For the present we were safe, however. The hurricane and the tidal wave had destroyed the villages on the coast where we were driven ashore, and the terrified inhabitants had fled inland, leaving the strand strewn with their household gods, and littered with uprooted trees and fragments torn from the dense vegetation.
Soon the storm-wrack cleared away, the heavens were a vault of blue faintly laced with thin transparencies of clouds, the sun appeared in all his splendour, playing on the still waters within the reef with a myriad flashing colours, while the rainbow-tinted coral forest seemed to wave gracefully in the shades and gleams as some bright-coloured fish lazily stirred the thick subaqueous undergrowths. A soft pearly haze rested on the purpling ocean, and it was difficult to believe that an awful tempest had so recently swept over the peaceful scene. When night came, the full moon rose radiantly in the east, throwing a broad track of silver across the crisp wavelets, and shedding a soft halo round the sad wreck of the Molly Asthore, so plainly doomed no more through rolling seas to ride again.
The neighbouring thicket in which we had made some slight timorous explorations, skirted a tropical forest in which the trees and tangled undergrowth were so closely packed that the hurricane had done but little damage except upon the seaward edge. The cocoanut trees, which are not very firmly rooted, and have at the top of their high cylindrical stems a heavy plume of leaves, among which the nuts nestle in luscious clusters, had suffered severely wherever they were exposed to the fury of the gale. The bread-fruit trees, which are of sturdy growth and well-balanced with thickly-fruited branches, were not much injured.
As we advanced into the depths of the forest, amidst the sombre foliage, the rank matted grasses, and the festooned canopy of interlacing parasites, the balmy air of the beach gave place to a hot, moist, and sickly atmosphere that was very oppressive. But the luxuriant vegetation of the jungle was of transcendant beauty. Sometimes there was a plot of grass of a delicate green, wonderfully soft and fragrant, and illuminated at intervals by the flaming blossoms of the hibiscus and cactus. The kowrie or dakua grew intermingled with wild nutmegs, which exhaled a pleasant aroma. An enormous yevu-yevu tree formed a complete bower in itself. The small white flowers of the ivi emitted a delicious perfume, and the kavika or malay apple-trees, had densely strewn the ground beneath their branches with petals and stamens, giving the turf the appearance of a tesselated pavement. Innumerable creepers and trailing plants depended from trunk and bough, interlaced with each other in endless coils, which turned and twisted from the roots of the large trees, and ascended to the highest branches to fall again in leafy steps of glossy green, or assume some new fantastic shape, and so shut out the sun that in some of the shady dells it was impossible to avoid a chill. The whole neighbourhood was fragrant with the scent of the lemon, the jasmine, the pine-apple, and the orange. It was only necessary to stretch forth one’s arm to secure a delightful repast.
We knew that the savages would not be long absent from their fishing grounds on the reef, and we were very circumspect in our movements, always retiring to the stranded schooner at nightfall, and keeping careful watch.
On the third day after our almost miraculous landing on the island the air was rent by the yells of a hundred Fijians, who had doubtless been watching us for some time previously, and who had now determined to take us and our fortress, the wrecked vessel, by assault.
On they came, under cover of the trees, launching at us volley after volley of arrows, and, what were more formidable, stones from slings. There was a breeze blowing which diverted the course of the former missiles to some extent, and many fell short. But the stones rattled about our ears in very uncomfortable proximity. We had a few guns, but there were not more than half-a-dozen rounds of ammunition that had not been hopelessly damaged by the salt-water. However, we kept the savages at bay by occasionally dropping a man. Firearms were not unknown to them, having been introduced in another part of the group some years previously, but they were still very scarce, and our munitions of war would be considered a great prize, could they be taken.
Towards evening our last shot had been expended, and the enemy held off, waiting for the cover of darkness to make a grand rush and finish us with the club. Ovens were already being prepared for the approaching cannibal feast, so sure were they of the result. The captain remarked that among the insulting fire of words the natives kept up he could distinguish that they were bespeaking the three of us joint by joint. They were also preparing the three kinds of vegetables always eaten with bokola, as baked human flesh is called. These I afterwards learned were the leaves of the malawathi, the tudano, and the borodina. The two former are middle-sized trees, growing wild. The borodina is cultivated; it is a bushy shrub, seldom higher than 6ft., with a dark, glossy foliage, and berries very much like tomatoes, which have a faint aromatic smell, and are sometimes prepared like tomato sauce. These plants are wrapped round the several joints of the prepared human body, and baked with them on the hot stones of the cannibal oven.
When it became apparent that our capture by club and spear was only a question of an hour or two if we remained on the schooner, we determined to make good our retreat to the friendly shelter of the forest. As soon as night fell we quietly slid down a rope at the stern into the sand, and wading some distance into the sea, travelled along the coast-line until we were well out of reach of the cannibal horde. Then we struck into the woods and concealed ourselves in a vast cabin formed by the roots of a baka.
This tree resembles the famous banyan of India. Its branches are propped up by aerial roots which run along the ground, assuming strange shapes, and forming a fantastic maze, which is perfectly indescribable in its convolutions. At first a parasite on other trees, it soon acquires such dimensions that it sucks all their sap, when they die, and it then has to draw its nourishment from the soil. The crown of the giant baka, upborne on air roots, expands into a cloud of foliage frequently 150ft. in diameter, or 450ft. in circumference. This hanging garden of vegetation is decorated with pendant cacti and brilliant orchids. Gorgeously-plumaged parrots hang among the boughs nibbling at the blossoms, gem-like lizards bask on the trunk, and innumerable insects hum in chorus in the foliage. Bush-ropes of every size and degree of pliancy climb and twist about, running from tree to tree. Some stately trunks, supported by these natural stays and braces, looked like the masts of a fleet at anchor. The mighty baka forms an awe-inspiring object, and is frequently made sacred to priestly incantations. Such a tree having this character is never approached by Fijians not in the priestly office, so that our place of concealment seemed very secure.