To-day one of the boats steered by Mr. Hird suddenly disappeared in the surf, and Mr. Henderson at once put out for her. She had capsized and stove a small hole in one end. Mr. Hird came dripping from his involuntary bath. Fortunately, no one was injured but the engineer and Mr. B—— (a passenger from Jaluit) and they only in their feelings. They were waiting a long way down the reef when the accident happened, and could not get another boat in time for dinner. We killed a pig to-day, the first, our sheep being now done. Charley, passenger from Jaluit, working his way, gave me a belt of human hair. Some natives brought off a shark they had just killed, hoping to sell it to us for food. Mr. Hird told a story of a shark he had seen chasing a fish. The shark could easily catch the fish, swimming in a straight line, but could not turn quickly, so the fish knowingly swam round and round him. They were very near the ship when the fish jumped out of the water. With the quickness of lightning the shark struck it with his tail straight into his mouth. There is a swordfish here with a snout like a spear, long and sharp, which follows the flying-fish. When the natives are fishing they have to be on the lookout, as he jumps at them and tries to stab them with his sword. One of our passengers knew a man who was killed by such a stab. I forgot to mention that Tom Day told me that during this present epidemic of measles he saw a woman buried alive. "She was too weak to resist, so her husband just buried her"; the same sort of tale as Mr. Hird's of Penrhyn.
17th.—Had a sharp squall in the night. Lloyd slept through it all, his things swimming in the water. I put my head out of the port and watched the rain-drops strike the sea, each producing a spark like a star. It looked as though the heavens were reversed. I often find my bath, when I take it after dark, blazing like liquid fireworks. The weather continues bad, and we are rolling a good deal. Louis much better; the captain very weak and ill. Lloyd's leg, hurt on the reef at Tin Jack's island, shows uncomfortable symptoms. I suppose I should burn it out, but it requires courage to perform that operation.
18th.—Arrived at Vanumea at ten o'clock. Left at nightfall under sealed orders, steering S.S.W.
24th.—First thing in the morning sighted Eromango about fifteen miles away, and a little later, Tanna. Eromango is the place where the missionary John Williams (always spoken of as "the martyr Williams") was killed by the natives.
Some time ago a good deal of amusement was got from discussions concerning the mango and the proper way to eat it. Mr. Stoddard said it should be eaten with a spoon, which is impossible. We soon discovered that he had confused the mango with the barbadine, though he would not confess it. One evening when the bread was underbaked I pressed the crumb into the semblance of a spoon and solemnly presented it to him as a "mango spoon." This morning I found a large pumpkin hanging up to ripen. I borrowed it from the cook, and Mr. Hird and I tied it up in an enormous parcel, while Louis wrote out a card in printing letters to go with it.
For Walter Stoddard Esq.,
—One Mango—
With the fond love of the
inhabitants of Eromango.
(This is gathered, with a spoon, from the finest
mango swamp in the island. But beware of the
fate of the martyr Williams, who died from
trying to eat one with too short a spoon.
O mango and do likewise.)
To make the presentation scene more impressive, I made a pair of false eyes to be worn like spectacles by hooking wire round the edges of a very large pair of green cat's-eye opercula, which Mr. Henderson donned at the appearance of the pumpkin. The parcel was brought in at dinner by the chief steward with the assurance that it had come off in a boat from Eromango, sent by the people of the island. Anything more truly diabolical than the expression of the cat's-eyes cannot be well conceived. I chose very clear, dark ones, with a well-marked white ring on one side, which I made the upper, so that the eyes were apparently starting from their sockets with fiendish surprise and malevolence.
25th.—Mare Island, Loyalty group; lay off the Sarcelle passage all night, about forty-five miles from Noumea, our first civilised port and the last we shall make until we reach the end of our cruise at Sydney. A large, most strange, and picturesque island. At first sight it seemed only desolate cliffs and terraces. Here and there at wide intervals a tree, very tall and close-growing, stood up straight like a needle. As we drew nearer, however, enchanting little bays began to open up. We could make out groves of cocoa-palms and the needle trees clustered together, making a curious edging to the cliffs. In one of these bays was the mission station; we could see the white wooden house smothered in trees, the plantation of palms following the indentations of the shore-line, and stretching far back to the white and coloured cliffs that ran up into the precipitous hills. In a niche on a cliff side was a great statue of the Virgin, dazzling white in the sun. Before the mission house ran a broad, smooth beach. We could distinguish many people standing there, and a fine large boat.
26th.—At half past one, Noumea. A succession of the most lovely bays began to open up as we steamed nearer. The surf runs out some forty miles and is studded with small islands, some like little hills rising from the sea, and some miniature low islands fringed with cocoa-palms. We all don the clothes of civilisation to go on shore, looking very strange to each other.