He must have been dumb; for never a word did he utter; but grinning
from ear to ear, and with his white cotton robe streaming in the
moonlight, he looked more like the spook of the island than anything
mortal.
I tried to effect my object by attacking him in the rear - but he was
all front; running about the place as I paddled, and presenting his
confounded musket wherever I went. At last I was obliged to retreat;
and to this day my vow remains unfulfilled.
It was a few days after my repulse from before the walls of Hotoo-Otoo
that I heard a curious case of casuistry argued between one of the
most clever and intelligent natives I ever saw in Tahiti, a man by
the name of Arheetoo, and our learned Theban of a doctor.
It was this: - whether it was right and lawful for anyone, being a
native, to keep the European Sabbath, in preference to the day set
apart as such by the missionaries, and so considered by the islanders
in general.
It must be known that the missionaries of the good ship Duff, who more
than half-a-century ago established the Tahitian reckoning, came
hither by the way of the Cape of Good Hope; and by thus sailing to
the eastward, lost one precious day of their lives all round, getting
about that much in advance of Greenwich time. For this reason,
vessels coming round Cape Horn - as they most all do nowadays - find it
Sunday in Tahiti, when, according to their own view of the matter, it
ought to be Saturday. But as it won't do to alter the log, the
sailors keep their Sabbath, and the islanders theirs.
This confusion perplexes the poor natives mightily; and it is to no
purpose that you endeavour to explain so incomprehensible a
phenomenon. I once saw a worthy old missionary essay to shed some
light on the subject; and though I understood but a few of the words
employed, I could easily get at the meaning of his illustrations.
They were something like the following:
"Here," says he, "you see this circle" (describing a large one on the
ground with a stick); "very good; now you see this spot here"
(marking a point in the perimeter): "well; this is Beretanee
(England), and I'm going to sail round to Tahiti. Here I go, then
(following the circle round), and there goes the sun (snatching up
another stick, and commissioning a bandy-legged native to travel
round with it in a contrary direction). Now then, we are both off,
and both going away from each other; and here you see I have arrived
at Tahiti (making a sudden stop); and look now where Bandy Legs is!"
But the crowd strenuously maintained that Bandy Legs ought to be
somewhere above them in the atmosphere; for it was a traditionary
fact that the people from the Duff came ashore when the sun was high
overhead. And here the old gentleman, being a very good sort of man,
doubtless, but no astronomer, was obliged to give up.
Arheetoo, the casuist alluded to, though a member of the church, and
extremely conscientious about what Sabbath he kept, was more liberal
in other matters. Learning that I was something of a "mick-onaree"
(in this sense, a man able to read, and cunning in the use of the
pen), he desired the slight favour of my forging for him a set of
papers; for which, he said, he would be much obliged, and give me a
good dinner of roast pig and Indian turnip in the bargain.
Now, Arheetoo was one of those who board the shipping for their
washing; and the competition being very great (the proudest chiefs
not disdaining to solicit custom in person, though the work is done
by their dependants), he had decided upon a course suggested by a
knowing sailor, a friend of his. He wished to have manufactured a set
of certificates, purporting to come from certain man-of-war and
merchant captains, known to have visited the island; recommending him
as one of the best getters up of fine linen in all Polynesia.
At this time, Arheetoo had known me but two hours; and, as he made the
proposition very coolly, I thought it rather presumptuous, and told
him so. But as it was quite impossible to convey a hint, and there
was a slight impropriety in the thing, I did not resent the insult,
but simply declined.
CHAPTER XLIII.
ONE IS JUDGED BY THE COMPANY HE KEEPS
ALTHOUGH, from its novelty, life at Captain Bob's was pleasant enough,
for the time; there were some few annoyances connected with it
anything but agreeable to a "soul of sensibility."
Prejudiced against us by the malevolent representations of the consul
and others, many worthy foreigners ashore regarded us as a set of
lawless vagabonds; though, truth to speak, better behaved sailors
never stepped on the island, nor any who gave less trouble to the
natives. But, for all this, whenever we met a respectably-dressed
European, ten to one he shunned us by going over to the other side of
the road. This was very unpleasant, at least to myself; though,
certes, it did not prey upon the minds of the others.
To give an instance.
Of a fine evening in Tahiti - but they are all fine evenings there - you
may see a bevy of silk bonnets and parasols passing along the Broom
Road: perhaps a band of pale, little white urchins - sickly
exotics - and, oftener still, sedate, elderly gentlemen, with canes;
at whose appearance the natives, here and there, slink into their
huts. These are the missionaries, their wives, and children, taking a
family airing.
