Kidnapping in the Pacific; Or, The Adventures of Boas Ringdon
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and oil, putting in the blubber,while others, as soon as the oil was extracted, were filling the casksand stowing them below. All night long the work went on, and there wasno stopping till the huge monster had been stripped of his warm coat,and we had bailed the oil out of its big head, which had meantime beenmade fast to the stern.
"`Dollars are pleasant things to pick up, but I must find somepleasanter way for gathering them than this,' I said to myself.However, for more than two years I hadn't a chance of returning toCallao. When at last the whaler put in there and landed me, I foundthat an earthquake had occurred, and the ground opened and swallowed upmy father-in-law, and my wife with all her family. My wife's uncle,however, had escaped, and he received me very kindly, and more so that,as I had made a good voyage in the whaler, my pockets were full ofdollars. They, however, went at last.
"One day I was thinking what I should do next, when he told me thatseveral vessels were fitting out in the harbour, to make a cruise amongthe islands of the Pacific, just to pick up some labourers for themines. `It's pretty hard work up in the mountains there, and most ofour native Peruvians who used to work in them have died out,' heobserved. `There's a merchant in our city who is going to make a grandspeculation, and as Englishmen have shares in most of the mines, ofcourse he is assisted with English capital, which our country could notsupply. Now if you like to ship on board one of these vessels, you willfind the pay good, the voyage short, and but little risk.'
"I thought to myself that I could not do better. I had served too longon board a slaver to think much of the work proposed. There was nodifference that I could see between a black skin and a brown skin, andas I had assisted to carry some thousands of black men across to theeast coast of America, I did not scruple to undertake to carry as manybrown men as could be picked up to the west coast. To be sure, thenatives of those bright and sunny islands, unaccustomed to work, mightnot find it very pleasant to be carried away to labour high up among therocks and snows of the Andes, but that was no business of mine.
"I accordingly shipped on board one of several vessels fitted out by theenterprising merchant I spoke of. The `Andorinha' carried thirty handsbesides the captain and mate, and we had four guns and plenty of smallarms. Our orders were to proceed direct to the nearest islands, and tocarry off as many of the inhabitants as we could get on board, but wewere to try stratagem first, and by every means in our power induce themto, visit the ship. As soon as we had collected as many as we werelikely to entice on board, we were to put them below and shut down thehatches, and sail away with them.
"The plan was simple, and I thought it would succeed. Should theyobject to make the voyage and attempt to regain their liberty, we hadour arms, and were to use them, but we were advised not to kill morepeople than we could help, as each was likely to fetch fifty or sixtydollars on shore.
"Before sailing, the merchant who had fitted out our vessel came onboard with several friends, and the crew being called on deck, headdressed the captain and us, telling us that we were about to engage inan enterprise likely to prove of great value to Peru, but all was to bedone by fair and honourable means. That we were to visit variousislands, and to engage the industrious inhabitants to come and labour inour beautiful country for good wages, where they would also have thebenefit of being instructed in the Christian faith and become goodCatholics, to the great advantage of their souls. We were to treat themkindly and gently, and to give them the best of everything, so that theywould not fail, by their gratitude, to show how highly they valued theservice we should render them.
"I could not help grinning when I heard this, knowing the way thatmatters were really to be managed. The speech was made just to hoodwinkthe authorities, and for the benefit of the merchant's friends, who, ifthey were not to profit by the adventure, might have found some faultwith the way in which it was really to be carried on.
"The `Andorinha' was a large vessel, and we calculated that we couldstow away five or six hundred people on board her.
"Seven other vessels being fitted out, we sailed together in company,our first destination being Easter Island, which lies in latitude 27degrees South and 109 degrees West, some distance from the coast ofChili.
"Light winds detained us, but at length we made the island, which ishigh and rocky and about thirty-six miles in circumference. Theinhabitants, of the same race as the rest of the Eastern Pacific, andsomewhat less savage than most of them, were living in villages, atpeace among themselves.
"As soon as our fleet came to an anchor, the boats were lowered andmanned, and a strong party of us landed. The inhabitants, not likingour appearance, hid themselves in their houses. We immediately marchedto the nearest village, which we surrounded, and entering house afterhouse, dragged off the people, and sent them, with their hands boundbehind their backs, to the boats. They did not attempt to resist, foras we had firearms and they had none, it would have been of no use. Assoon as the boats were loaded they took them off to the vessel, and thenreturned for more. We, meantime, kept watching the village, so that noone could escape. Having carried off all the inhabitants, men, women,and children--for even the youngest children were of some use to us--weproceeded to the next village. These we treated in the same way,leaving a few old men and women who were not worth carrying off.
"Before evening we had shipped nearly every human being we found on theisland. None escaped us, for they had no mountains to fly to, and nocaves or other places where they could hide themselves. We thencollected all the pigs, poultry, and such other provisions as we couldfind, and sent them on board.
"Before returning to our vessels, we burned down a considerable numberof the houses.
"We stowed away all our captives on board two of our larger vessels,which at once returned to land them on the coast of Chili, while weproceeded on our voyage.
"The first land we made was one of the Society Islands, to the north ofTahiti. We could not venture to that island itself, because the Frenchwere there, who might have objected to our carrying off the people. Forthe same reason we avoided the Hervey, and other islands to the south,where we knew a number of English missionaries were stationed, and theymight have complained of our proceedings, and taken means to put a stopto them. Here, however, we hoped to make a good haul, and be awaybefore we were discovered.
"The schooner did not bring up, but stood off and on the land underEnglish colours, while a boat was sent on shore to invite the natives onboard. I went in her. As soon as we landed, I, with another man, whopretended to be the supercargo, proceeded to the house of the principalchief. It was a large hut, the framework formed of slight poles placedat intervals, bending somewhat inwards, and joined with horizontal polesof the same thickness secured to them, the whole being covered with aneat thatch. We found the chief reclining at his ease on one of severalmats which covered the floor, with his wife and other females of thefamily seated near him. He had thrown aside his robe of native cloth,and was dressed only in his maro or girdle round his waist. We told himthat the vessel in the offing was an English trader, and had on board aquantity of goods which were likely to suit him and his people, and weinvited him, and as many as he liked to bring with him, to come andinspect them, hinting that the captain was of a generous disposition,and would be glad, at all events, to make them presents to gain theirgood will. We were in no hurry, we said, for payment, and would callagain for the cocoa-nut oil which he might agree to collect for us. Heseemed mightily pleased with the proposal, and promised to come off thenext morning. We then went to the house of other chiefs and principalpeople, telling them the same tale.
"In our rambles we saw a curious spectacle. Having reached anotherdistrict governed by a different chief, we found him seated on a mat infront of his house, while a number of people were approaching bearinghogs, and fowls, and breadfruit, and other articles of food. Among themwere three young women, whose bodies were swathed in a prodigiousquantity of native cloth made out of the paper mulberry tree. Thiscloth and the food were b
eing brought as presents to the chief, who hadhad, we understood, a child just born to him by one of his wives. Howthe girls could ever have got the cloth round them was a puzzle to me,but my companion, who had been on these islands and acted asinterpreter, explained the matter. He said that the cloth being madeready, the girl lies down on the ground and rolls herself over and over,till the whole of the cloth is wound round her. She is then put on herfeet, and taking the end over her shoulder, is able to proceed on herway.
"The food having been presented, one of the damsels was led forward,when she lay down before the chief, and began to unroll herself, whileone of his attendants gathered up the cloth; and thus she kept turninground and round till the whole of the cloth was unwound, and sheremained in her own somewhat scanty garments. The next girl wentthrough the same process.
"We pretended to be delighted with