After a vast amount of discussion they agreed to a compromise, put him into a canoe, gave him a quantity of bananas and cocoa-nuts, and sent him out to sea. The man contrived to slip on shore again without being seen, and, after hiding in caves for some days, he succeeded in getting on board a whaler that was passing near the island.
(1.) THE WAR DANCE OF THE NIUANS.
(See [page 1055].)
(2.) PRESENTING THE CLOTH.
(See [page 1060].)
The appearance of the natives as they were before the missionaries came to them was anything but prepossessing. Mr. Williams gives a graphic account of an old chief who was induced, after much trouble, to come on board. “His appearance was truly terrific. He was about sixty years of age, his person tall, his cheek-bones raised and prominent, and his countenance most forbidding. His whole body was smeared with charcoal, his hair and beard were long and gray, and the latter, plaited and twisted together, hung from his mouth like so many rat’s tails. He wore no clothing except a narrow strip of cloth round his loins, for the purpose of passing a spear through, or any other article he might wish to carry.
“On reaching the deck the old man was most frantic in his gesticulations, leaping about from place to place, and using the most vociferous exclamations at everything he saw. All attempts at conversation with him were entirely useless, as we could not persuade him to stand still for a single second. Our natives attempted to clothe him, by fastening round his person a piece of native cloth, but, tearing it off in a rage, he threw it upon deck, and, stamping upon it exclaimed, ‘Am I a woman, that I should be encumbered with that stuff?’
“He then proceeded to give us a specimen of a war dance, which he commenced by poising and quivering his spear, running to and fro, leaping and vociferating, as though possessed by the spirit of wildness. Then he distorted his features most horribly by extending his mouth, gnashing his teeth, and forcing his eyes almost out of their sockets. At length he concluded this exhibition by thrusting the whole of his long grey beard into his mouth, and gnawing it with the most savage vengeance. During the whole of the performance he kept up a loud and hideous howl.” On the preceding page the artist has given the reader an illustration of this singular [war dance] of the Niuans.
These islanders do not use the tattoo, though they are fond of decorating their bodies with paint. Those who come on board European vessels are delighted to be adorned with streaks and spots of red and green paint, especially the latter, which is a novelty to them, and for which they are willing to pay highly. At a little distance, they look much as if they were suffering from some cutaneous disease, but a closer inspection shows that their appearance is partly due to the salt of the sea crystallizing on their oiled bodies, and partly to the multitudinous flies which settle upon them.