forward, singing songs andshouting their war-cries. In a short time they came in front of theenemy, who were seen drawn up in a wood. Both parties halted and beganabusing each other, our friends telling their enemies that they werewomen, and would soon run away; and warning them that they only came tobe killed, if they dared to advance further. After this style ofcompliment had been exchanged for some time, they rushed towards eachother grinning and making faces, when they once more halted, and beganthrowing their spears. We on this advanced, and fired a volley, whichthrew them into the greatest confusion. It was evidently totallyunexpected, and, before they could recover, our friends rushed in onthem, speared some and made others prisoners. We, meantime, wereloading, and, having done so, advanced and fired a second volley. Theenemy, though brave fellows, began to fly, when our friends dashed inamong them, and, with our assistance, a large number were captured.Many of those who escaped were seized by the crews of the boats, and atonce dragged off. The victory was complete, and the old chief at oncehanded over to us all the prisoners he had taken. This was an advantageto them, for they would otherwise have been killed.
"By this means we collected about forty men, whom we carried at once onboard.
"`We may as well have some of our friends,' observed the supercargo, andhe accordingly returned on shore to invite the old chief, and as manypeople as he chose to bring off to visit the ship, and receive somepresents which he was told we had prepared for him. The chief lookedhighly pleased, and much to the satisfaction of the supercargo, acceptedhis polite invitation.
"Next morning the chief and several people came alongside. The chiefsaid he desired to thank us for the service we had rendered him, and topresent us with some cocoa-nut oil and rolls of cloth which would beprepared in a day or two if we would wait for them.
"The captain assured him of his friendship, and begged him to acceptsome presents in return for those he intended to make, and invited himand several of his principal attendants into the cabin to receive them,while his people were asked by the crew to go down forward. No soonerwere our guests below than they were seized and lashed hand and footbefore they could give the alarm to those who remained on deck. Allhands then rushed on deck, and quickly knocked down the greater numberof those who were collected there; a few uttering loud cries of terrorleapt overboard, while those in the canoes, suspecting that somethingwas wrong, shoved off, and began to paddle away towards the shore. Ourshot sent after them caused such alarm that several of the canoesreturned, others escaped, two or three were knocked to pieces, and someof the people in them drowned.
"We considered this a good haul, but we had some difficulty in keepingorder between the new comers and their enemies whom we had beforecaptured; by going among them, however, with our clubs, and showing themthat we would stand no nonsense, we brought them into order. Againmaking sail, we continued our course along the coast, here and therecapturing canoes, and occasionally landing and carrying off a fewpeople, though we were not again so successful as in the case I havedescribed.
"In one small canoe we found a Portuguese with two Samoaians; the latterwe put below hatches, but the captain was afraid of detaining the whiteman, who declined joining us, and allowed him to make the best of hisway to shore.
"We found two of our consorts cruising off this coast, but in a shorttime the suspicions of the people on shore were aroused, and wetherefore left it and proceeded on to visit certain groups of islandslying 8 or 10 degrees south of the equator. From one of these islandswe got nearly a hundred people, and another vessel which followed uscaptured several more, though most of the natives as soon as a sail hovein sight ran off from the coast.
"By various means, from one island or another, we captured fifty orsixty more, till at length with a full cargo we steered eastward to putthem on shore, as before, on Easter Island.
"Some disagreeable news met us here. We heard that the Frenchauthorities at Tahiti were very indignant at our having carried off thenatives of islands under their protection, and that they had sent outseveral cruisers to intercept us. One of our vessels, the `Mercedes,'had been seized with a hundred and fifty natives on board. The vesselhad been condemned and sold, the captain sentenced to five years' penalservitude, and the supercargo to ten. Besides her four or five othervessels had been captured and carried into Tahiti, where they weredetained. One, having been taken without any natives, was allowed toreturn to Callao after she had been compelled to dispose of all her riceand other provisions, so as to make it impossible for her to proceed onher voyage. Besides this, the French Governor of Tahiti had sent to thePeruvian Government demanding that every native who had been taken fromislands under French protection should be delivered up, and heavydamages paid for any who might be missing. However, as these formed buta very small number of the natives captured, the matter in itself wasnot of much consequence. The fear was that not only the French but theEnglish might send out cruisers and interfere in all directions with ourproceedings. The profit, however, and the demand for labour was sogreat, that in spite of the difficulties to be encountered, the merchantI spoke of resolved to persevere in the undertaking, although it wouldbe necessary to use even greater precautions than before.
"This first voyage will give you an idea of two or three others which Imade shortly afterwards, when we collected our passengers much in thesame way as before, though we took care only to visit islands the leastfrequented by European vessels, so that our proceedings might be kept assecret as possible.
"Ill luck, however, at length set against us. Some of our vessels werewrecked, the natives rose and murdered the crew of one, the Frenchcaptured several more, and the Peruvian government, compelled to listento the complaints which were made, interfered, and considerabledifficulties were thrown in the way of landing the islanders. The`Andorinha,' after her long career of success, was driven on a coralreef, when the captain and supercargo and most of the crew perished. Iwas washed on shore, more dead than alive. Fortunately for me, it wasnear a village of Christian natives, one of whom found me on the beach,and carried me to his hut, and fed and clothed me, and took care of metill I recovered. He knew the character of the vessel, for we had sometime before carried off several natives from that very island, but Itold him that I was an Englishman, and compelled by the Spaniards toremain on board. He replied that it mattered not who I was or what Ihad been about, that I was suffering and in distress, and that hisreligion taught him to feed and clothe the hungry and naked, and to dogood to his enemies--that as long as I chose I might remain, and that ifI wished to go I might depart in peace. I was sure he did not believethe account I gave of myself, and I own I did not feel as comfortable asI should have liked. He and his family had prayers and sang hymnsmorning and evening; and on Sunday, as well as on other days in theweek, they attended a large chapel, where a native missionary preached.The other people in the village did the same. All this did not suit me,and I determined to get away as soon as I had the chance. No vesselappearing, however, I told my host that I should like to see other partsof his island, and that I would make a trip through it. He replied thatI might do as I wished, but that as some of the natives were heathens or`devil's men,' as he called them, they might not treat me well. Ianswered that I would run the risk of that, and as to their beingheathens, that was all the same to me. It only, indeed, made me themore eager to be among them, as I thought I should have greater libertythan with my psalm-singing friends. I accordingly walked away with astick in my hand, for I had no clothes except those on my back.Wherever I went the natives received me kindly, and gave me such food asI wanted.
"After travelling some days, I found myself in a village where there wasno church and no school, and the people did not trouble themselves muchabout clothing. I guessed by this that they were heathens. The chief,a young man, invited me to stop with him, and assist him in his battles.I soon showed him that I was a good hand with a musket, and he remarkedthat before long the time might come when I could use it. He was justthen, how
ever, with some of his friends, going to catch pigeons in thewoods. We had first a grand kava feast, the drink they make fromcertain roots, which they first chew in their mouths. Each of the youngmen had several trained pigeons, which are taught to fly round and roundin the air at the end of a long string, and to come back to theirmasters when called. Each man had, besides, a small net fixed to theend of a bamboo forty feet in length. On arriving at the wood a largecircle was cleared of bush, and a wall of stones built round it. Eachsportsman had also a small arbour of boughs erected, in which he couldsit hidden just outside the wall. In front of him sat his pigeon on aperch stuck in the ground, while by his side rested his net, ready to beraised in a moment.
"When all was prepared, the decoy birds were let fly as far as thestring, forty or fifty feet in length, would allow them, when theycircled round and round, and to and fro, over the open
Kidnapping in the Pacific; Or, The Adventures of Boas Ringdon Page 8
