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_ ABOUT a mile from the village we came to a halt.
It was a beautiful spot. A mountain stream here flowed at the foot of
a verdant slope; on one hand, it murmured along until the waters,
spreading themselves upon a beach of small, sparkling shells,
trickled into the sea; on the other was a long defile, where the eye
pursued a gleaming, sinuous thread, lost in shade and verdure.
The ground next the road was walled in by a low, rude parapet of
stones; and, upon the summit of the slope beyond, was a large, native
house, the thatch dazzling white, and in shape an oval.
"Calabooza! Calabooza Beretanee!" (the English Jail), cried our
conductor, pointing to the building.
For a few months past, having been used by the consul as a house of
confinement for his refractory sailors, it was thus styled to
distinguish it from similar places in and about Papeetee.
Though extremely romantic in appearance, on a near approach it proved
hut ill adapted to domestic comfort. In short, it was a mere shell,
recently built, and still unfinished. It was open all round, and
tufts of grass were growing here and there under the very roof. The
only piece of furniture was the "stocks," a clumsy machine for
keeping people in one place, which, I believe, is pretty much out of
date in most countries. It is still in use, however, among the
Spaniards in South America; from whom, it seems, the Tahitians have
borrowed the contrivance, as well as the name by which all places of
confinement are known among them.
The stocks were nothing more than two stout timbers, about twenty feet
in length, and precisely alike. One was placed edgeways on the
ground, and the other, resting on top, left, at regular intervals
along the seam, several round holes, the object of which was evident
at a glance.
By this time, our guide had informed us that he went by the name of
"Capin Bob" (Captain Bob); and a hearty old Bob he proved. It was
just the name for him. From the first, so pleased were we with the
old man that we cheerfully acquiesced in his authority.
Entering the building, he set us about fetching heaps of dry leaves to
spread behind the stocks for a couch. A trunk of a small cocoa-nut
tree was then placed for a bolster--rather a hard one, but the
natives are used to it. For a pillow, they use a little billet of
wood, scooped out, and standing on four short legs--a sort of
head-stool.
These arrangements completed, Captain Bob proceeded to "hanna-par," or
secure us, for the night. The upper timber of the machine being
lifted at one end, and our ankles placed in the semicircular spaces
of the lower one, the other beam was then, dropped; both being
finally secured together by an old iron hoop at either extremity.
This initiation was performed to the boisterous mirth of the natives,
and diverted ourselves not a little.
Captain Bob now bustled about, like an old woman seeing the children
to bed. A basket of baked "taro," or Indian turnip, was brought in,
and we were given a piece all round. Then a great counterpane of
coarse, brown "tappa," was stretched over the whole party; and, after
sundry injunctions to "moee-moee," and be "maitai"--in other words,
to go to sleep, and be good boys--we were left to ourselves, fairly
put to bed and tucked in.
Much talk was now had concerning our prospects in life; but the doctor
and I, who lay side by side, thinking the occasion better adapted to
meditation, kept pretty silent; and, before long, the rest ceased
conversing, and, wearied with loss of rest on board the frigate, were
soon sound asleep.
After sliding from one reverie into another, I started, and gave the
doctor a pinch. He was dreaming, however; and, resolved to follow his
example, I troubled him no more.
How the rest managed, I know not; but for my own part, I found it very
hard to get to sleep. The consciousness of having one's foot pinned;
and the impossibility of getting it anywhere else than just where it
was, was most distressing.
But this was not all: there was no way of lying but straight on your
back; unless, to be sure, one's limb went round and round in the
ankle, like a swivel. Upon getting into a sort of doze, it was no
wonder this uneasy posture gave me the nightmare. Under the delusion
that I was about some gymnastics or other, I gave my unfortunate
member such a twitch that I started up with the idea that someone was
dragging the stocks away.
Captain Bob and his friends lived in a little hamlet hard by; and when
morning showed in the East, the old gentleman came forth from that
direction likewise, emerging from a grove, and saluting us loudly as
he approached.
Finding everybody awake, he set us at liberty; and, leading us down to
the stream, ordered every man to strip and bathe.
"All han's, my boy, hanna-hanna, wash!" he cried. Bob was a linguist,
and had been to sea in his day, as he many a time afterwards told us.
At this moment, we were all alone with him; and it would have been the
easiest thing in the world to have given him the slip; but he seemed
to have no idea of such a thing; treating us so frankly and
cordially, indeed, that even had we thought of running, we should
have been ashamed of attempting it. He very well knew, nevertheless
(as we ourselves were not slow in finding out), that, for various
reasons, any attempt of the kind, without some previously arranged
plan for leaving the island, would be certain to fail.
As Bob was a rare one every way, I must give some account of him.
There was a good deal of "personal appearance" about him; in short,
he was a corpulent giant, over six feet in height, and literally as
big round as a hogshead. The enormous bulk of some of the Tahitians
has been frequently spoken of by voyagers.
Beside being the English consul's jailer, as it were, he carried on a
little Tahitian farming; that is to say, he owned several groves of
the bread-fruit and palm, and never hindered their growing. Close by
was a "taro" patch of his which he occasionally visited.
Bob seldom disposed of the produce of his lands; it was all needed for
domestic consumption. Indeed, for gormandizing, I would have matched
him against any three common-council men at a civic feast.
A friend of Bob's told me that, owing to his voraciousness, his visits
to other parts of the island were much dreaded; for, according to
Tahitian customs, hospitality without charge is enjoined upon
everyone; and though it is reciprocal in most cases, in Bob's it was
almost out of the question. The damage done to a native larder in one
of his morning calls was more than could be made good by his
entertainer's spending the holidays with them.
The old man, as I have hinted, had, once upon a time, been a cruise or
two in a whaling-vessel; and, therefore, he prided himself upon his
English. Having acquired what he knew of it in the forecastle, he
talked little else than sailor phrases, which sounded whimsically
enough.
I asked him one day how old he was. "Olee?" he exclaimed, looking very
profound in consequence of thoroughly understanding so subtile a
question--"Oh! very olee--'tousand 'ear--more--big man when Capin
Tootee (Captain Cook) heavey in sight." (In sea parlance, came into
view.)
This was a thing impossible; but adapting my discourse to the man, I
rejoined--"Ah! you see Capin Tootee--well, how you like him?"
"Oh! he maitai: (good) friend of me, and know my wife."
On my assuring him strongly that he could not have been born at the
time, he explained himself by saying that he was speaking of his
father, all the while. This, indeed, might very well have been.
It is a curious fact that all these people, young and old, will tell
you that they have enjoyed the honour of a personal acquaintance with
the great navigator; and if you listen to them, they will go on and
tell anecdotes without end. This springs from nothing but their great
desire to please; well knowing that a more agreeable topic for a
white man could not be selected. As for the anachronism of the thing,
they seem to have no idea of it: days and years are all the same to
them.
After our sunrise bath, Bob once more placed us in the stocks, almost
moved to tears at subjecting us to so great a hardship; but he could
not treat us otherwise, he said, on pain of the consul's displeasure.
How long we were to be confined, he did not know; nor what was to be
done with us in the end.
As noon advanced, and no signs of a meal were visible, someone
inquired whether we were to be boarded, as well as lodged, at the
Hotel de Calabooza?
"Vast heavey" (avast heaving, or wait a bit)--said Bob--"kow-kow"
(food) "come ship by by."
And, sure enough, along comes Rope Tarn with a wooden bucket of the
Julia's villainous biscuit. With a grin, he said it was a present
from Wilson: it was all we were to get that day. A great cry was now
raised; and well was it for the land-lubber that lie had a pair of
legs, and the men could not use theirs. One and all, we resolved not
to touch the bread, come what come might; and so we told the natives.
Being extravagantly fond of ship-biscuit--the harder the better--they
were quite overjoyed; and offered to give us, every day, a small
quantity of baked bread-fruit and Indian turnip in exchange for the
bread. This we agreed to; and every morning afterward, when the
bucket came, its contents were at once handed over to Bob and his
friends, who never ceased munching until nightfall.
Our exceedingly frugal meal of bread-fruit over, Captain Bob waddled
up to us with a couple of long poles hooked at one end, and several
large baskets of woven cocoa-nut branches.
Not far off was an extensive grove of orange-trees in full bearing;
and myself and another were selected to go with him, and gather a
supply for the party. When we went in among the trees, the
sumptuousness of the orchard was unlike anything I had ever seen;
while the fragrance shaken from the gently waving boughs regaled our
senses most delightfully.
In many places the trees formed a dense shade, spreading overhead a
dark, rustling vault, groined with boughs, and studded here and there
with the ripened spheres, like gilded balls. In several places, the
overladen branches were borne to the earth, hiding the trunk in a
tent of foliage. Once fairly in the grove, we could see nothing else;
it was oranges all round.
To preserve the fruit from bruising, Bob, hooking the twigs with his
pole, let them fall into his basket. But this would not do for us.
Seizing hold of a bough, we brought such a shower to the ground that
our old friend was fain to run from under. Heedless of remonstrance,
we then reclined in the shade, and feasted to our heart's content.
Heaping up the baskets afterwards, we returned to our comrades, by
whom our arrival was hailed with loud plaudits; and in a marvellously
short time, nothing was left of the oranges we brought but the rinds.
While inmates of the Calabooza, we had as much of the fruit as we
wanted; and to this cause, and others that might be mentioned, may be
ascribed the speedy restoration of our sick to comparative health.
The orange of Tahiti is delicious--small and sweet, with a thin, dry
rind. Though now abounding, it was unknown before Cook's time, to
whom the natives are indebted for so great a blessing. He likewise
introduced several other kinds of fruit; among these were the fig,
pineapple, and lemon, now seldom met with. The lime still grows, and
some of the poorer natives express the juice to sell to the shipping.
It is highly valued as an anti-scorbutic. Nor was the variety of
foreign fruits and vegetables which were introduced the only benefit
conferred by the first visitors to the Society group. Cattle and
sheep were left at various places. More of them anon.
Thus, after all that of late years has been done for these islanders,
Cook and Vancouver may, in one sense at least, be considered their
greatest benefactors. _
Read next: PART I: CHAPTER XXXII. PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRENCH AT TAHITI
Read previous: PART I: CHAPTER XXX. THEY TAKE US ASHORE--WHAT HAPPENED THERE
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