Accordingly, we sighted it on the morning of Friday, the 21st. About 9 A.M. canoes began to flock off to us in great numbers, and the natives whom we had picked up were sent ashore in them. They had so far regained their strength as to be able to move about quite briskly. The chief addressed the captain in his own language, which was translated by Friday as far as lay in his power, to the effect that they were very grateful to the captain and all hands for the kind treatment they had received; and as the poor grateful beings shook hands with us on passing over the gangway, tears of gratitude trickled down their tawny cheeks. They were placed in the canoes, waved their hands feebly, and started for the shore.
Pleasant Island is a very beautiful island, and well does it deserve its name, if we say nothing of its inhabitants. It is moderately high, and more thickly covered with verdure than any island of the group. The natives are the most finely-built of any we have yet seen—large, athletic, and ferocious-appearing, presenting quite a contrast to some of the diminutive natives of the Windward Islands. They speak a different language, also, from that of the natives of the other islands, though but a few degrees apart. They appear far superior to them in shrewdness and cunning, it being much harder to drive a trade with them. The females are very small, very good-looking, and some of them quite handsome, several shades lighter than the men, and much lighter than those of the other islands. We bought quite a number of fowl, and some hogs of the regular racer breed, Berkshires not having been introduced here.
A white man came off from this island, and wished the captain to ship him, as he was afraid to remain on shore. He reported that, the day before, five white men had been murdered by the natives. A part of them were from the ill-fated “Flying Fox.” It appears that they had landed at this island perfectly destitute, and some of the white men residing there, fearing the chiefs would take them under their protection and allow them to remain, thereby diminishing their chances of trade with ships, persuaded the leading chiefs that they came there for the purpose of taking the island and poisoning all the Kanakas. They are so superstitions that, no matter how absurd the story, they believe the white man capable of doing any thing. At the instigation of these rascally “beach-combers” residing on the island, the poor fellows were butchered in a manner too horrible to relate. This man informed us that his life had been repeatedly threatened, and, had not he had the influence of one of the highest chiefs on the island, he would have shared the same horrid fate as the others. The captain informed him he could go with us, at which he was greatly rejoiced.
We spoke the brig “Inga,” of New Bedford, Captain Barnes, on Sunday, the 24th. We had here an opportunity of sending letters home via Sydney, New South Wales, as she was bound there with a cargo of cocoanut oil. Captain B. reported that, a few days previous, his steward and seven of his crew took a boat in the night-time and deserted. The steward stole about three hundred dollars from the captain’s state-room, a sextant, quadrant, and charts; the crew took provisions and water. He supposed they had gone to some of the Windward Islands.
Our “Spanish Jack” has got himself in trouble again. For several weeks complaints had been made by nearly all of the crew that their tobacco was disappearing very fast and very mysteriously. From the fact that Jack never bought any, had but little when he came on board, and was continually smoking, he was strongly suspected. One fine morning the captain ordered the mate to go forward and search the Spaniard’s chest. Accordingly, the chest was hauled out and opened. It was well filled with clothing, all new, that he had bought and never worn, which he was keeping, he said, to wear ashore. On looking deeper, several knives were found, which were claimed by some of the crew, and various small articles, which he had pilfered at different times from different persons. Finally, the mate found a large quantity of tobacco, and a tin box belonging to the captain’s son, which he had taken from the binnacle while at the helm. The guilty Spaniard was brought aft, seized by his wrists to the mizzen rigging, his back bared, and a slight dose of “hemp tea” administered, said to be a very excellent remedy for the disease which troubled Jack so much, viz., sticky fingers. He called on all the saints in the calendar to come to his assistance, but they very politely refused, as it is believed they did not strongly object to the medicine being administered. It had one good effect, to say the least; it made him promise that he would never steal again while on board the ship, no matter how small the value of the article. And, in justice to him, we will say that he kept his promise, not from want of a desire to steal, but from fear of punishment.
The idea of flogging a human being is certainly shocking, and the poor fellow who receives it generally has the pity and sympathies of his shipmates; but in this case all hands felt that the culprit got no more than his deserts, for the true sailor despises a thief. The sailor is proverbially charitable; he will see a shipmate want for nothing so long as he can supply that want, even to dividing his last crust; and it is not given grudgingly, but with his whole heart.
We were now making the passage to Strong’s Island, and, on the night of Friday, December 6th, were struck with a severe squall, laying the ship almost on her beam ends. All hands were called to take in sail, but, before the men could get on deck, away went mainsail, foretopsail, and jib. Whew! how the wind whistled and howled! It was impossible for the captain to make himself understood amid the deafening roar of the winds; and the waves, madly pitching and tossing the ship to and fro, seemed to wish to ingulf her in their bosom. It was grand, yet terrible. By dint of hard labor we succeeded finally in reducing the sail, so that she rode easy through the night, the gale continuing with almost unabated fury. The next day a tremendous whirlwind passed astern of us about a mile, and it was through the mercy of God alone that we escaped it. The gale continued, with more or less rain, until Wednesday, December 11th, when Strong’s Island hove in sight, distant about eighty miles.
CHAPTER XV.
Strong’s Island.—King.—Canker.—Dress.—Chiefs.—Description of the Island.—Large Island.—Small Island.—Productions.—Wild Game.—Canals.—Stone Walls.—Who built them?—Ruins.—Suppositions.—A Rebellion.—Customs.—Queen.—Princes and Princesses.—Sekane.—Cæsar.—Natives.—Females.—“Strong’s Island Trowsers.”—Employments.—Houses.—Marriages.—Sports.—Canoes.—Carva.—Banyan-tree.—Religion.—“Blueskin.”—Traditions.—Priests.—Rites and Ceremonies.—Funeral Ceremonies.—Rotumah Tom.—Food of the Natives.—Blueskin and his Procession.—Friday’s Opinion.—The Feast.—“Very good,” but think we won’t indulge.—Choose our “Hotel.”—An unpleasant Surprise.—“Planter.”—Mutiny and its Consequences.—Desertion.—One kind of Navigation.—A Stroll to Large Island.—Friday and the Taboo.—Incidents in Port.—Weighed Anchor.—“Mary Frazier.”—Death and Burial of Mr. S.—A few random Thoughts.
For nine long and weary months had the “Emily” been from port. During this time but few of the ship’s company had put foot upon land, and glad indeed were we when Strong’s Island hove in sight. We were experiencing heavy weather, but on Thursday, December 12th, the wind gradually grew less boisterous, and as we neared the land, steering for the passage, died away, leaving us at its mouth in a dead calm; but we down boats, and every man “pulled with a will,” and soon towed the old ship in, and at 7 P.M. we once more dropped anchor, weary with labor, but refreshed at the sight of the land, and the prospect of “stretching our legs” on shore once more.