THE SOUTH SEAS.

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 9335, 2 July 1891, Page 4

THE SOUTH SEAS.

[copy eight .3

Br Robert Look Stevenson. “ Author of * Treasure Island,’ 4 Kidnapped,* a * The Strange Story of Dr Jekyll V and air Hyde,’ etc. b Part 11. n CHAPTER XVI. e A HOUSE TO LET IS LOW ISLAND. 0 Never populous, it was vet by a chapter of * accidents that I found the island eo deserted ; that no sound of human life diversified the hours; that we walked in that trim public garden of a town, among closed houses, without even a lodging bill in a window to prove some tenacy in the back quarters; and when s we visited the Government bungalow, that ( Mr Donat, acting Vice-Resident, greeted us c alone and entertained us with coooanut c punches in the Sessions Hall and seat of j judgment of that wide-spread archipelago, a our glasses standing arrayed with summonses . and census returns. The unpopularity of a i late Vice-Resident had begun the movement r of exodus, nis native employees demitting . court appointments and retiring each to his own cocoa patch in the eccentric districts of the isle. Upon the back of that, the Governor I of Papeete issued a decree; all land in the 1 Paumotus must be defined and registered, or 1 at least, reclamation entered, by a certain 1 date. Now, the folk Of the archipelago are : half nomadic; a man can scarce be said to ' belong to any particular atoll—he belongs to 1 several, perhaps holds a stake and counts consulship in half a score; and the inhabi- 1 tants of Botoava in particular, man, woman, and child, and from the gendarme to the Mormon prophets and the schoolmaster, owned— l was going to say land—owned at least coral blocks and growing cocoa palms in some adjacent isle. Thither —from the gendarme to the babe in arms, the pastor followed by his flock, the schoolmaster carrying along with him bis scholars, and the scholars with their books and slates—they had taken ship some two days previous to oar arrival, and were all now engaged disputing boundaries. Raney overhears the shrillness of their disputation mingled with the surf and scattered sea fowl. And it was admirable to observe the completeness of their flight, like that of hibernating birds; nothing left but empty houses, like old nests to be re-occupied in spring; and even the harmless necessary dominie borne with them in their transmigration. Fifty odd set out, and only seven, I was informed, remained. But when I made a feast on board the Casco, more than seven, and nearer seven times seven, appeared to be my guests. Whence they appeared, how they wore summoned, whither they vanished when the feast was eaten, I have no guess. In view of low island tales, and that awful frequentslion which makes men avoid the seaward beaches of an atoll, some twoscoro of those that ate with us may have returned, for the occasion, from the kingdom of the dead. It was this solitude that put it in our minds to hire a house, and become, for the time being, indwellers of the isle —a practice I have ever since, when it was possible, adhered to. Mr Donat placed us, with that intent, under the convoy of one, Tanioia Mahiuui, who cumulated the incongruous characters of catechist and convict. The reader may smile, but I affirm ho was well qualified for either port. For that of convict, first of all, by a good substantial felony, such as in all lands casts the perpetrator in chains and dungeons. Taniera was a man of birth — the phief a while ago, as he loved to tell, of a ' sicri,' or district, in Anaa, of 800 ’souls. Hence the trouble sprang j for, in an evil hour, it occurred to the authorities at Papeete to charge the chief with the collection of the taxes. It is a question it much were collected. It is certain that nothing was handed on, and Taneira, who had distinguished himself by a visit to Papeete, and some, high living in restaurants, was chosen for the scapegoat. The reader must understand that not Taniera, but the authorities in Papeete were the first in fault. The charge imposed was disproportioned. I have not yet heard of any Polynesian capable of such a burden. Honest and upright Hawaiians —one in particular, who was admired even by the whites as an inflexible magistrate—have stumbled in the narrow path of the trustee. And Taneira, when the pinch came, scorned to denounce accomplices. Others bad shaved the spoil: he bore the penalty alone. He was condemned in five years. The period, when I had the pleasure of his friendship, was not yet expired. He still drew his prison rations, the sola and not unwelcome reminder of his chains, and, I believe, looked forward to the date of his enfranchisement , with more alarm. For he had no sense of shame in the position, complained of nothing hut the defective table of his place of exile, regretted nothing but the fowls and eggs and fish of his own more favoured island; and, ns for bis parishioners, they did not think one hair the less of him. A schoolboy mulcted in ten thousand lines of Greek and dwelling sequestered in the dormitories, enjoys unabated consideration from his fellows. So with Taniera a marked man, not a dishonored; having i fallen under the lash of the unthinkable gods) a Job, perhaps, or say a Taniera in the den of lions. Songs are likely made and sung about this saintly Robin Hood. On the other hand, I he was even highly qualified for his office in the church; being by nature a grave, considerate and kindly man ; his face rugged and serious, his smile bright; the master of several trades, a builder both of boats aud houses; endowed with a fine pulpit voice; endowed besides with snob a gift of eloquence that at the grave of the late chief of Fakarava be set all the assistants weeping. I never met a 1 man of a mind more ecclesiastical j he loved to dispute and inform himself of doctrine and the history of sects ; and when I showed him the cuts in a volume of Chamber’s Encyclopaedia—except for one of an ape—reserved his i whole enthusiasm for Cardinal’s hats, censers, candlesticks, aud cathedrals. Methought when he looked upon the Cardinal’s hat a voice said low in his ear: ‘ Your foot is I on the ladder.’ Under the guidance of Taniera we were soon installed in what I believe to have been the best appointed private house in Fakarava. ’ It stood just beyond the church in an oblong patch of cultivation. More than three hun- . dred sacks of soil were imported from Tahiti for the residency garden; and this must i shortly be renewed, for the earth blows away, ■ sinks in crevices of the coral, and is sought for at last in vain. I know not how much

earth has gone to the garden of my villa; some at least, for an alley of prosperous bananas ran to the gate, and over the rest of the enclosure, which was covered with tno usual clinker-like fragments of smashed coral, not only cocoa palms and mikis but also fig trees flourished, all of a delicious greenness. Of course there was no blade of grass. In front a picket fence divided as from the white road, the palm-fringed margin of the lagoon, and the lagoon itself, reflecting clouds by day and stars by night. At the back, a bulwark of uncemented coral enclosed us from the

narrow belt of bush and the nigh ocean beach where the seas thundered, the roar and wash of them still humming in the chambers of the bouse. This itself was of one story, rerandahed front and back. It contained three rooms,

three sewing machines, three sea chests, chairs, tables, a pair of beds, a cradle, a doublebarrelled gun, a pair of enlarged coloured photographs, a pair of coloured prints, after Wilkie Mulready, and a French lithograph ■with the legend: *Le brigade du General Leposset hrulant son drapeau devant Metz' Under the stilts of the house a stove was rusting, till we drew it forth and put it in commission. Not far off was the burrow in

the coral whence we supplied ourselves with brackish water. There was live stock, besides, on the estate—cocks and hens and a brace of ill-regulated cats, whom Taniera came ©very morning with the sun to feed on grated cocoanut. His voice was our regular revielle, ringing pleasantly about the garden: ‘ Pooty —pooty—poo —poo —poo T Par as we were from the public offices, the nearness of the chapel made our situation what is called eligible in advertisements, and gave us a side look on some Native life. Every morning as soon as he had fed the fowls, Taniera set the bell agog in the email belfry, and the faithful, who were not very numerous, gathered to prayers. I was once present; it was the Lord’s Day, and seven females and eight males composed the congregation. A women played precentor, starting with a longish note, the catechist joined in upon the second bar, and then the faithful in body. Some had printed hymn books which they followed ; some of the rest filled up with 4 eh —eh—eh/ the Paumotaun fol-de-rol. After the hymn wo had an antiphonal prayer or two, «nd then Taniera rose from the front bench, where he had been sitting in his catechist’s robes, passed within the altar rails, opened bis Tahitian Bible, and began to preach from notes. I understood one word—the name of Q-od, but the preacher managed his voice with taste, used rare and expressive gestures, and made a strong impression of sincerity. The plain service, the vernacular Bible, the hymn tunes mostly on an English pattern —‘God Save the Queen/ I was informed, a special favourite—all save some paper flowers upon the altar, seemed not merely, but austerely Protestant. It is thus the'Catholics have met their low island proselytes half way. I should not forget, however, that the least ornate service at which I was ever present shook the chapel vault of Our Lady of the snows among the hills of the Vivaraifl —a distant reminiscence. Taniera bad the keys of our house ; it was with him 1 made my bargain, if that could be called a bargain in which all was remitted to my generosity ; it was he who fed the cats and poultry, he who came to call and pick a meal with ns like an acknowledged friend ; and we long fondly supposed Be was our landlord. This belief was not to bear the acids of experience; and as my chapter has to relate, no certainty succeeded it. (To be continued.) •