We made a splendid run down to the Solomons from Samoa, and when in sight of San Cristoval, spoke a French labour vessel from Nouméa, recruiting for the French New Hebrides Company. Her captain and his “recruiter” (both Englishmen) paid us a visit. They were old acquaintances of our captain and myself, and as they came alongside in their smart whaleboat and Vanâki saw their faces, he gave a weird yell of delight, and rubbed noses with them the moment they stepped on deck.
“Hallo, Vanâki, my lad,” said the skipper of La Metise, shaking his hand, “how are you?” Then turning to us he said: “Vanâki was with me when I was mate with Captain Macleod, in the old Aurore of Nouméa. He's a rattling good fellow for a native, and I wish I had him with me now. Wherever did you pick him up?”
We told him, and Houston laughed when I narrated the story of Vanâki's swim.
“Oh, that's nothing for him to do. Why, the beggar once swam from the Banks Group across to the Torres Islands. Has he never told you about it?”
“No. And I would hardly believe him if he did. Why, the two groups are fifty miles apart.”
“No, from Tog in the Torres Islands to Ureparapara in the Banks Group is a little over forty miles. But you must wheedle the yarn out of him. He's a bit sensitive of talking about it, on account of his at first being told he was a liar by several people. But Macleod, two traders who were passengers with us, and all the crew of the Aurore know the story to be true. We sent an account of it to the Sydney papers.”
“I'll get him to tell me some day,” I said “I once heard of a native woman swimming from Nanomaga in the Ellice Group to Nanomea—thirty-five miles—but never believed it for a long time.”
After spending half an hour with us, our friends went back to their ship, each having shaken hands warmly with Vanâki, and wished him good luck.
It was some days before the captain and I had time to hear Vanâki's story, which I relate as nearly as possible in his own words.
First of all, however, I must mention that Ureparapara or Bligh Island is a well-wooded, fertile spot, about sixteen miles in circumference, and is an extinct crater. It is now the seat of a successful mission. Tog is much smaller, well-wooded, and inhabited, and about nine hundred feet high. At certain times of the year a strong current sets in a northerly and westerly direction, and it is due to this fact that Vanâki accomplished his swim. Now for his story.