The Madman and the Pirate & Other Sea Adventures - 5 Books in One Edition. R. M. Ballantyne
maro, or strip of cloth, round the loins of the boys, and a very short petticoat or kilt on the girls. They did not all play at the same game, but amused themselves in different groups.
One band was busily engaged in a game exactly similar to our blind man’s buff. Another set were walking on stilts, which raised the children three feet from the ground. They were very expert at this amusement, and seldom tumbled. In another place I observed a group of girls standing together, and apparently enjoying themselves very much; so I went up to see what they were doing, and found that they were opening their eyelids with their fingers till their eyes appeared of an enormous size, and then thrusting pieces of straw between the upper and lower lids, across the eyeball, to keep them in that position! This seemed to me, I must confess, a very foolish as well as dangerous amusement. Nevertheless, the children seemed to be greatly delighted with the hideous faces they made. I pondered this subject a good deal, and thought that if little children knew how silly they seemed to grown-up people when, they make faces, they would not be so fond of doing it. In another place were a number of boys engaged in flying kites; and I could not help wondering that some of the games of those little savages should be so like to our own, although they had never seen us at play. But the kites were different from ours in many respects, being of every variety of shape. They were made of very thin cloth, and the boys raised them to a wonderful height in the air by means of twine made from the cocoa-nut husk. Other games there were, some of which showed the natural depravity of the hearts of these poor savages, and made me wish fervently that missionaries might be sent out to them. But the amusement which the greatest number of the children of both sexes seemed to take chief delight in was swimming and diving in the sea, and the expertness which they exhibited was truly amazing. They seemed to have two principal games in the water, one of which was to dive off a sort of stage which had been erected near a deep part of the sea, and chase each other in the water. Some of them went down to an extraordinary depth; others skimmed along the surface, or rolled over and over like porpoises, or diving under each other, came up unexpectedly and pulled each other down by a leg or an arm. They never seemed to tire of this sport, and from the great heat of the water in the South Seas, they could remain in it nearly all day without feeling chilled. Many of these children were almost infants, scarce able to walk; yet they staggered down the beach, flung their round, fat little black bodies fearlessly into deep water, and struck out to sea with as much confidence as ducklings.
The other game to which I have referred was swimming in the surf. But as this is an amusement in which all engage, from children of ten to grey-headed men of sixty, and as I had an opportunity of witnessing it in perfection the day following, I shall describe it more minutely.
I suppose it was in honour of their guest that this grand swimming-match was got up, for Romata came and told the captain that they were going to engage in it, and begged him to “come and see.”
“What sort of amusement is this surf-swimming?” I inquired of Bill as we walked together to a part of the shore on which several thousands of the natives were assembled.
“It’s a very favourite lark with these ’xtr’or’nary critters,” replied Bill, giving a turn to the quid of tobacco that invariably bulged out of his left cheek. “Ye see, Ralph, them fellows take to the water as soon a’most as they can walk, an’ long before they can do that anything respectably, so that they are as much at home in the sea as on the land. Well, ye see, I ’spose they found swimmin’ for miles out to sea, and divin’ fathoms deep, wasn’t excitin’ enough, so they invented this game o’ swimmin’ on the surf. Each man and boy, as you see, has got a short board or plank, with which he swims out for a mile or more to sea, and then, gettin’ on the top o’ yon thunderin’ breaker, they come to shore on the top of it, yellin’ and screechin’ like fiends. It’s a marvel to me that they’re not dashed to shivers on the coral reef, for sure an’ sart’in am I that if any o’ us tried it, we wouldn’t be worth the fluke of a broken anchor after the wave fell. But there they go!”
As he spoke, several hundreds of the natives, amongst whom we were now standing, uttered a loud yell, rushed down the beach, plunged into the surf, and were carried off by the seething foam of the retreating wave.
At the point where we stood, the encircling coral reef joined the shore, so that the magnificent breakers, which a recent stiff breeze had rendered larger than usual, fell in thunder at the feet of the multitudes who lined the beach. For some time the swimmers continued to strike out to sea, breasting over the swell like hundreds of black seals. Then they all turned, and watching an approaching billow, mounted its white crest, and each laying his breast on the short, flat board, came rolling towards the shore, careering on the summit of the mighty wave, while they and the onlookers shouted and yelled with excitement. Just as the monster wave curled in solemn majesty to fling its bulky length upon the beach, most of the swimmers slid back into the trough behind; others, slipping off their boards, seized them in their hands, and plunging through the watery waste, swam out to repeat the amusement; but a few, who seemed to me the most reckless, continued their career until they were launched upon the beach and enveloped in the churning foam and spray. One of these last came in on the crest of the wave most manfully, and landed with a violent bound almost on the spot where Bill and I stood. I saw by his peculiar head-dress that he was the chief whom the tribe entertained as their guest. The sea-water had removed nearly all the paint with which his face had been covered, and as he rose panting to his feet, I recognised, to my surprise, the features of Tararo, my old friend of the Coral Island!
Tararo at the same moment recognised me, and advancing quickly, took me round the neck and rubbed noses, which had the effect of transferring a good deal of the moist paint from his nose to mine. Then, recollecting that this was not the white man’s mode of salutation, he grasped me by the hand and shook it violently.
“Hallo, Ralph!” cried Bill in surprise, “that chap seems to have taken a sudden fancy to you, or he must be an old acquaintance.”
“Right, Bill,” I replied; “he is indeed an old acquaintance.” And I explained, in a few words, that he was the chief whose party Jack and Peterkin and I had helped to save.
Tararo having thrown away his surf-board, entered into an animated conversation with Bill, pointing frequently during the course of it to me, whereby I concluded he must be telling him about the memorable battle and the part we had taken in it. When he paused I begged of Bill to ask him about the woman Avatea, for I had some hope that she might have come with Tararo on this visit. “And ask him,” said I, “who she is, for I am persuaded she is of a different race from the Feejeeans.” On the mention of her name the chief frowned darkly, and seemed to speak with much anger.
“You’re right, Ralph,” said Bill when the chief had ceased to talk; “she’s not a Feejee girl, but a Samoan. How she ever came to this place the chief does not very clearly explain; but he says she was taken in war, and that he got her three years ago, an’ kept her as his daughter ever since. Lucky for her, poor girl, else she’d have been roasted and eaten like the rest.”
“But why does Tararo frown and look so angry?” said I.
“Because the girl’s somewhat obstinate, like most o’ the sex, an’ won’t marry the man he wants her to. It seems that a chief of some other island came on a visit to Tararo and took a fancy to her; but she wouldn’t have him on no account, bein’ already in love, and engaged to a young chief whom Tararo hates, and she kicked up a desperate shindy. So, as he was goin’ on a war-expedition in his canoe, he left her to think about it, sayin’ he’d be back in six months or so, when he hoped she wouldn’t be so obstropolous. This happened just a week ago; an’ Tararo says that if she’s not ready to go, when the chief returns, as his bride, she’ll be sent to him as a long pig.”
“As a long pig!” I exclaimed in surprise. “Why, what does he mean by that?”
“He means somethin’ very unpleasant,” answered Bill with a frown. “You see, these blackguards eat men an’ women just as readily as they eat pigs; and as baked pigs and baked men are very like each other in appearance, they call men long pigs. If Avatea goes to this fellow as a long pig, it’s all up with her, poor thing!”
“Is she on the island now?”