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:
