7. CHAPTER VII.
WHAT HAPPENED AT HANNAMANOO.
On the other side of the island was the large and populous
bay of Hannamanoo, where the men sought might yet be found.
But as the sun was setting by the time the boat came alongside,
we got our off-shore tacks aboard and stood away for an
offing. About daybreak we wore, and ran in, and by the time
the sun was well up, entered the long, narrow channel dividing
the islands of La Dominica and St. Christina.
On one hand was a range of steep green bluffs hundreds of
feet high, the white huts of the natives here and there nestling
like birdsnests in deep clefts gushing with verdure. Across
the water, the land rolled away in bright hillsides, so warm
and undulating, that they seemed almost to palpitate in the sun.
On we swept, past bluff and grove, wooded glen and valley,
and dark ravines lighted up far inland with wild falls of water.
A fresh land-breeze filled our sails, the embayed waters were
gentle as a lake, and every blue wave broke with a tinkle
against our coppered prow.
On gaining the end of the channel we rounded a point, and
came full upon the bay of Hannamanoo. This is the only harbor
of any note about the island, though as far as a safe anchorage
is concerned it hardly deserves the title.
Before we held any communication with the shore, an incident
occurred which may convey some further idea of the character
of our crew.
Having approached as near the land as we could prudently,
our headway was stopped, and we awaited the arrival of a
canoe which was coming out of the bay. All at once we got
into a strong current, which swept us rapidly toward a rocky
promontory forming one side of the harbor. The wind had
died away; so two boats were at once lowered for the purpose
of pulling the ship's head round. Before this could be done,
the eddies were whirling upon all sides, and the rock so near,
that it seemed as if one might leap upon it from the mast-head.
Notwithstanding the speechless fright of the captain, and the
hoarse shouts of the unappalled Jermin, the men handled the
ropes as deliberately as possible, some of them chuckling at the
prospect of going ashore, and others so eager for the vessel to
strike, that they could hardly contain themselves. Unexpectedly
a countercurrent befriended us, and assisted by the boats
we were soon out of danger.
What a disappointment for our crew! All their little plans
for swimming ashore from the wreck, and having a fine time of
it for the rest of their days, thus cruelly nipt in the bud.
Soon after, the canoe came alongside. In it were eight or
ten natives, comely, vivacious-looking youths, all gesture and
exclamation; the red feathers in their headbands perpetually
nodding. With them also came a stranger, a renegado from
Christendom and humanity—a white man, in the South Sea
girdle, and tattooed in the face. A broad blue band stretched
across his face from ear to ear, and on his forehead was
the taper figure of a blue shark, nothing but fins from head to
tail.
Some of us gazed upon this man with a feeling akin to horror,
no ways abated when informed that he had voluntarily
submitted to this embellishment of his countenance. What an
impress! Far worse than Cain's—his was perhaps a wrinkle,
or a freckle, which some of our modern cosmetics might have
effaced; but the blue shark was a mark indelible, which all the
waters of Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, could never
wash out. He was an Englishman, Lem Hardy he called himself,
who had deserted from a trading brig touching at the island
for wood and water some ten years previous. He had gone
ashore as a sovereign power, armed with a musket and a bag
of ammunition, and ready, if need were, to prosecute war on
his own account. The country was divided by the hostile
kings of several large valleys. With one of them, from whom
he first received overtures, he formed an alliance, and became
what he now was, the military leader of the tribe, and war-god
of the entire island.
His campaigns beat Napoleon's. In one night-attack, his
invincible musket, backed by the light infantry of spears and
javelins, vanquished two clans, and the next morning brought
all the others at the feet of his royal ally.
Nor was the rise of his domestic fortunes at all behind the
Corsican's: three days after landing, the exquisitely tattooed
hand of a princess was his; receiving along with the damsel as
her portion, one thousand fathoms of fine tappa, fifty double-braided
mats of split grass, four hundred hogs, ten houses in
different parts of her native valley, and the sacred protection of
an express edict of the Taboo, declaring his person inviolable
forever.
Now, this man was settled for life, perfectly satisfied with his
circumstances, and feeling no desire to return to his friends.
“Friends,” indeed, he had none. He told me his history.
Thrown upon the world a foundling, his paternal origin was as
much a mystery to him as the genealogy of Odin; and, scorned
by every body, he fled the parish workhouse when a boy,
and lanched upon the sea. He had followed it for several
years, a dog before the mast, and now he had thrown it up
forever.
And for the most part, it is just this sort of men—so many
of whom are found among sailors—uncared for by a single
soul, without ties, reckless, and impatient of the restraints
of civilization, who are occasionally found quite at home
upon the savage islands of the Pacific. And, glancing at
their hard lot in their own country, what marvel at their
choice?
According to the renegado, there was no other white man on
the island; and as the captain could have no reason to suppose
that Hardy intended to deceive us, he concluded that the
Frenchmen were in some way or other mistaken in what they
had told us. However, when our errand was made known to the
rest of our visitors, one of them, a fine, stalwart fellow, his face
all eyes and expression, volunteered for a cruise. All the wages
he asked, was a red shirt, a pair of trowsers, and a hat,
which were to be put on there and then; beside a plug of
tobacco and a pipe. The bargain was struck directly; but
Wymontoo afterward came in with a codicil, to the effect that
a friend of his, who had come along with him, should be given
ten whole sea-biscuits, without crack or flaw, twenty perfectly
new and symmetrically straight nails, and one jackknife. This
being agreed to, the articles were at once handed over, the
native receiving them with great avidity, and in the absence of
clothing, using his mouth as a pocket to put the nails in. Two
of them, however, were first made to take the place of a pair
of ear-ornaments, curiously fashioned out of bits of whitened
wood.
It now began breezing strongly from seaward, and no time
was to be lost in getting away from the land; so after an affecting
rubbing of noses between our new shipmate and his countrymen,
we sailed away with him.
To our surprise, the farewell shouts from the canoe, as we
dashed along under bellied royals, were heard unmoved by
our islander; but it was not long thus. That very evening,
when the dark blue of his native hills sunk in the horizon, the
poor savage leaned over the bulwarks, dropped his head upon
his chest, and gave way to irrepressible emotions. The ship
was plunging hard, and Wymontoo, sad to tell, in addition to
his other pangs, was terribly sea-sick.
