds, does not sink through them,and go to the bottom? Individuals, like myself for example, who arenot members of a learned society, may be pardoned for not knowing howwater bears the weight of a seventy-four."
"The seventy-four would, most undoubtedly, sink if it were heavierthan the weight of water it displaced; but this is not the case; woodis generally lighter than water."
"The wood, yes; but the cannon, the cargo, and the crew?"
"You forget the cabooses, the cockpits, and the cabins, that do notweigh anything. Allowing for everything, the weight of a ship, cargoand all, is much lighter than its bulk of water, and consequently itcannot sink."
"But how is it, then, that the immense bulk of a seventy-four moves soeasily in the water? One would think that its prodigious weight wouldmake it stick fast, and continue immoveable."
"When the seventy-four in question has displaced its weight of water,its own weight is substituted for the water, and is in consequencevirtually annihilated; it does not, in point of fact, weigh anythingat all, and therefore is easily impelled by the wind."
"When there is any, understood," added Jack.
"And a yard or so of canvas," suggested Willis.
"True," continued Fritz, "a sail or two would be very desirable; theseinstruments of propulsion do not appear, however, to have been used bythe ancients. We first hear of a sail being employed at the time whenIsis went in search of her husband Osiris, who was killed by hisbrother Typhon, and whose quarters were scattered in the Nile. Thislady, it seems, took off the veil that covered her head, and fastenedit to an upright shaft stuck in the middle of the boat, and, much toher astonishment, it impelled her onwards at a marvellous speed."
"A clever young woman that," said Willis; "but I doubt whether veilswould answer the purpose on board a seventy-four, particularly asregards the mainsail and mizentops."
"The Phoenicians were the most enterprising of the early navigators.They appeared to have sailed round Africa without a compass, for theyembarked on the Red Sea and reappeared at the mouth of the Nile, andthe compass was not invented till the fourteenth century."
"And who was the inventor of the compass?" inquired Willis.
"According to some authorities, it was invented by a Neapolitan namedJean Goya; according to others, the inventor was a certain Hugues deBercy."
"Then," said Jack, "you do not admit the claims of the Chinese andHindoos, who assert priority in the discovery?"
"I neither deny nor admit their claims, because I do not know thegrounds upon which they are founded; like the invention of gunpowderand printing, the discovery of the compass has many rival claimants."
"I am of opinion," said Jack, "that Guttenberg is entitled to thehonor of discovering printing, and that Berthold Schwartz inventedgunpowder."
"Perhaps you are right; but there is scarcely any invention ofimportance that has not two or three names fastened to it asinventors; they stick to it like barnacles, and there is no way toshake any of them off. So, in the case of illustrious men, nationsdispute the honor of giving them birth; there are six or seven townsin Asia Minor that claim to be the birth-place of Homer. Nationalvanities justly desire to possess the largest amount of genius; hence,no sooner does anything useful make its appearance in the world, thanhalf a dozen nations or individuals start up to claim it as theiroffspring. The wisest course, under such circumstances, is to sidewith the best accredited opinion, which I have done in the case of thecompass."
"It was no joke," said Willis, "to circumnavigate Africa without acompass."
"You are quite right, Willis, if you judge the navigation of thosedays by the modern standard; but it is to be borne in mind that theancients never lost sight of the coast. They steered from cape topromontory, and from promontory to cape, dropping their anchor everynight and remaining well in-shore till morning. If by accident theywere driven out into the open sea, and the stars happened to be hiddenby fog or clouds, they were lost beyond recovery, even though within aday's sail of a harbor; because, whilst supposing they were making forthe coast, they might, in all probability, be steering in preciselythe opposite direction."
"It is certainly marvellous," said Jack, "that a piece of iron stuckupon a board should be a safe and sure guide to the mariner throughthe trackless ocean, even when the stars are enveloped in obscurityand darkness!"
"It is a symbol of faith," remarked Willis, "that supplies the doubtsand incertitudes of reason."
"As for the ships, or rather galleys, of the ancients," continuedFritz, "with the exception of the ambitious fleets of the Greeks andRomans that fought at Salamis and Actium, one of the modern ships ofwar could sweep them all out of the sea with its rudder."
"Yes," said Jack, "at the period of which you speak, the ancientspossessed a great advantage over us. The winds in those days werepersonages, and were very well known; they were called Aeolus, Boreas,and so forth. They were to be found in caves or islands, and, iftreated with civility, were remark
ably condescending. Queen Dido,through one of these potentates, obtained contrary winds, to preventAeneas from leaving her."
"By the way," said Willis, "there is, or at least was, in one of theScottish rivers, a ship without either oars or sails."
"Yes, very likely; but it did not move."
"It did though, and, what is more, against both wind and tide."
"I wish we had your wonderful ship here just now, it is just the thingto suit us under present circumstances," said Jack.
"So it would, Master Jack, for it sails against currents, up rivers,and the crew care no more about the wind than I do about the color ofthe clouds when I am lighting my pipe."
"You don't happen to mean that the _Flying Dutchman_ has appeared onthe Scotch coast, do you, Willis?"
"Not a bit of it, I mean just exactly what I say. It is a real ship,with a real stern and a real figure-head, but manned by blacksmithsinstead of mariners."
"Well, but how does it move? Does somebody go behind and push it, oris it dragged in front by sea-horses and water-kelpies?"
"No, it moves by steam."
"But how?"
"Aye, there lies the mystery. The affair has often been discussed byus sailors on board ship; some have suggested one way and someanother."
"Neither of which throws much light on the subject," observed Jack;"at least, in so far as we are concerned."
"All I can tell you," said Willis, "is, that the steam is obtained byboiling water in a large cauldron, and that the power so obtained isvery powerful."
"That it certainly is, if it could be controlled, for steam occupiesseventeen or eighteen hundred times the space of the water in itsliquid state; but then, if the vessel that contains the boiling waterhas no outlet, the steam will burst it."
"It appears that it can be prevented doing that, though," repliedWillis, "even though additional heat be applied to the vapor itself."
"By heating the steam, the vapor may acquire a volume forty thousandtimes greater than that of the water; all that is well known; but assoon as it comes in contact with the air, nothing is left of it but acloud, which collapses again into a few drops of water."
"That may be all very true, Master Fritz, if the steam were allowed toescape into the air; but it is only permitted to do that after it hasdone duty on board ship. It appears that steam is very elastic, andmay be compressed like India-rubber, but has a tendency to resist thepressure and set itself free. Imagine, for example, a headstrong youngman, for a long time kept in restraint by parental control, suddenlylet loose, and allowed scope to follow the bent of his owninclinations."
"Very good, Willis; for argument's sake, let us take your headstrongyoung man, or rather the steam, for granted, and let us admit that itis as elastic as ever you please--but what then?"
"Then you must imagine a piston in a cylinder, forced upwards whenthe steam is heated, and falling downwards when the steam is cooled.Next fancy this upward and downward motion regulated by a number ofwheels and cranks that turn two wheels on each side of the ship,keeping up a constant jangling and clanking, the wheels or paddlessplashing in the water, and then you may form a slight idea of thething."
"Oh!" cried Jack, "we invented a machine of that kind for our canoe,with a turnspit. Do you recollect it, Fritz?"
"Yes, I recollect it well enough; and I also recollect that the canoewent much better without than with it."
"You spoke just now," continued Willis, "of rival nations, who pouncelike birds of prey upon every new invention; and so it is with thesteamship. An American, named Fulton, made a trial in the Hudson withone in 1807--that is about five years ago--and I believe the Yankees,in consequence, are laying claim to the invention."
"Now that you bring the thing to my recollection," said Fritz, "theidea of applying steam in the arts is by no means new, although, Imust candidly admit, I never heard of it being used in propellingships before. The Spaniards assert that a captain of one of theirvessels, named Don Blas de Garay, discovered, as early as thesixteenth century, the art of making steam a motive power."
"I don't believe that," said Jack.
"Why?"
"Because a real Spaniard has never less than thirty-six words in hisname. If you had said that the steam engine was discovered by DonPedrillo y Alvares y Toledo y Concha y Alonzo y Martinez y Xacarillo,or something of that sort, then I could believe the man to have been agenuine Spaniard, but not otherwise."
"Spaniard or no Spaniard, the Spanish claim the discovery of steamthrough Don Blas; the Italians likewise claim the discovery for amechanician, named Bianca; the Germans assign its discovery toSolomon de Causs; the French urge Denis Papin; and the English claimthe invention for Roger Bacon."
"You have forgotten the Swiss," said Jack.
"The Swiss," replied Fritz, with an air of dignity, "put forward nocandidate: steam and vapor and smoke are not much in their line. Theydiscovered something infinitely better--the world is indebted to themfor the invention of liberty. I mean rational, intelligent, and trueliberty--not the savagery and mob tyranny of red republicanism. Thethree discoverers of this noble invention were Melchthal, Furst, andWilliam Tell."
"You can have no idea," continued Willis, "of the stir that steam wascreating in Europe the last time I was there. Of course there wereplenty of incredulous people who said that it was no good; that itwould never be of any use; and that if it were, it would not pay forthe fuel consumed. On the other hand, the enthusiasts held that,eventually, it would be used for everything; that in the air we shouldhave steam balloons; on the sea, steam ships, steam guns, and perhapssteam men to work them; that on land there would be steam coachesdriven by steam horses. Journeys, say they, will be performed in notime, that is, as soon as you start for a place you arrive at it, justlike an arrow, that no sooner leaves the bow than you see it stuck inthe bull's eye."
"In that case," observed Jack, "it will be necessary to do away withrespiration, as well as horses."
"A Londoner will be able to say to his wife, My dear, I am going toBirmingham to-day, but I will be back to dinner; and if a Parisianlights his cigar at Paris, it will burn till he arrives at Bordeaux."
"Holloa, Willis, you have fairly converted Fritz and me into marinesat last."
"I am only speaking of what will be, not of what is--that makes allthe difference you know. It is expected that there will be steamcoaches on every turnpike-road; so that, instead of hiring apost-chaise, you will have to order a locomotive, and instead ofpostboys, you will to engage an engineer and stoker."
"Then, instead of saying, Put the horses to," remarked Jack, "weshall have to say, Get the steam up."
"Exactly; and when you go on a pleasure excursion, you will be whiskedfrom one point to another without having time to see whether you passthrough a desert or a flower-garden."
"What, then, is to become of adventures by the way, road-side inns,and banditti?"
"All to be suppressed."
"So it appears," said Jack; "men are to be carried about from place toplace like flocks of sheep; perhaps they will invent steam dogs aswell to run after stragglers, and bring them into the fold by the calfof the leg. Your new mode of going a-pleasuring may be a veryexcellent thing in its way, Willis; but it would not suit my taste."
"Probably not; nor mine either, for the matter of that, Master Jack."
"At all events," said Fritz, "you would run no danger of being upseton the road."
"No; but, by way of compensation, you may be blown up."
"True, I forgot that."
"This conversation has carried us along another knot," said Jack,opening the log, which he had been appointed to keep; "and now, byyour leave, I will read over some of my entries to refresh yourmemories as to our proceedings.
"March 9th.--Wind fair and fresh--steered to north-west--a flock ofseals under our lee bow--feel rather squeamish.
"10th.--No wind--fall in with a largish island and four little ones,give them the name of Willis's Archipelago.
"11th.--A dead
calm--sea smooth as a mirror--all of us dull andsleepy.
"12th.--Heat 90 deg.--shot a boobie, roasted and ate him, ratherfishy--passed the night amongst some reefs.
"13th.--Same as the 12th, but no boobie.
"14th.--Same as the 13th.
"Dreadfully tiresome, is it not," said Jack; "no wonder they call thisocean the Pacific."
"Alas!" sighed Willis, thinking of the _Nelson_, "it does not alwaysjustify the name."
"15th.--Hailed a low island, surrounded with breakers, named itSophia's Island."
"But all these islands have been named half a dozen times already,"said Willis.
"Oh, never mind that, another name or two will not break their backs."
"16th.--Current bearing us rapidly to westward--caught a sea cow, andhad it converted into pemican.
"17th.--Shot another boobie, which we put in the pot to remind us thatwe were no worse off than the subjects of Henry IV. No wind--seablazing like a furnace."
"You will have to turn over a new leaf in your log by-and-by," saidWillis, "or I am very much mistaken."
"Well, I hope you are not mistaken, Willis, for I am tired of thissort of thing."
A red haze now began to shroud the sun, the heat of the air becamealmost stifling, but the muffled roar of distant thunder and brightflashes of light warned the voyagers to prepare for a change. Willisreefed the canvas close to the mast, and suggested that everythinglikely to spoil should be put under hatches. This was scarcely donebefore the storm had reached them, and they were soon in the midst ofa tropical deluge. At first, a light breeze sprung up, blowing towardsthe south-east, which continued till midnight, when it chopped round.Towards morning, it blew a heavy gale from east to east-south-east,with a heavy sea running. In the meantime, the pinnace laboredheavily, and several seas broke over her. Willis now saw that theironly chance of safety lay in altering their course. All the canvas wasalready braced up except the jib, which was necessary to give thecraft headway, and with this sail alone they were soon after speedingat a rapid rate in the direction of the Polynesian Islands. The galecontinued almost without intermission for three weeks, during whichperiod Willis considered they must have been driven some hundreds, ofmiles to the north-west.
The gale at length ceased, the sea resumed its tranquility, and thewind became favorable. The pinnace had, however, been a good dealbattered by the storm, and their fresh water was getting low, and itwas decided they should still keep a westerly course till they reachedan island where they could refit before resuming their voyage.
"The gale has not done us much good," said Jack, sadly; "if it hadblown the other way, we might have been in the Indian Ocean by thistime."
"Cheer up," said Willis, taking the glass from his eye, "I see landabout three miles to leeward, and the landing appears easy."
"But the savages?" inquired Jack.
"The islands of this latitude are not all inhabited," replied Fritz;"besides, under our present circumstances, we have no alternative butto take our chance with them."
"Well, I do not know that," objected Jack; "it would be better for usto do without fresh water than to run the risk of being eaten."
"What a beautiful coast!" cried Willis, who still kept the telescopeat his eye. "Near the shore the land is flat, and appears cultivated;but behind, it rises gradually, and is closed in with a range ofhills, covered with trees. There is a beautiful bay in front of us,which appears to invite us ashore. But the place is inhabited; theshore is strewn with huts, and I can see clumps of the bread-fruittree growing near them."
"What sort of vegetable is the bread-fruit?" inquired Fritz.
"It is a very excellent thing, and supplies the natives with breadwithout the intervention of grain, flour-mills, or bakers. It can beeaten either raw, or baked, or boiled; either way, it is palatable.The tree itself is like our apple trees; but the fruit is as large asa pine-apple--when it is ripe, it is yellow and soft. The natives,however, generally gather it before it is ripe; it is then cooked inan oven; the skin is burnt or peeled off--the inside is tender andwhite, like the crumb of bread or the flour of the potato."
"Let me have the telescope an instant," said Fritz; "I should like tosee what the natives are like. Ah, I see a troop of them collecting onshore; some of them seem to be covered with a kind of wrought-steelarmor."
"Perhaps the descendants of the Crusaders," remarked Jack, "returningfrom the Holy Land by way of the Pacific Ocean!"
"Others wear striped pantaloons," continued Fritz.
"That is to say," observed Willis, "the whole lot of them are as nakedas posts. What you suppose to be cuirasses and pantaloons, are theirtabooed breasts and legs."
"Are you sure of that, Willis?"
"Not a doubt about it."
"Such garments are both durable and economical," remarked Jack; "but Iscarcely think they are suitable for stormy weather. But do you thinkit is safe to land amongst such a set of barebacked rascals, Willis?"
"I should not like to take the responsibility of guaranteeing oursafety; but I do not see what other course we can adopt."
They had now approached within musket-shot of the shore. They couldsee that a venerable-looking old man stood a few paces in front of thegroup of natives. He held a green branch in one hand, and pressed withthe other a long flowing white beard to his breast.
"According to universal grammar," said Jack, "these signs should meanpeace and amity."
"Yes," replied the Pilot; "the more so that the rear-guard are pouringwater on their heads, which is the greatest mark of courtesy thenatives of Polynesia can show to strangers."
"Gentlemen," cried Jack, taking off his cap and making a low bow, "weare your most obedient servants."
"We must be on our guard," said Willis; "these savages are verydeceitful, and sometimes let fly their arrows under a show offriendship. I will go on shore alone, whilst you keep at a littledistance off, ready to fire to cover my retreat, if need be."
The young men objected to Willis incurring danger that they did notshare; but on this point Willis was inexorable, so they were obligedto suffer him to depart alone. By good chance, they had shipped asmall cask of glass beads on board the pinnace. The Pilot took a fewof these with him, and, placing a cask and a couple of calabashes inthe canoe, he rowed ashore.
The natives were evidently in great commotion; there was an immenseamount of running backwards and forwards. Something important was,obviously enough, going forward; but, whether the excitement wascaused by curiosity or admiration, it was hard to say. They might bepreparing a friendly reception for the stranger, or they might bepreparing to eat him--which of the two was an interesting questionthat Willis did not care about probing too deeply at that particularmoment.
Fritz and Jack anxiously watched the operations of the natives fromthe bay. They could not with safety abandon the pinnace; but to leaveWillis to the mercy of the sinister-looking people on shore was not tobe thought of either. The _Mary_ was, therefore, run in as close aspossible, and Jack leaped on the sands a few minutes after the Pilot.
Willis marched boldly on towards the natives, and when he arrivedbeside the old man, the crowd opened up and formed an avenue throughwhich a chief advanced, followed by a number of men, seeminglypriests, who carried a grotesque-looking figure that Jack presumed tobe an idol. The figure was made up of wicker-work--was of colossalheight--the features, which represented nothing on earth beneath norheaven above, were inconceivably hideous--the eyes were discs ofmother-of-pearl, with a nut in the centre--the teeth were apparentlythose of a shark, and the body was covered with a mantle of redfeathers.
At the command of the chief, some of the natives advanced and placed aquantity of bananas, bread-fruits, and other vegetables at the Pilot'sfeet; the priests then came forward and knelt down before him, andseemed to worship after the fashion of the ancients when they paidtheir devotions to the Eleusinian goddess, or the statue of Apollo.Meanwhile, Jack, on his side, was likewise surrounded by the natives,who was treated with much
less ceremony than Willis. Instead offalling down on their knees, each of them, one after the other, rubbedtheir noses against his, and then danced round him with everydemonstration of savage joy.
Jack had now an opportunity of observing the personages about him morein detail. They were mostly tall and well-formed; their features boresome resemblance to those of a negro, their nose being flat and theirlips thick; on the other hand, they had the high cheek-bones of theNorth American Indian and the forehead of the Malay. Nearly all ofthem were entirely naked, but wore a necklace and bracelets of shells.They were armed with a sort of spear and an axe of hard wood edgedwith stone. Their skins were tattooed all over with lines and circles,and painted; these decorations, in some instances, exhibiting carefulexecution and no inconsiderable degree of artistic skill. Theseobservations made, Jack pushed his way to the spot where Willis wasreceiving the homage of the priests.
"What! you here?" said the Pilot.
"Yes, Willis, I have come to see what detained you. By the way, isthere anything the matter with my nose?"
"Nothing that I can see; but the natives of New Zealand rub theirnoses against each other, and probably the same usage is fashionhere."
"Why, then, do they make you an exception?"
"I have not the remotest idea."
The priests at length rose, and the chief advanced. This dignitaryaddressed a long discourse to Willis in a sing-song tone, which lastednearly half an hour. After this, he stood aside, and looked at Willis,as if he expected a reply.
"Illustrious chief, king, prince, or nabob," said Willis, "I am highlyflattered by all the fine things you have just said to me. It is true,I have not understood a single word, but the fruits you have placedbefore me speak a language that I can understand. Howsomever, mostmighty potentate, we are not in want of provisions; but if you canshow us a spring of good water, you will confer upon us an everlastingfavor."
"You might just as well ask him to show you what o'clock it is by thedial of his cathedral," said Jack.
"They would only point to the sun if I did."
"But suppose the sun invisible."
"Then they would be in the same position as we are when we forget towind up our watches. Gentlemen savages," he said, turning to thenatives and handing them the glass beads, "accept these trifles as atoken of our esteem."
The natives required no pressing, but accepted the proffered giftswith great good-will. The dancing and singing then recommenced withredoubled fury, and poor Jack's nose was almost obliterated by theconstant rubbing it underwent.
Suddenly the hubbub ceased, and a profound silence reigned throughoutthe assembly. The oldest of the priests brought a mantle of redfeathers, similar to the one that covered the idol. This was thrownover the Pilot's shoulders; a tuft of feathers, something resembling afuneral plume, was placed upon his head, and a large semi-circular fanwas thrust into his hand. Thus equipped, a procession was formed, onehalf before and the other half behind him. The _cortege_ began to moveslowly in the direction of the interior, but the operation wasdisconcerted by Willis, who remained stock-still.
"Thank you," he said, "I would rather not go far away from the shore."
As soon as the natives saw clearly that Willis was not disposed tomove, the chief issued a mandate, and four stout fellows immediatelyremoved the idol from its position, and Willis was placed upon thevacant pedestal.
The kind of adoration with which all these proceedings wereaccompanied greatly perplexed the voyagers. What could it all mean?Was this a common mode of welcoming strangers? It occurred to Jackthat the Romans were accustomed to decorate with flowers the victimsthey designed as sacrifices to the altars of their gods beforeimmolating them. This reminiscence made his flesh creep with horror,and filled him with the utmost dismay.
"Willis!" he cried to the Pilot, whom they were now leading off intriumph, "let us try the effects of our rifles on this rabble; youjump over the heads of your worshippers, and we will charge throughthem to shore. I will shoot the first man that pursues us, and signalFritz to discharge the four-pounder amongst them."
"Impossible," replied Willis; "we should both be stuck all over witharrows and lances before we could reach the pinnace. Did I not tellyou not to come ashore?"
"True, Willis, but did you suppose I had no heart? How could I look onquietly whilst you were surrounded by a mob of ferocious-looking men?"
"Well, well, Master Jack, say no more about it; I do not suppose theymean to do me any harm; but there would be danger in rousing thepassions of such a multitude of people. They seem, luckily, to directtheir attentions exclusively to me, so you had better go back and lookafter the canoe."
"No; I shall follow you wherever you go, Willis, even into thesoup-kettles of the wretches."
"In that case," said Willis, "the wine is poured out, and, such as itis, we must drink it."
