21st.—Fakaafo, of the Tokalau group. Louis and I went on shore very early in the morning. There was a big swell and all our boatmen had different views at the same moment, the consequence being that we broached to and were nearly swamped. I got drenched from head to foot and felt very cold. We walked about the village and were taken to the house of the King. The Queen spread a mat on the ground for us and we sat down beside her; she was holding a precocious little baby in her arms, her grandchild, I presume, for she looked quite an old woman. The King came to the opening of the hut and, thrusting out his head and shoulders, shook hands with us and tried to converse. Cocoanuts were offered us, but I felt too chilly for that refreshment. It seemed a languid place; the very children soon tired of following us.
Missionary from a civilized island, and some of her converts
As I felt symptoms of rheumatism from the wetting I had got, I hunted up the trader, a pallid Portuguese, and asked if his wife could lend me a gown. He said if we crossed the island we would find a board house, belonging to him, where his wife would give me a native dress. As we drew near the place several handsome, smiling women joined us; we all sat down on the veranda and waited for the trader, who was not far behind us, and I was soon clad in comfortable dry clothes. We refused cocoanuts but accepted brandy and water. I gave the trader's wife the wreath from my head and a gold ring, after which we came back to the ship, very nearly upsetting our boat in the surf. I had with me a number of plain gold wedding rings; I always wore a few that I might take them from my own hand to offer as presents.
In the afternoon the trader's wife sent me a present of a hat. The trader used the most puzzling English possible; in passing Lloyd's room he caught sight of a guitar. "Who that music?" he asked. When told, he asked to have the guitar put in his hands and demanded that Lloyd be sent for. In the meantime he examined the instrument and found two broken strings. When Lloyd came the trader said he wanted two fine guitar strings. Not having too many, Lloyd was loath to part with the strings, but the man was so bent on having them that the box of strings was sent for. On Lloyd asking the man about his own guitar, to our surprise he said he had none at all, and yet he went on choosing out strings with the utmost excitement. "Really," said Lloyd, "I can't let you have all those; I will give you this lot but no more; and I don't see what you want with them if you have no guitar"; apparently, he wanted them to "play with." Then it occurred to us that he might have some other sort of instrument on which guitar strings could be used; but no, he said he had no sort of instrument whatever. At last, after great perplexity and wild endeavours to find out what he would be at, Lloyd suddenly, as if by inspiration, asked: "Do you want to buy this guitar?" That was the mystery. As we had only one guitar we could not give it to him, so the poor fellow sadly returned both strings and instrument.
22d.—We celebrated the anniversary of our marriage[8] in front of the trade room. Champagne was set to cool in wet towels, and at about four we gathered together at the appointed place, each person to do what he could for the amusement of the others. Tin Jack gave a reading from Shakespeare, standing in a pulpit that was part of our cargo. Mr. Hird sang "Afton Water" charmingly with much grace and feeling. Lloyd sang, and Louis, taking what he saw before him as a text (it was an advertisement of St. Jacob's oil), mounted the pulpit and delivered a sermon.
Sight land, Atafu, where I hope to get Tokalau buckets, which are very useful in place of portmanteaus.
23d.—Mr. Henderson went ashore very early this morning, at Atafu. He boasts that he ate three chicken legs as well as half a breast and quantities of taro. As I have a little rheumatism from wearing my wet clothes so long at Fakaafo, and it rains, I decided to stay on board and take a dose of salicylate. Later the sun comes out; my rheumatism flies before the salicylate, but too late; Louis has gone in the boat and there is no other for me. I spend a dreary time watching the people with an opera-glass. The wind occasionally brings the sound of singing to my ears. Then the opera-glass gives me a headache, and I try reading, first "Olla Podrida," which I cannot manage, and afterward the South Pacific Directory, with which I succeed better. The boat comes back at dinner time, everybody talking at once about the curious experiences they have had.
24th.—To my regret I did not feel well enough to go on shore. A trader, the brother of the man who wished to buy the guitar, told me his wife was coming to see me and introduced his son, a fine, little, brown fellow of about eleven. Mr. Hird informed me that he is quite a travelled youth. He, himself, told me he had been to Sydney, and when I asked, "To San Francisco?" he replied: "No, but I have been to Frisco." This child was on board a schooner when she was nearly destroyed by fire, and also when she was in imminent danger of being shipwrecked. The fire was an incendiary act. One of the sailors had several times been very impudent to the captain of the schooner and was regarded as a dangerous character. He, one day, in a fit of rage, attacked the cook with a knife and nearly murdered him. The captain, who seemed a pitiful fellow, was frightened at the thought of putting the man in irons and bungled to such an extent with the handcuffs that the culprit, himself, obligingly put them on. The supercargo asked that the culprit be confined in the cabin next his, but the captain was alarmed at the idea of having him so near. It was not long before he managed to get loose, set the ship on fire, and jump overboard. A few hours after the fire they were nearly driven on a rock before a heavy squall. When they were so close that they could almost have jumped on the rock, the vessel stopped dead and remained perfectly quiet. The rock had taken the wind out of her sails, and the backwash held them off.
By and by the trader's wife and her friend, a handsome woman with a haughty, high-bred expression, came on board. With a simplicity that was almost cynical, the trader explained that at one time there had been a great many German sailors about the islands, so, as his wife had yellow hair, he just took it for granted that she was a German half-caste. She certainly did look very like a sentimental German governess, with her yellow hair and blinking eyes, but I perceived at once that whatever else she might be, she was certainly an albino. She brought me a basket and a small Tokalau bucket. In return I gave her a gold ring which she replaced with three tortoise-shell rings and a thicker one ingeniously tied in a true-lovers' knot. I gave the friend a wreath and received a hat as an exchange present. These people are desperate flatterers; we call this "The Isle of Flatterers." A native met Mr. Henderson in Louis's hearing. "You handsome man!" he cried, his voice thrilling with emotion as he eagerly studied Mr. Henderson's face. "You good woman!" said Mrs. Trader to me continually, her eyes melting into mine with admiration and affection as she tenderly embraced me. I asked for a lock of her beautiful hair, which, after asking permission of her husband, she gave me; I pinned it in my diary and she wrote under it, "Fani mai feleni" (Fanny, my friend) and her own name, "Amalaisa"; then she fanned me, and caressed me, and flattered me, and finally, getting hold of my photograph, pressed it to her bosom and face, saying: "All same you." I wonder if they really do "rub noses" anywhere! All I have seen is a pressing together of the two faces with a slight inspiration through the nostrils. While I was sitting with Amalaisa and her friend, holding a hand of each, I became aware that a very ragged but superior-looking young native man had joined our party. "That boy, King," whispered Amalaisa, so I shook hands with his majesty and called Louis to be introduced. The last words of royalty were "You good woman," delivered in most seductive tones.