A New Island

by Nick Niels Sanders

  At a fourth table, the Fullers and the Howlands were meeting again, with still unexplored areas of west coast athletic endeavors to discuss, making concessions to their non-American companions, Paul and Marybeth. After introductions and enough polite exchange to assure her that the only topic of conversation she would find in common with them would be the supper, Marybeth remained largely silent. Paul was again consulted as an anthropologist to comment on the coming dances, and did so in much the same terms as he had done several previous times during the day; following this, he, too, was largely silent while George and Jon compared notes about football and baseball players and speculated about what the world series would be like and how the NFL season would play out. This was a conversation to which Joan and Doris contributed intermittently, but which was otherwise interrupted only briefly by comments about the food.

  At the final table, Jim and Ron found themselves seated with the formidable Susan Thorpe, Marcella and the Winters. Julia spent a significant amount of time in the early portion of the supper rearranging her place setting and tidying up the food on her plate, as usual. Later in the meal, Susan, Ron and Jim were able to draw her out and in her lively conversation, the obsessive activities largely disappeared. Marcella was again almost a non-entity, permitting herself to be introduced, but declining participation in the conversation. Ron and Jim found, as usual, that art and music were universal topics of conversation, so the conversation flowed well, even involving Mark in talking about his musical experiences, including working with itinerant rock bands for a number of years when he was young.

  The supper was another spectacle. It began with a cheese and pate plate with rice crackers and a glass of dry sherry. This was followed by grouper poached in sherry, served on angel hair pasta with a savory tomato sauce with fresh basil, with a glass of a very dry sauvignon blanc. Lord Richard declared it to be the best dish served so far on the ship. At her table, Susan Thorpe agreed. After a lemon mint ice they were served a lamb curry with white rice and side dishes of coconut, raisins, crushed peanuts, finely chopped green onions, diced chili peppers and three kinds of chutney, and a full-bodied cabernet. James Fredericks, a lover of lamb and of curry, was quite impressed. The next dish was a zucchini, onion and tomato stew spiced with cumin, coriander and cayenne, giving it just enough zing to be pleasant but not enough to be hot. Both of them lovers of zucchini, Ron and Jim looked at one another as they sampled this dish, making silent promises to get the recipe or remember the taste combination for later use at home. Maria, Marcella, Doris and Joan were also making mental notes. A green salad was next, followed by a mango pudding. Even Lord and Lady Richard had overeaten, an unusual occurrence for them, and they (with many of their fellow passengers) were making resolves about being more cautious about eating too much of the earlier dishes at these multicourse extravaganzas.

  What no one noticed during the supper was the gradual thinning of the staff. Jimmy, Johnny and Joe had begun the service, with Billy, the cook, putting in an appearance early on, and helping with the serving of the curry; Jimmy was not involved in serving from this point on. At previous meals, Billy had usually put in an appearance as the dessert was served, but tonight did not do so. By the time dessert was being served, Joe and Captain Wilkie were the only ones serving, and seeing the captain in this role should have been remarkable, but wasn’t noted by anyone.

  By the end of the meal, there was again a general good feeling among the passengers, who were well fed and had had enough wine to settle them down. They were happy to be organized away from the tables so that the area could be set up for the show. Eloise was the only one pouting, as the reappearance of Maria and Marilyn in her line of sight reminded her that she was not dressed as sexy as they.

  Native Dances

  Joe and Captain Wilkie cleared away the dishes, suggesting to the diners that they move to the aft section of the deck while they moved the tables out of the way and arranged the chairs for the entertainment which would be following shortly. They placed chairs in clusters of four to six with lots of aisle space, facing the starboard forward corner of the main deck.

  It was short work. In five minutes, Captain Wilkie announced that they should take their seats for an exhibition of dancing from an adjacent village, which they would be visiting on the morrow. James leaned over to Maria. “He’s had a bit much to drink, I think. He’s slurring just a bit and seems a bit wobbly on his feet.” It did not seem to be an observation generally shared.

  Dressed in brown coats that covered them from neck to ankles, their feet bare, hair uniformly black and tightly curled in a standard shape giving no clue as to whether the bearer of the hair was male or female, a troupe of very dark skinned young adults filed in through the starboard door from the forward deck. The leader conferred briefly with Captain Wilkie, who returned to the galley.

  “Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Fiji and to our village, called Vinasulu, which we hope you will visit tomorrow. We are very proud of our village. Throughout Fiji, there are many people who still live very much in the old ways, but with the difference that they go to school, learn English, and raise some crops, mostly copra, to sell so they can buy things from outside. In our village, we are trying to continue the education, but to restore more of the old independence, the old way of life. You will find that we have minimized the amount of imported lumber in our homes and other buildings. We raise or catch all of our own food. We do some trading, but the bulk of it happens about four times a year when Captain Wilkie brings a group like you out here to visit us.

  “Many years ago, when the missionaries came, they taught us first not to eat one-another, second to wear white man clothing and third to believe in a Christian god. We ate many of the first missionaries, for which we today apologize. We have learned of your Christian god, and we love Jesus just as you do, but those beliefs have everywhere in Fiji been integrated into pre-existing native beliefs in ways those missionaries could never have foreseen. We believe we are happier and better off not eating people and believing as we do in the Christian God. But we do not believe that the change of clothing and diet has been a positive one. There have been a number of studies on the subject, but no one is really sure. We have the approval of the regional government and the church council to try an experiment on this island. We have returned to native ways. All of our food is locally harvested; our clothing is made from locally available resources and reflects traditional, pre-western, Fiji attire. With the change in clothing has come a different kind of body awareness and body acceptance. If you think this may be shocking to you, we want you to be forewarned so you might choose to leave, or at least be prepared for what is to follow.

  “We are going to do a series of traditional dances. The only music will be the drums we play and the chanting we do with the drums. Some of the dances are very complex, but some are so simple the more adventurous of you may wish to join in. We will start with a dance done at the birth of a boy, then one for the birth of a girl, then a wedding dance.”

  There were about twenty young people behind him, six of them carrying drums that they set down as a group in the forward starboard portion of the deck. All of them now shed their coats, revealing the native dress: the men wore sulus made of a rough woven fabric, tied at their right side. The women wore what one would call grass skirts, which actually seemed to be made of thinly sliced palm frond leaves bound into a fairly substantial waistband and voluminous flower necklaces. An inquisitive or salacious observer might have questioned whether or what clothing lay beneath these outer coverings, but no one could be offended.

  The first dance was a very sedate dance by the women, with swaying of hips, swishing of grass skirts, and motion of the hands and arms, the men standing along the wall, clapping along with the drums. The second was subtly different, mostly in the rhythm of the drums. The third was a livelier dance, the men joining in, at first in partnership with the women, facing off as pairs, the women’s hips moving more rapidly, and the men stomp
ing loudly with their heels. A rhythm change brought with it a soft chanting, the female dancers moving up and down the wide aisles through the audience, removing flower garland gifts to present to each of the female passengers, then rejoining the men, who had been engaged in an acrobatic dance while the women were absent. The last part of the dance resembled the first.

  “Our next three dances will be more elaborate ones. They are traditional war dances. In the first, the warriors set out in canoes to attack the enemy. In the second is the battle, in which our tribe is victorious. In the third, the women are taken captive and brought back to the chief of our tribe, who may choose the most beautiful for himself. The choreography for these dances is new, but the rhythms are old, and it is known that dances of this sort were done before a battle as a way of asking the gods for victory.”

  The next three dances were very active, much more like modern dance. During the first and second dances, the women stood in a line between the dancers and the drummers, wiggling their hips to keep their skirts moving, clapping and chanting a counterpoint to the dominant male chant.

  The first dance featured rowing movements by the men accompanied by a rhythmic chant by the men, followed by an active and very gymnastic performance from them with the only chanting being a sighing sort of chant from the women. All of this was clearly to signify the trip across the ocean.

  In the second dance, suddenly the men were armed with clubs which they waved through the air in mock combat. Accompanied by a very chaotic chant by the men, the pace and arrangement of the dance were also chaotic for a time, then the drums abruptly slowed, the chant became regular and the male dancers looked around, and appearing to celebrate the lack of any further foes to fight. There was a brief flurry of celebration, followed by silence as the second dance ended.

  Setting aside the clubs for the third dance, the male dancers lined up to face the now-silent women, standing before them, hips still for the first time, heads bowed in submission. Stomping in time to the increasing volume and cadence drums, a low and regular chanting keeping the time with the drums, the men stepped a pace toward the women, who bent forward, at first bending at the waist, then bending knees and hips to cower on the floor before the men, who began a few moments of circling the dance floor, stomping and chanting to the loud accompaniment of the drums, ending in silence as the men, again aligned before the women, each reached down and pulled up on the hair of the woman before him. Leaving grass skirts and flower necklaces on the floor, the women rose, standing naked before the men. Two or three startled gasps were audible in the silence. The men bent their knees, grasped the women at the waist and lifted them, putting them over left shoulders, like sacks of potatoes. Seven men danced a slow, careful set of dance steps, each carrying the burden of one woman over his shoulder, the drums now beating a lighter and more complex rhythm, the men, for the first time in this set of dances, stepping without stomping, the chanting lighter and totally rhythmic, the women punctuating the dance by raising up heads and torsos, waving hands and legs and wailing briefly. The dancers circled the floor once, then filed up one aisle, down another through the audience until they had traversed every aisle at least once and came back to the main dance floor, where the announcer was now standing before the drummers, facing the audience, wearing a strange headdress that included a skull. The seven burdened men filed forward, forming a line before their chief. They knelt and set the women down on their feet, facing the audience, away from the chief; the women were turned by the men to face the chief. With a terrible roll of the drums, they collapsed again onto the floor, toes, knees, heads all touching the floor as they bowed and cowered, the silence deafening as the male dancers rose, standing tall as they filed silently away, leaving the seven women, like lumps of dark flesh, on the floor before the chief. The male dancers circled behind the chief and continued circling until they were spaced out from the starboard wall to near the galley door, holding out their arms, creating a curtain before the scene with the coats they had picked up while circling. The drums played on as the announcer, without his headdress, moved between two coats to greet them again.

  “Now we will do a love dance. The steps repeat, so you are welcome to join in if you wish.”

  The line of male dancers, having been still for the duration of this announcement, continued the circling, the coats disappearing as the women, again dressed in grass skirts and flowers, were dancing a slow dance, swaying hips and slowly moving arms. The males rejoined them, all the dancers moving sedately over the floor, changing partners frequently, first the females then the males doing exhibition dances for the new partner. Having watched three repetitions of the same dance, Eloise, deciding she wanted a turn, stood up, unbuttoning her blouse, moving forward to begin dancing, announcing loudly “I’m gonna dansh!” Two of the black women moved forward, each removing another flower necklace to put around Eloise’s neck as Eloise’s blouse and bra found a home on a vacant chair and Eloise began dancing hesitantly. Marshall, judging from her slurred speech that Eloise was drunk, though he did not recollect she had had very much to drink, moved forward to encourage her to let him put her to bed to sleep it off, but by the time he reached her, she had stopped dancing and told him she was feeling ill and would he take her to the cabin. He did, circling past the drummers as the dance continued without them.

  Ralph and Jeanne left at the same time by the other door. At about this time, though no one saw any of them leave, the Howlands left, followed by the Pinkersons and by Marybeth Worthington.

  The dance proceeded with a change in tempo and style of dancing, as a slow chanting of the men accompanied the female dancers who were again circulating among their guests, sharing flower necklaces. By the time the dance ended, Maria found that she had four garlands around her neck, and judged that this was more than any of the dancers had remaining. James found that he had two garlands; other men in the audience had one or two.

  “We have enjoyed our evening with you. Captain Wilkie asked me to present his apologies that he is busying himself elsewhere and cannot be here to end the evening. We will end with a traditional engagement dance, and with it, we wish you good evening. We look forward with pleasure to your visit with us tomorrow.”

  The dance was slower and more sensuous with a softer drumbeat and a soft, lilting chant. The women each removed a flower necklace and placed it over the head of a male dancer. Six of the women dancers placed necklaces over the heads of the six drummers; one placed a necklace on the announcer. This left each woman with a single flower necklace as the dance continued, the men forming an inner circle facing out as the women danced around them, facing in. The final necklaces came off, each being held by two women, thus forming a complete ring. Hips shaking, grass skirts swaying and naked breasts bouncing with the rhythm of the drums, the women circled the men faster and faster. Suddenly, the drums and the dance slowed; taking off necklaces, each man placed his necklace over the head of one of the women. The women pulled on the necklaces in their hands, breaking them, throwing flowers into what remained of their audience. The circle broke; the dancers filed out the starboard door, alternating female and male, with the announcer handing each his or her coat, which they carried out the door with them. The drummers followed, one drummer at a time ceasing his playing to retrieve his coat and leave, stepping out into the darkness, resuming the rhythm outside the door as the next drummer did the same, until all six drummers were outside. The announcer bowed and disappeared. The drumming continued, gradually fading into the distance.

  Maria, transfixed through the whole show, looked around to see the reaction of the others, discovering that only nine were still present. She had been aware of the departure of the Kershaws and the Carneys and later when Mark Winters had complained of his knees and had left, shortly followed by Julia. As Maria watched, Paul was already following the dance troop; Valerie and Michelle rose to follow him at a somewhat slower pace.

  Lord Richard turned to Mary, saying “I don’t know ab
out you dear, but I think I shall go to bed now.”

  “Yes, dear, I’ll come too.”

  Jim Hawthorne, overhearing Lord Richard, turned to his partner, “Ron, that sounds good to me too. Coming?”

  “Yes.”

  Quite stimulated by the dance, Maria found herself wondering if and why it should be more acceptable for black people to bare their bodies than for white people to do the same. “May I borrow your flowers, dearest?”

  “Sure, why?” James, too, had been strangely stirred by the dancing. For him, it wasn’t the bare skin that was the stimulus – he had bare breasts and bare genitals in his examining rooms all day long. The motions of the dancers and the rhythms of the drums had set his feet moving and his blood pounding. Without thinking, he lifted the flowers over his head and handed them to Maria, now standing by her chair, now walking slowly away from him toward the door through which Paul, Valerie and Michelle had departed in the wake of the dancers. James followed, his thoughts far removed from the Fiji Queen, though his hand reached out automatically to the light switch to douse the lights on the main deck as he stepped through the door.