HILO.
The run to Hilo was made in about forty hours, the steamer making several stops on the way. It rained "cats and dogs" when the party landed, but as all the baggage had been wrapped in water-proof coverings, nothing was damaged. Arrangements were speedily made for departure on the following morning without regard to the weather: horses and guides were engaged, the best animals being selected for the saddles and others for packing purposes, and a substantial lunch was made ready for the mid-day meal. Doctor Bronson insisted that the horses should all be freshly shod before starting, and an extra supply of shoes and nails carried along. The road goes over the lava-beds for nearly the whole distance, and if a horse loses a shoe he will go lame in a very few minutes, so rough and cutting is the lava.
SURF-BATHING AT HILO.
Fortunately the morning was fine, and the bay of Hilo presented a pretty appearance. Groves of palm and other tropical trees lined the shore, the surf broke in regular pulsations upon the curving stretch of beach, and was made animate by dozens of men and boys at play in the waves. For the first time our friends saw some of the sport in thewater for which the islanders are famous, though less so at present than in the days that are gone. Fred thus described it:
"Each man had a surf-board, which was a thick plank twelve or fifteen feet long and perhaps thirty inches wide, and said to be made from the trunk of a bread-fruit tree. There were five or six of the natives to whom we had promised half a dollar each for the performance. They pushed out with their planks to the first line of breakers and managed to dip under it and swim along by the help of the under-tow. They passed the second line in the same way, and finally got beyond the entire stretch of surf into comparatively smooth water.
"Then they tossed up and down for a while, waiting for their chance. What they wanted was an unusually high swell, and they tried to find a place in front of it so that it would sweep them towards the shore just where it broke into a comber. They tried several times but failed, and we began to get out of patience.
"At last they got what they had waited for, while some were kneeling on their planks and others lying extended with their faces downward,and just ahead of the great comber they swept on at a speed of little, if any, less than forty miles an hour. There they were just ahead of the breaker, and apparently sliding downhill; one of them was swamped by it, but he dived and came up behind the wave and made ready for the next. The others kept on, and were flung high and dry by the surf, and as soon as they could rise from their planks they ran towards us to receive their pay. One of the fellows stood erect on his plank while in the surf, just as the Nubians at the first cataract of the Nile stand up while descending through the foaming water."
THE VOLCANO HOUSE.
Meanwhile the guides were busy getting the cavalcade in readiness, and a little before eight o'clock the party was under way for the great volcano. From Hilo to the Volcano House is a distance of thirty miles. The horses go for the most of the time at a walk, and though the ride has been accomplished in six hours, it is better to allow not less than ten for it, and "take things easily." This will give time for a rest of an hour for lunch at the Half-way House—the lunch being the one which we have already prepared.
Frank wanted to try the effect of a gallop, but to guard against accidents Doctor Bronson suggested that gallops would be out of order for the day. The path over the lava is full of holes, and very rough and broken in many places. The natives trot and gallop along the road, but the novice should refrain from so doing. At a walking pace there is little discomfort and practically no danger, and parties of ladies and children can make the journey without excessive fatigue. "Chi va piano va sano," as the Italians say.
The youths found the ride from Hilo to the volcano full of interest. They amused themselves by comparing the lava-fields with those ofthe volcanoes they had visited in other parts of the world, and they studied the ferns, of which there were many varieties, the largest of them having stalks three or four feet in diameter and a height of fifteen or twenty feet. Other ferns were very small, and between the small and large there were all shades of colors and all possible sizes. One of the guides showed that the ferns were not altogether ornamental plants, as he plucked from one of them a woolly substance he calledpulu, and said it was used for stuffing beds and pillows. Many tons of pulu are exported every year to America and other countries.
At the Half-way House everybody was hungry, and the lunch was speedily disposed of. A little after six o'clock in the evening the Volcano House was reached, and here the party spent the night. A good supper was prepared and eaten, and the incidents of the day and plans of the morrow were discussed; then the youths joined Doctor Bronson, at the suggestion of the latter, in a sulphur vapor-bath of Nature's own preparation, and after it all retired to sleep. The accommodations were limited, but everybody was weary enough to be willing to put up with the most primitive style of lodging, provided nothing better could be obtained.
Here is what Frank wrote concerning the visit of our friends to the crater of the volcano:
"We took a hearty breakfast and left the house about half-past eight o'clock in the morning, to make acquaintance with the crater. We put on our strongest shoes but did not encumber ourselves with heavy clothing, as the guide said we should not need it. The house is quite near the crater, almost on its edge, and so we didn't have far to go to begin sight-seeing; in fact, we had begun it on the previous evening, and all through the night, as the light of the volcano was almost constantly in our eyes. Two or three times during the night we saw the lava spurting up like a fountain above the edge of one of the small craters, and altogether the scene was an exciting one.
"It is fully three miles from one side of the crater of Kilauea to the other; but you do not walk in a straight course across it, for the simple reason that you can't. The crater is a great pit varying from eight hundred to fifteen hundred feet in depth; its floor consists of lava, ashes, and broken rocks, the lava predominating. It is rough and uneven, and in several places there are small craters sending up jets of flame, smoke, and steam, and there are numerous cracks from which smoke and steam issue constantly. In many places the lava lies in great rolls and ridges that are not easy to walk over, and some ofthem are quite impassable. Consequently the path winds about a good deal, and you may be said to walk two miles to get ahead one.
"The floor of the crater is hardly the same from week to week, and if I should make a map of it, and describe the place very carefully, you might not know it if you come here a year from now. In many places it is so hot that you cannot walk on it. Lava cools very slowly, and the thicker the bed of it the longer the time it requires for cooling.
"The Hawaiians say that the volcano is under the control of the Goddess Pele; she is a capricious deity, and you never know for any great length of time beforehand what she will do. Whenever the mood strikes her she orders an eruption, and straightway the fires are lighted, the mountain trembles, and the earth all around is violently shaken. Flames burst forth from the crater and shoot high in air, and sometimes the floor of the whole area is lifted and tossed like the waves of the sea. Kilauea may be said to be constantly active, as the fires never cease; but there are periods of great activity followed by seasons of comparative quiet.
VIEW OF ONE OF THE BURNING LAKES.
"Over the floor of the great crater we picked our way for nearly three miles to the Burning Lakes; and what do you suppose these lakes are?
"Their name describes them, as they are literally burning lakes—lakes of fire so hot that if you should be foolish enough to try to bathe in them, or so unfortunate as to fall into their waves, you would be burned up in less than a minute. We had to climb up a steep bank of lava to get in sight of them, and then what a spectacle was presented!
"There were two little lakes or ponds, five or six hundred feet in diameter, and separated by a narrow embankment which the guide said was occasionally overflowed, and either covered entirely or broken down for a while. These lakes are on the top of a hill formed by the cooling of the lava, and at the time we saw them their surface was perhaps one hundred feet below the point where we stood on the outer edge or rim. The wind blew from us over the lakes, and carried away the greater part of the smoke and the fumes of sulphur; but in spite of the favoring breeze we were almost choked by the noxious gases that rose from the burning lava, and the numerous crevices in the solid banks where we stood.
"I said the bank was formed by the cooling of the lava; I should rather say by its hardening, as it was far from cool. It was so hot that it burned our feet through the soles of our thick shoes, and we stood first on one foot and then on the other, as turkeys are said to stand on a hot plate. Fred sat down to rest, but he stood up again in less than half a minute, as it was like sitting on a hot stove. We had brought a canteen of water which the guide placed on the ground near us; when I went to pick it up for a drink, the air and exertion having made me very thirsty, it was so hot that I burned my fingers in trying to hold it. The water in the canteen was like a cup of tea as good housewives like to pour it steaming from the kettle.
"Our faces were blistering with the heat that rose from the surface of the lakes, and then we scorched our hands in trying to protect our faces. We were blinded and suffocated; we coughed and spluttered, and found it difficult to speak, and in a little while concluded we had had quite enough of the lakes. We used our eyes rapidly, as there was a great deal to look at, and the whole scene was such as does not often come into one's opportunities.
"The molten lava seethed, bubbled, boiled, and rolled below us, its surface covered with a grayish and thin crust, out of which rose irregular circles and patches of fire that seemed to sweep and follow oneanother from the circumference to the centre of the lake. Every minute or so the lava in the centre of the lake bulged up and broke into an enormous bubble or wave which sometimes rose twenty or thirty feet into the air, and then broke and scattered just as you see a bubble breaking in a kettle of boiling paste or oatmeal porridge. I know the comparison is a homely one, but I can't think of anything that will better describe what we saw.
"The bank of the lake down near where the lava came against it was red hot, and so you may imagine if you can a mass of liquid fire rolling and surging against a solid one. One of the lakes was much more agitated than the other, and the liquid lava seemed to break upon its sides very much like a sea upon a rocky shore. Owing to the half-plastic condition of the lava, it could not break into surf and spray like the waves of the ocean, but it made a dull roar, something like that of the Pacific on the beach near San Francisco just after the subsidence of a storm.
VIEW ON A LAVA FIELD.
"The surface of the lava changes its height from time to time. The guide said it occasionally rose until it overflowed the sides of the basin enclosing the lakes, and formed streams that spread out over the level area of the great crater. Sometimes it sank so that it was fully four hundred feet from the edge of the rim down to the lava; but whether it was high or low, there was never a time when it was wholly inactive.
"The guide called our attention to cones which had formed on the rim of the lake; they were caused by the cooling of the lava around vent-holes, and as successive jets of lava were thrown up and cooledthey had formed cones fifteen or twenty feet high, and some of them as much as thirty feet. When the height became so great that the lava sought an outlet elsewhere, it generally left a hole in the top of the cone. We looked down some of these holes and saw the seething mass of lava threatening each moment to rise and destroy the very frail foundation where we were standing. The guide said there was little real danger, as the lava had receded since the cones were formed. I observed that the crust where we stood was not more than a foot or so in thickness; and as the lava is very brittle, the spot was certainly not a safe one. Besides, the fumes that rose from the vent-holes were absolutely stifling; and though the sight was a fascinating one, it was impossible to remain there long, owing to the difficulty of breathing.
HAWAIIAN WARRIORS OF A CENTURY AGO.
"We have visited volcanoes in other parts of the world, but none that equalled this, and never have we seen anything to compare with the Burning Lakes of Kilauea. What a magnificent sight it must be to see an eruption of Kilauea or Mauna Loa—especially the latter, as it is much the larger of the two. Just now it is quiet, but when it does break out it is, I believe, the greatest volcano in the world. Let me give you a few figures:
"Mauna Loa has had eight great eruptions in forty years, an average of one eruption every five years. It is 13,700 feet high, and in several of its eruptions it has sent streams of lava fifty miles in length to the sea. The flow of these streams is slow, usually requiring eight or ten days, and sometimes longer, to cover the distance from the mountain to the sea. In one eruption it was estimated that 38,000,000,000 cubic feet of lava were poured out, and in another 17,000,000,000. Kilauea is properly a spur of Mauna Loa, and less than 4000 feet high, but nevertheless it is the largest constantly active volcano in the world.
CHAIN OF EXTINCT VOLCANOES, ISLAND OF KAUAI.
"When the lava from Mauna Loa reaches the sea there is an immense cloud of steam rising from the point where the molten mass enters the water; the ocean is heated for miles around, and fishes by millions perish from the heat. The ground all over the island is devastated, earthquakes are frequent, and altogether Hawaii must be an unpleasant place of residence at that time.
"We got back to the hotel about five o'clock in the afternoon, thoroughly tired out with the day's excursion, which had given us somany curious and terrible sights. It has been an experience which we shall long remember."
Our friends wanted to visit the great crater of Haleakala, on the island of Maui, in order to be able to compare an extinct volcano with a live one, but time did not permit. They talked with a gentleman who had been there, and that, said Fred, was the next best thing to seeing with their own eyes. Here is the substance of what they learned concerning Haleakala:
"You have a ride of about twelve miles to reach the summit, and you ought to go up so as to sleep at the top and get the view at sunrise. There is no house there, but of this there is no need, as there are several caves in the lava—they are really broken lava-bubbles, which are each large enough to shelter half a dozen persons comfortably. Of course you must have a guide and must carry plenty of blankets, or you will suffer from the cold. Water and wood can be found near the top of the mountain.
"The crater of Haleakala is thirty miles in circumference, or ten miles across, and it is two thousand feet from the edge of the rim that surrounds it to the floor of the crater; over this floor are spread ten or twelve smaller craters and cones, some of them large enough to be good-sized mountains by themselves, as they are nearly, if not quite, a thousand feet high.
"You can descend into the great crater if you wish, and there is a path by which you can traverse it; but it is very necessary that you should not turn from the path, as the lava is so sharp that it would endanger your horse's feet to go even a few yards over it. Stick to the route, and implicitly obey your guide."
Fred obtained a map of Haleakala, which we give on the following page. It shows the shape of the crater and the openings at either end, where the lava is supposed to have made an outlet for itself; these openings are called Koolau Gap and Kaupo Gap, the former being something more than two miles across, and the latter a trifle less.
Before leaving Hilo, Doctor Bronson arranged for a schooner to meet the party at a point on the Puna coast, which was easily reached in a day's ride from the crater of Kilauea. Before sunset they had paid the guide for the hire of the horses and his own wages, and the evening saw them dashing through the waters on the way to Honolulu. The trade-wind bore them swiftly along; Hawaii is to windward of Oahu, and while it takes a schooner or other sailing-vessel four or five days to beat from Honolulu to Hilo, the return journey can be madein from twenty-four to thirty hours. The second morning from Puna saw the schooner anchored in the harbor of the capital, and our friends had the satisfaction of breakfasting at the spacious and comfortable Hawaiian hotel.
MAP OF THE HALEAKALA CRATER.
Through the courtesy of a gentleman engaged in the sugar culture, our friends made a visit to a sugar plantation, the culture of the saccharine product being the principal industry of the Hawaiian Islands. We have not space for an account of all they saw and heard, but will give a summary from Fred's note-book.
"Sugar is grown on all the four large islands of the group, but the principal seat of the industry is on Maui, which seems peculiarly favorable to it. We were told that the yield was sometimes between five and six tons to the acre, four tons was not an unusual amount, and it would be considered a poor plantation that did not give two or two and a half tons. The volcanic soil seems to be just what the sugar-cane loves; the seasons are such that planting can be done in many places at any time of the year, and there is not the least danger of frost, as in the sugar area of the United States.
"The common custom is to raise two crops, and then let the ground lie idle for two seasons; so that taking a series of years together, allowance must be made for the idle time in estimating the yield of sugar. In some localities, especially those where the ground is artificially irrigated,this plan is not always followed, as it does not appear to be necessary. To show the growth of the industry, let me say that the export of sugar in 1860 was 1,414,271 pounds, while in 1871, eleven years later, it was 21,760,773 pounds. Last year it was in the neighborhood of fifty million pounds.
KAMEHAMEHA I., FIRST KING OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
"In the early years of the sugar culture the work was performed by the natives, but in course of time it grew to such an extent that the local supply of labor was not sufficient. A great number of Chinese and Portuguese were introduced, and laborers have been brought from other islands of the Pacific Ocean, so that the population of the country is now a mixed one. By the census of 1878 the population was 57,986; 44,088 of these were natives, 5916 Chinese, 4561 whites, and 3420 half-castes. In 1882 the population was estimated at 66,895, including 12,804 Chinese. In the two years ending March 31, 1884, there was an immigration of 6166 Portuguese from the Azores Islands. Among the whites the Americans are most numerous, but the Germans are steadily increasing in numbers, a large part of the sugar interest and the commerce dependent upon it being in their hands. The commercial king of the islands is Claus Spreckels, who is of German origin, and practically controls the sugar culture. He owns a steamship line between Honolulu and San Francisco, and the local steamers plying to the various islands are mostly in his hands.
"Rice and coffee are also products of the islands, but they occupy a low position when compared to that of sugar. Hides, tallow, wool, and salt are also exported, but the quantity is not great. The value of the exports of the islands is from eight to ten million dollars annually, and the imports amount to about two millions less than the exports. The principal imports are textile fabrics, clothing, implements, machinery, and provisions."
So much for the commercial condition of the kingdom of Hawaii. Let us now turn to other matters.
WATER-FALL ON ISLAND OF KAUAI.
Our friends took a day, or rather two nights and a day, for a visit to the famous Leper Hospital on Molokai Island. Leaving Honolulu late one evening, they were landed the next morning on Molokai for their strange excursion. We will let Frank tell the story of the visit.
"The leper settlement is on a plain, which is surrounded by mountains on three sides and the sea on the fourth. The mountains are so rugged as to be impassable except at a few points, which are always carefully guarded. The sea-front is also watched, so that escape from the settlement is practically impossible.
IMPLEMENTS OF DOMESTIC LIFE.a, Calabash for poi.—b, Calabash for fish.—c, Water-bottle.—d, d, Poi mallets.—e, Poi trough.—f, Native bracelet—g, Fiddle.—h, Flute.—i, i, Drums.
"Any person in the Hawaiian kingdom suspected of leprosy is arrested by the authorities, and if a medical examination shows that he is afflicted with the disease he is sent to Molokai. The sentence is perpetual, leprosy being considered incurable except in its earliest stages. A man sent to Molokai is considered dead. His wife may obtain a decree of divorce and marry again if she likes, and his estate is handed over to the courts and administered upon as though he had ceased to exist. Great care is exercised to prevent the banishment ofany one about whose case there is any doubt. There is a hospital near Honolulu where all doubtful cases are sent, and the physician in charge keeps them there until the certainty of the presence or absence of the disease is settled beyond question.
HAWAIIAN PIPE.
"The doctor who accompanied us through the settlement assured us that leprosy is neither epidemic nor contagious in the ordinary sense of the latter word. It can only be communicated by an abraded surface coming in contact with a leprous sore; and he said that the practice among the natives of many persons smoking the same pipe had done much to spread the disease. He shook hands freely with the victims of leprosy during our visit, and did not take the trouble to wear gloves, even when the hands of the others were covered with sores.
"He told us that the disease first showed itself by a slight swelling under the eyes and in the lobes of the ears; then the fingers contracted like birds' claws, the face swelled into ridges that were smooth and shiny, and later these ridges broke into festering sores. Sometimes these symptoms on the face do not appear, the attacks being principally on the hands and feet. The fingers and toes wither and decay; they seem to dry up and shrink, as we saw several persons whose finger-nails were on their knuckles, the fingers having shrunk away and disappeared.
"It is a curious circumstance that the victims of leprosy rarely suffer pain. The decay of the extremities is gradual, and the shiny ridges on the face may be pinched with the fingers or punctured with a pin without giving any sensation. Among the nine hundred and odd persons in the leper settlement we saw very few sad faces. The people were enjoying themselves very much as they would in Honolulu—talking and laughing, walking or lounging about, or riding horses, and in one place they were playing a game that evoked a good deal of shouting and hilarity. Many were at work in the fields and gardens, or making salt along the shore. There is a leper governor for the settlement, and the usual number of subordinates that such a place requires. There is a store where goods are sold at cost, and many of the lepers receivemoney from their friends and spend it at the store. The Government provides the lepers with clothes and lodging, and gives them sufficient food for their subsistence. Those who can work are encouraged to do so, and all that they produce is bought by the Board of Health and paid for out of the store.
"Then they have two churches—one Catholic and the other Protestant. The latter has a native pastor, and the former a white priest, who has volunteered to seclude himself among these unfortunate people for their religious good. There are three white men and eight Chinese who have been sent here as lepers. It has been charged that the Chinese brought leprosy to the islands, but the doctor says this is not so, the disease having existed here before the Chinese came; and besides, it is quite unlike the malady of that name in China. There it principally attacks the skin, while the Hawaiian form belongs to the blood.
"The location of the settlement is an excellent one, as it is on the windward side of the island, and constantly swept by the pure breezes from the ocean. For those who are unable to move about there are large and well-kept hospitals, where the patients are waited upon by other lepers that have not reached the disabled stage. Access and escape are alike difficult, and everything seems to have been done to make life as comfortable as possible to the unfortunate victims who are sent here."
SUDDEN CHANGE OF PLANS.—THE YACHTPERA.—DEPARTURE FROM HONOLULU.—VOYAGE TO THE MARQUESAS ISLANDS.—NOOKAHEEVA BAY.—HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE MARQUESAS.—WHAT OUR FRIENDS SAW THERE.—TATTOOING AND HOW IT IS PERFORMED.—THE DAUGHTER OF A CHIEF.—NATIVES AND THEIR PECULIARITIES.—COTTON AND OTHER PLANTATIONS.—PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE ISLANDS.—VISITING A PLANTATION AND A NATIVE VILLAGE.—MISSIONARIES AND THEIR WORK.—THE TABU.—CURIOUS CUSTOMS.—PITCAIRN ISLAND AND THE MUTINEERS OF THEBOUNTY.—WONDERS OF EASTER ISLAND.—GIGANTIC MONUMENTS OF AN UNKNOWN RACE.
Those who have followed the Boy Travellers in their journeys in other parts of the world will remember that their plans were often changed by circumstances which could not be foreseen. At Honolulu one of these change took place, and this is how it happened:
When theAlamedaentered the harbor on her arrival from San Francisco our friends observed at anchor a trim-looking yacht displaying the English flag. They were too busy with the novelties of the place to give her any attention, and her presence was soon forgotten.
On the morning of their return from Molokai Doctor Bronson encountered in the breakfast-room of the hotel an old friend, Doctor Macalister, of Cambridge, England. Their greetings were cordial, and all the more so as neither had the least idea that the other was in the Hawaiian Islands or anywhere else in the Pacific Ocean. In almost the same breath each exclaimed,
"What are you doing here?"
Doctor Bronson explained briefly how he came to Honolulu, and where he was going, to which Doctor Macalister responded,
"I came here on the yachtPera; she belongs to Colonel Bush, formerly of her Britannic Majesty's army, but for several years in the service of the Turkish Government. I am the colonel's guest, and we came here by way of India, China, and Japan. We leave to-morrow for the South Pacific, where we are to cruise about for several months, visiting the most interesting of the island groups. We go first to the Marquesas Islands, and then—"
LOOKING SEAWARD.
Just at this moment Colonel Bush entered the breakfast-room, and was introduced to Doctor Bronson. A moment later Frank and Fred arrived, presentations followed, and before the morning meal was over the American contingent was fairly well acquainted with the English one.
Conversation developed the fact that two gentlemen who had arrived on thePerahad left by the mail-steamer for San Francisco, having received letters at Honolulu which compelled their immediate return to England. Consequently thePera's party was reduced to Colonel Bush and Doctor Macalister.
THE OWNER OF THE YACHT.
The party arranged to meet at dinner. Colonel Bush and Doctor Macalister went to thePera, while Doctor Bronson and the youths proceeded to make farewell calls, as the steamer on which they were to continue their journey was due on the morrow, and they wished to be ready for her.
Exactly how it came about we are unable to say, but it is evident that Colonel Bush desired further acquaintance with Doctor Bronson and his nephews, and that Doctor Macalister had heartily approved the colonel's desire. At all events, when the three gentlemen were together after dinner, Frank and Fred having left the table, the colonel invited Doctor Bronson, with his nephews, to accompany him in his voyage to the South Seas.
"There is plenty of room on the yacht," said he, "and provisions are abundant. ThePerais almost identical with theSunbeam, the famous yacht of Sir Thomas Brassey, of which you have read. She relies upon her sails when there is any wind, and has auxiliary steam-power to propel her when needed. The north-east trade-winds will carry us down to the equatorial belt of calms, and then we'll steam through it to the south-east trades, which will carry us straight to the Marquesas. From the Marquesas we'll go to the Society Islands, then to Samoa, and then to Feejee. There you can if you like take the mail-steamer to New Zealand and Australia, or continue with thePerawherever she goes. Beyond Feejee I have not formed my plans very definitely, as they will depend somewhat upon the letters I receive there, and upon the state of things in the New Hebrides, the Solomon Islands, and other of the groups to the west of Feejee."
The heartiness of the invitation, the opportunity the voyage would give for seeing groups of islands not on the regular track of travel, and the fact that he was not pressed for time, settled the question with Doctor Bronson, and he accepted at once. He excusedhimself shortly afterwards to inform the youths of the change in their plans.
Of course they were delighted at the opportunity of making an acquaintance with the islands that were included in thePera's proposed voyage, and earnestly congratulated themselves on their good-fortune.
"GOOD-BY!"
The baggage of the party was sent on board in the forenoon of the next day; the travellers followed it, and a little before two o'clock in the afternoon thePerasteamed out of Honolulu and headed southward. When she had made a good offing her engines were stopped, the fires were put out, and the yacht proceeded at a splendid pace with the strong trade-wind on her port beam. Her course was directed to the south-east, so as to enable her to cross the equator about longitude 140° west, and take advantage of the south-east trades in making the Marquesas.
AT HOME ON THE "PERA."
Frank undertook a journal of the voyage; but like most works of the kind, it abounded in repetitions, and our space will not permit extensivequotations. One day was so much like another that the young gentleman admitted that his narrative would make very tiresome reading, and he doubted if any one would care to peruse it. Suffice it to say the time passed agreeably, as there was a good library on board, and each member of the party tried to do his share towards entertaining the rest. Stories of sea and land, "of moving accidents by flood and field," and discussions upon scientific, social, and all other imaginable topics, served to beguile the hours and shorten the distance between the Hawaiian and the Marquesas groups.
BELOW DECK IN THE TROPICS.
The north-east trades carried thePeraalmost to the equator, then came a period of calm in a torrid temperature that drove everybody to the shelter of the double awning over the deck, and made them sigh for cooler latitudes. Heavy clothing was at a discount, and the lightest garments were found more than sufficient. Social rules were suspended, and pajamas were worn altogether, except at dinner-time, when light suits of linen took their place. Dinner was served on deck beneath the awning, and the ice-machine was kept in constant action to supply ice for the use of the sweltering travellers. Happily this state of affairs did not last long; as soon as thePeraentered the calm belt the funnel was hoisted, fires were started, the equator was crossed triumphantly, and the yacht in due time caught the south-east trades, and was once more turned into a sailing-craft.
As they left the equator behind them the north star disappearedbelow the horizon, and the Southern Cross, that magnificent constellation of the antarctic heavens, came into view. Frank regretted that they could not look at it with a powerful telescope, when he learned from the captain of thePerathat there is a brilliant cluster of stars in the centre of the Cross, invisible to the unassisted eye, and only revealed by a strong glass. Farther south their attention was absorbed by the Magellan clouds, two nebulæ of stars so densely packed together and so far away that they resemble light fleecy clouds more than anything else.
ON THE COAST OF THE MARQUESAS.
In a direct line it is about two thousand miles from Honolulu to the outermost of the Marquesas group. The log of thePerashowed a run of 2180 miles, and on the morning of the sixteenth day of the voyage the lookout gave the welcome announcement that land was in sight. Colonel Bush had given directions for the yacht to proceed direct to Nookaheeva Bay, the best harbor in the Marquesas group, and consequently the travellers contented themselves with distant views of the outer islands that lay in their course. The islands are evidently of volcanic origin, as they present high peaks rising two or three thousand feet, and in some places their sides are almost precipitous. With a glass, or even with the unaided eye, it was easy to perceive that the sides of the mountains and the valleys enclosed between them were thickly clothed with tropical trees and undergrowth, that extended down close to the water's edge.
Frank made the following historical note concerning the islands:
"They were discovered in 1595 by a Spanish navigator, Mendaña de Neyra, who named them Las Marquesas de Mendoza, in honor of the Marquis de Mendoza, Viceroy of Peru. They are sometimes known as the Mendaña Archipelago, in honor of their discoverer; and they are also called the Washington Islands, having been so named by Captain Ingraham of the American shipHope, who visited them in 1791. They are generally divided into two groups, the Northern and Southern, and the Island of Nookaheeva, where we are going, is in the Northern group. Altogether there are thirteen of the islands, with an area of less than five hundred square miles and a population of about ten thousand.
"Properly the name Marquesas belongs to the Southern group only, as they alone were visited by Mendaña; the Northern group was not known until the American captain discovered it, and therefore we shall insist that they are the Washington Islands."
For the description of what they saw at Nookaheeva we will rely upon Fred's account.
A VIEW IN NOOKAHEEVA.
"As we neared the island," said the youth in his journal, "we got up steam and went proudly into the harbor, which has a very good anchorage. The French flag was flying from a tall staff at the end of the bay, and you must know that the islands are under a French protectorate, and have been so since 1841. Hardly was our anchor down before the yacht was surrounded by a dozen boats, or canoes; one of them contained a Frenchman in a greatly faded uniform, who said he was the captain of the port. I very much doubt if he ever held the rank of captain anywhere else.
"However, he represented the authority of the French Government and treated us politely. Evidently the port was not often visited by pleasure craft like our own, as he seemed somewhat surprised when told that we had nothing to sell, and did not wish to buy anything exceptfresh provisions. We bought some yams, bread-fruit, bananas, and other fruits and vegetables, together with two or three pigs that the natives brought alongside in their boats. The captain of the port promised to send us a man who would supply us with fresh beef, and then went on shore, whither we followed as soon as we had lunched.
"Both in the boats and on the land we had a good opportunity to study the natives, who are said to be the finest type of Polynesians. They belong to the Malay race, and are distinguished for their graceful and symmetrical figures; the men are tall and well proportioned, with skins of a dark copper color, while the women are considerably lighter in complexion, partly in consequence of their being less exposed to the sun, and partly because of certain pigments which they apply to their faces and arms.
"Tattooing is in fashion here; it prevails among both sexes, though more among the men than the women. It takes a long time to perform it thoroughly. A resident Frenchman with whom we talked on the subject said that the operation began at the age of nineteen or twenty, and was rarely finished until the subject was approaching his fortieth year. It is performed with an instrument shaped like a comb, or rather like a small chisel with its end fashioned into teeth. The figure is drawn upon the skin, and then the artist dips the comb into an ink made of burnt cocoanut-shell and water, until the blunt ends of the teeth have taken up some of the coloring matter. Then the comb is placed on the proper spot, and with a mallet is driven through the skin, eliciting a howl from the subject, unless he is of stoical mood.
"Only a few square inches can be operated on at a time. The flesh swells and becomes very sore, and the performance cannot be repeated until the swelling subsides and the patient has gathered strength and recovered from the fever into which he is generally thrown. We are told that the custom is far less prevalent than when the islands were first discovered, and it will probably die out in another generation or two.
GATTANEWA'S PORTRAIT.
"The marks made by tattooing are permanent, and no application has ever been found that will remove them. We have seen several men whose entire bodies were tattooed, others whose arms and faces had alone been wrought upon, and others again who had kept their faces free from marks but had their bodies covered. One old fellow consented to stand for his photograph in consideration of being rewarded with a hatchet and some fish-hooks, which we willingly gave him. We added a pocket-knife, which he received with a grunt of satisfaction, butwithout deigning to say 'Thank you,' or anything like its equivalent. He said his name was Gattanewa, and that he was grandson of a former chief of that name.
"The faces of the women are not tattooed, except that now and then they have a black line on the upper lip, which is quite suggestive of a budding mustache. One pretty woman was pointed out to us who was said to be the daughter of a chief; her hands and arms were tattooed, the tattooing on the arms extending nearly to the elbow. At a little distance she seemed to have on a pair of embroidered gloves, andthis fact suggested an idea. Why could not the ladies of civilized lands have their hands tattooed in imitation of gloves, and thus save themselves the trouble and expense of donning a new pair so often? An ingenious artist could do it nicely, and he might even tattoo the buttons in their places, so that the gloves could have no possible chance of slipping off or getting out of shape.
TATTOO MARKS ON A CHIEF OF THE MARQUESAS.
"There was a chief of one of the interior tribes who presented an excellent specimen of the work of the Polynesian artist on a living canvas. Circles, squares, and all sorts of curious figures had been delineated on his skin, and then punctured in with the tattoo instrument; and the artist certainly possessed a correct eye, as all the drawing was mathematically exact. The chief allowed Frank to make a sketch ofhim, as the photograph did not bring out all the lines with distinctness; of course he was rewarded for his condescension, and as he received twice as much as he had expected, we had any number of candidates offering themselves when it was known how liberally we paid for services.
"Doctor Bronson says the custom prevails in many of the islands of Polynesia, though not in all, but is fast dying out through the influence of Christianity and civilization. Tattooing has been practised in almost all parts of the world and in all ages. According to the Bible, it must have existed in the time of Moses, for we find it to be one of the practices prohibited to the Jews. Read what is said in Leviticus, xix. 28: 'Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you.' It prevailed among the ancient Thracians, andthe ancient Britons practised it. It still exists among sailors, and has probably descended through them from the time when it was common in Great Britain, though they may have adopted it from the barbarous countries to which their occupation carries them.
"Frank says these people are like a French salad, as they are dressed with oil; they use cocoanut-oil for polishing their skins and anointing their hair, and it is applied with great liberality. One of the presents we gave to the chief who stood for his picture was a flat bottle like a pocket-flask; he said through the interpreter that it was just the thing for carrying oil, and he will no doubt use it for that purpose until it goes the way of all bottles and is broken. The effect on the skin is less disagreeable than you might suppose, as it makes it shine like a piece of mahogany, and brings out the tattoo marks just as varnishing a picture brings out its strong points more clearly than before.
"Turmeric and other coloring substances are used with the oil. Turmeric gives a reddish tinge to the natural brown, and when it is applied to the skin of a pretty woman the effect is like that of the tint of an American belle who has spent a summer at the sea-side or on a yachting cruise, and has not been careful of her complexion. Here is a hint for the ladies who pretend to go to the sea-side or the mountains in summer, but are really obliged to remain at home: Make a cosmetic of cocoanut-butter and turmeric, and apply it in place of cold-cream night and morning. In this way you can get up a 'sea-side tan' at a trifling expense.
"Before civilization came here the natives wore very little clothing, and even at the present time they do not spend much money on their wardrobes. The native cloth, tappa, is made by pounding the inner bark of a species of mulberry-tree with a mallet after soaking it in water. Tappa enough for an entire dress can be made in a day, and when it is done it will last five or six weeks. For a head-dress it is made of a more open texture than for garments to cover the body. The women wrap three or four yards of it around the waist to form a skirt or petticoat, and then cover their shoulders with a mantle of the same material. European cotton goods have partially replaced tappa, and the old industry is dying out. It is a pity, too, as tappa is prettier than cotton cloth, and the natives look better in it than in more civilized material.