‘I hope we shall not have an earthquake during our stay on the island. I have experienced one already, during our exploration in the cave of Enooma, and I should not care for the experience to be repeated,’ said Edgar.
Next morning the island of Tana came in sight, and Edgar marvelled at its beauty as seen from the schooner. In the centre of the island rose the high mountain, as Wal Jessop had described it, and smoke and fire were issuing from the top. They were not long in reaching a landing-place, and on the beach they saw a number of native canoes, some about fifteen feet long, and others from twenty-five to nearly fifty feet in length.
When the natives saw the schooner let go her anchor, two canoes put off and were quickly paddled alongside. The natives in them were rather under the middle stature and the colour of old copper. Their faces were painted a reddish colour, and looked oily and sticky. Their hair was frizzy and of a light-brown colour, and was twisted and curled into numerous tails, which were thrown back from the forehead and hung down the back. It looked for all the world like a wig made of whipcord, Edgar thought.
‘These fellows are Tanese,’ said Wal. ‘I must try and make them understand a few questions.’
He spoke to one of the natives, who was taller than his companions, and asked him to come on board the schooner. Without the least hesitation the man did so. As he stood on deck, Edgar saw that he was a well-made, athletic young fellow. The septum of his nose was pierced, and through it was inserted a reed horizontally, but not so as to project beyond either nostril. He had tortoiseshell earrings in his ears, about half a dozen hanging down on each side, and the weight had enlarged the aperture until a child’s hand might have been passed through. He was not tattooed, but on his breast a rude device of a fish had been either cut or burnt in, and on the upper part of his arms was a leaf done in a similar way. He had no clothes on except a matting bag round the loins. He had armlets on, and also three large whale’s teeth on three strings hanging horizontally on his breast.
‘He’s a chief,’ said Wal. ‘I can tell that by those teeth he has on his breast.’
‘He is a formidable-looking savage,’ said Edgar. ‘I should not care to have a hit with that club he carries.’
Wal Jessop motioned the chief to sit down, which he did, and was presented with a necklace of bright-coloured beads which delighted him immensely.
The other natives in the canoes were looking at the schooner with eager eyes, evidently with the expectation of getting a few presents.
The chief, whose name was Meri, spoke a few words of English, and as Wal Jessop knew a little of the Tana language, they managed to understand each other.