74. CHAPTER LXXIV.
RETIRING FOR THE NIGHT.—THE DOCTOR GROWS DEVOUT.
They put us to bed very pleasantly.
Lying across the foot of Po-Po's nuptial couch, was a smaller
one, made of Koar-wood; a thin, strong cord, twisted from the
fibres of the husk of the cocoa-nut, and woven into an exceedingly
light sort of net-work, forming its elastic body. Spread
upon this, was a single, fine mat, with a roll of dried ferns for a
pillow, and a strip of white tappa for a sheet. This couch was
mine. The doctor was provided for in another corner.
Loo reposed alone on a little settee, with a taper burning by
her side; the dandy, her brother, swinging overhead in a sailor's
hammock. The two gazelles frisked upon a mat near by; and
the indigent relations borrowed a scant corner of the old butler's
pallet, who snored away by the open door. After all had
retired, Po-Po placed the illuminated melon in the middle of
the apartment; and so, we all slumbered till morning.
Upon awaking, the sun was streaming brightly through the
open bamboos, but no one was stirring. After surveying the
fine attitudes, into which forgetfulness had thrown at least one
of the sleepers, my attention was called off to the general aspect
of the dwelling, which was quite significant of the superior circumstances
of our host.
The house itself was built in the simple, but tasteful native
style. It was a long, regular oval, some fifty feet in length,
with low sides of cane-work, and a roof thatched with palmetto-leaves.
The ridge-pole was, perhaps, twenty feet from the
ground. There was no foundation whatever; the bare earth
being merely covered with ferns: a kind of carpeting which
serves very well, if frequently renewed; otherwise, it becomes
dusty, and the haunt of vermin, as in the huts of the poorer
natives.
Beside the couches, the furniture consisted of three or four
sailor chests; in which were stored the fine wearing-apparel of
the household—the ruffled linen shirts of Po-Po, the calico
dresses of his wife and children, and divers odds and ends
of European articles—strings of beads, ribbons, Dutch looking-glasses,
knives, coarse prints, bunches of keys, bits of crockery,
and metal buttons. One of these chests—used as a bandbox by
Arfretee—contained several of the native hats (coal-scuttles),
all of the same pattern, but trimmed with variously colored
ribbons. Of nothing was our good hostess more proud, than of
these hats, and her dresses. On Sundays, she went abroad a
dozen times; and every time, like Queen Elizabeth, in a different
robe.
Po-Po, for some reason or other, always gave us our meals
before the rest of the family were served; and the doctor, who
was very discerning in such matters, declared that we fared
much better than they. Certain it was, that had Ereemear's
guests traveled with purses, portmanteaux, and letters of introduction
to the queen, they could not have been better cared for.
The day after our arrival, Monee, the old butler, brought us
in for dinner a small pig, baked in the ground. All savory, it
lay in a wooden trencher, surrounded by roasted hemispheres
of the bread-fruit. A large calabash, filled with taro pudding,
or poee, followed; and the young dandy, overcoming his customary
languor, threw down our cocoa-nuts from an adjoining
tree.
When all was ready, and the household looking on, Long
Ghost, devoutly clasping his hands over the fated pig, implored
a blessing. Hereupon, every body present looked exceedingly
pleased; Po-Po coming up, and addressing the doctor with
much warmth; and Arfretee, regarding him with almost maternal
affection, exclaimed delightedly, “Ah! mickonaree tata
maitai!” in other words, “What a pious young man!”
It was just after this meal, that she brought me a roll of grass
sinnate (of the kind which sailors sew into the frame of their
tarpaulins), and then, handing me needle and thread, bade me
begin at once, and make myself the hat which I so much
needed. An accomplished hand at the business, I finished it
that day—merely stitching the braid together; and Arfretee,
by way of rewarding my industry, with her own olive hands
ornamented the crown with a band of flame-colored ribbon; the
two long ends of which streaming behind, sailor-fashion, still
preserved for me the Eastern title bestowed by Long Ghost.
