There is no need of saying that the address afforded us great satisfaction. Early the next morning land was sighted, and a favorable wind soon brought us within a mile of the shore. A curious-looking boat, containing three natives, approached. It was curious in that it had so little beam and was so light and fragile. It was built for speed and not for carrying merchandise. One of the men boarded our vessel, and from signs he made and from his familiar air, we knew that he offered himself as hostage and that he had already served in that capacity. His dress consisted of a cloth around the loins and a broad-brimmed straw hat. He was brown-skinned and his arms were tattooed.
Soon we saw boats leaving the shore, and we dropped our boats to meet them. All the articles and fittings which a whaleboat carries were taken out of two of our boats, and what little trade we took (and we didn’t take much) was placed in one of them. Each was towed by a whaleboat, one of which was in charge of the captain and the other of Lakeum. The meeting was about half a mile from the shore. The sea was remarkably calm. While the boats of the South Sea islanders are generally not made for commercial purposes, the two which approached were exceptions. They were large, clumsy affairs, each propelled by two men, and in one of them was a white man with a scraggly beard and a repulsive countenance. He wore a tattered straw hat, rusty trousers and an old dirty shirt. There was no need of an introduction. We knew that he was Pete Ellyon. Our own captain did not even deign to address him. In one of these boats were yams which resembled potatoes, some of which weighed from twelve to fifteen pounds, tarrows, which resembled turnips, oranges, bananas, breadfruit, coconuts and other vegetables and fruits, and in the other boat goats, pigs and fowl. The trading went on slowly. Bargains were made largely by signs, Ellyon serving as a hindrance; for as he spoke both English and the local jargon, he constantly interrupted the proceedings and always, of course, in the interests of the islanders. It took the whole morning to transfer the entire merchandise to our boats, and I was astounded to see how little of our own trade we parted with. I remember particularly two transactions greatly to our advantage—one in which the captain gave a small hatchet for about five bushels of oranges and a dozen bunches of bananas, and the other, in which he traded three yards of cotton cloth for a large pig.
When we reached the ship, the bananas were suspended from the lower rigging, the fruit and vegetables were deposited in the two spare boats which were turned over for that purpose, and goats, pigs and fowl were taken care of forward.
“Them live things will go faster than the vegetables and fruit,” said one of the men.
And now we put for the open sea. When the hostage was aware of it he gave a shriek and started to jump overboard. Lakeum and Silva grabbed him, and he was soon in the place reserved for men who are put in irons. The crew were excited and almost mutinous, for they had a double grievance: they felt that they were to be deprived of shore leave and that the poor hostage was to be carried away as a captive. The whole matter was soon explained. Now that the trading was over the captain feared that the hostage, if not restrained, would jump overboard and swim ashore, and he wanted to retain him until after the men had had shore leave on the following day. The vessel was merely to move about on short tacks during the night.
The morning was one of the loveliest I ever saw. The sun rose without a cloud, and the water seemed tinged with gold. The Kanaka and three other men declined the general invitation to go ashore and they and the captain served as shipkeepers. The Kanaka said, with great emphasis, “Me stay here; dey get no chance to eat me.” Most of the crew had articles or trinkets, and I took with me about a third of the cotton cloth my father had given me. The captain said that, if the women and children were gathered on the beach, there was little to fear.
On our arrival there they were, and the only man with them was Pete Ellyon. Just up the beach was rich, thick foliage, and an apparently dense forest beyond. I heard Kreelman say, “This looks kind of suspicious. That vile beach comber is the only man here, and it wouldn’t surprise me if there was a gang of natives up there in the bushes.” The women were fine-looking, wholesome creatures and, when they smiled, they showed beautiful, dazzling teeth. The boys and girls seemed rather shy at first; they were well-shaped and pictures of health. There was a remarkable display of articles for trade—necklaces and bracelets made from richly tinted shells joined together by a kind of thread about like silk and made, I suppose, from some plant or vine, and an abundance of other fancy articles which one would think beyond the conception of savages. However, these people were plainly superior to the ordinary South Sea islanders. There were beautiful little mats and baskets made of tapa, which is the bark of the paper mulberry, and there was a lot of clubs, spears and paddles with wonderful carvings made with sharks’ teeth or bits of shells. As the trading went on, Ellyon was particularly pleasant and gracious. He would say, “Don’t let them cheat you;” “Offer the woman half as much cloth as she asks for”; “These young ones round here are regular thieves; look out for ’em.” At first I wondered why this change from yesterday and then began to suspect that he had some sinister purpose. When the business was over, I was no longer the possessor of the cotton cloth, but rejoiced in the ownership of a number of articles which I proposed to take home to my mother, and of a spear, a paddle and a club, which I intended to show to my young friends and to preserve as mementos or trophies.
“Now, boys,” said Ellyon, “Come up on the island and let me show you round. There’s no spot on the earth any finer than this. There’s fruit of all kinds and plenty of shady places where you can lay down and rest.”
We all wanted to go, but there was no response, not even a word of thanks on our part. Most of us suspected treachery. We had no firearms and, in case of ambush, we would be defenceless. On first seeing Ellyon, the day before, and listening to his babbling while the trading was going on, I would have said that it was impossible for so repulsive a creature to be so polite as he now was.
“Come, boys, come,” he repeated, “I don’t suppose you’ve had shore leave before on this voyage, and now make the most of it. Where are you bound to, ‘Offshore Ground’ or ‘Coast of Japan’ before you go to the Arctic? I take it you’re goin’ to the Arctic. There’s nothin’ like terra cotta for a man whose been treadin’ wood at sea for eight or ten months. We gentlemen, who live in these Pacific Ocean islands in order to spread civilization, are only too glad to entertain our guests from the homeland. Come along to my lodge up on the high land.”