Fragments from the Unofficial Records of the Cruise of the Ariki.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXXI, Issue I, 4 July 1903, Page 58

Fragments from the Unofficial Records of the Cruise of the Ariki.

(By

Ohau, the Scribe.)

The chronicler wishes it to be clearly understood that he was not a member of the expedition in any sense of the word; neither is he indebted to Marconi, ethegrams, etc., but solely to his astral body, which in its flights through space occasionally alighted on the “Ariki.”

He also takes this opportunity of announcing that he is willing to attend other expeditions on the same terms, with a guarantee not to materialise under any circumstances whatever. And it so happened in the third year of the cycle known as twencentury that the rulers of an island which lies in the S. Pacific Ocean, at the back of nowhere, took counsel among themselves, and said, one to the other, “Verily our island is small but mighty, and our fame has spread throughout the world. Far away to the east lie other islands, which own no ruler. Let us take them and rule over them with wisdom and justice. Perchance they shall be as jewels in our crown; so shall we enlarge our territory, and nations shall bow down before us; and to the end that ye shall see for yourselves that these islands are fair and fertile we shall journey forth, two score of us trusty men and true, to spy out the promised land. And they set forth in the good ship Ariki.” and sailed the fair Southern Seas. Little recked they of the winds that blew, the waves that were high, or the fabled sea serpent that gambolled along in the wake of the ship, ever and anon rearing its crested head, as strains of happy laughter floated on the breeze. But above all the mirth one proud note swelled in their hearts as they thought of the goodly and pleasant lands which would be theirs, for was it not “deeds such as these that won the Empire?” And after some days they came to an island which lay as a fair pearl in the ocean, feathery palms fringing the water’s edge, while the blue waves lazily washed its coral strands.

As they neared the shore a band of laughing maidens eame forward with arms intertwined, their dusky tresses wreathed with starry blossoms. They came to and fro with songs of welcome, the refrain being. “Tell me, gentle stranger, are there any more at home like you?” to which the rulers replied involuntarilv with bowed heads. “There are a few.” And if their eyes grew misty and sad who can blame them? For had they not sung the song, some of them, at their mother’s knee, in their childish days, when they were young and innocent, ere the iron of politics had eaten into their souls?

And as they gazed they saw that the me-’ came not near, but stood afar off, and their mein was fierce and cold: so they made signs and one of them stepped forward, and his speech was in this wise: “Come ye in peace, or come ye in war?” So they made answer: “We come in peace and unarmed, save for the eighty-ton gun which now adorns the deck; but fear not. my braves, that gun was made in Germany, and will not. go off. Nations may fall and empires totter, but that gun stands firm, save and except its great heart should burst, and io the end that ye doubt not, it is our w ill and pleasure that ye come aboard and see the wonders of our ship, for have we not the ping pong, the pianola, a strange and wondrous instrument. and gifts of groat price, and to one shall be given a bead chain, to another a Jew's harp, so shall ye all be made glad. And they were comforted.

And the sun went down, darkness veiled the earth, the good ship “Ariki” sailed awnv into the night, and so till they reached an island, which belonged to a friendly nation, and, lo! here the tri-colour flew: so with much haste they laid the pianola hard a-port to “La Marseillaise” and waited for the dawn. And they of the island came aboard with greetings and asked all manner of questions, and the board was laden with viands of many kinds, and they dallied with Dewar, toyed with Ussher, ate, drank, and were merry, and Waterloo and Fashoda were as if they were not!

And they departed sorrowing and once more sailed the distant main, and anon the “Ariki” would call in at some

coral reef or island, perchance a ring of coral reefs surrounded by palm trees. As one tradition hath it that in bygone days a ship sailed in, and, lo! a man stood on the shore, his form lightly draped with a flag, and they said in anger, “What mean ye by wrapping the flag of a great and honoured nation round your miserable body?” But he made answer, “Let not my lords be angry. This flag was given me by a great white chief, and he planted it in the ground and said, “Behold, this is a gift of price; keep it safe till I come again.” So I wear it, for am I not greater than the ground?” Yet once again they came to a fair haven, and it was a goodly land, flowing with milk and honey, but could never be theirs; so the pianola was set at “Hail Columbia” and “Die Wacht am Rhein.” So they were cast down when they thought of the “might have beens,” and played not of the ping pong, but only Sandow, for so might they become strong, and the gulls flew screaming round the ship, and the pianola was dumb.

And so the days passed, and they grew weary, and murmured among themselves, and one said to the other, “We are a weary and wish that we were dead. We tire of lotus eating and. our souls sicken at the tropical palm, the spicy breezes and the coral strand. Would that we were in Greenland's iey mountains, or among the sweet, sad zephyrs of our native shore.

So the “Ariki’s” head was turned towards home, and, lo! a strange and fearsome thing happened, for the pianola, whose strings had for long been mute, now quickened into life, and “We wont go home till morning” rang triumphantly out on the air.

When they heard these home like strains they at first made merry, then their merriment turned to anger as the pianola refused to stop, and the sun set in a golden glory, the moon shed her silvery radiance over sea and sky: the waves were hushed, and men sought their couches to dream of home and beauty, but still in the silent watches the pianola played on, so when morning broke they waxed wroth ar.d said, “An enemy hath done this,” for the melody should now be, “When the swallows homeward fly,” which is fit and seemly.

A hurried caucus was held, and the result was an order for the ship’s compan;’ to sit on its head; but all was of no avail, so a great and mighty man arose and said, “Cast it overboard, for we near home, and it cumbereth the ship.”

At eight bells the whole of the rulers met together, and it was sadly but firmly committed to the deep, and the crew, so brave and true, refused to be comforted. It is said that ancient mariners, who sail these Southern Seas, “Oft in the stilly night.” when they lie becalmed, hear the strains of that oldtime melody rising and falling on the wind.

And of the rest of the islands and what befel them there, are they not written in the chronicles of Enuf in the land of Kingdik? Of these more anon.