Page:Once a Week Jun to Dec 1864.pdf/527

512 reports excessively loud. They are sometimes heard as far as Aneiteum, a distance of 35 miles. We remained till late in the afternoon, and then returned by another path, attended (as before) by several natives and by Captain Padden, who knew them, and had come with us on business.

When about half-way back to the landing-place, we came upon a large party of men and women, who were celebrating the ripening of the bread-fruit: in fact it was a regular “harvest-home,” and a strange sight it was. They were assembled in a hollow circular space of ground, surrounded by a natural amphitheatre of rocks, over which our path led, and from which we had a splendid view of the extraordinary spectacle below us. There must have been at least 500, men and women together, who were dancing most vigorously, going round and round, the men in the centre, and the women, two deep, forming the outside circle. The latter had their faces painted black—the pigment used being plumbago, which is found in large quantities, and of the very finest quality, in the neighbouring island of Erromango, and extensively used by both sexes. The women’s heads were decorated with feathers, their arms with bracelets of white shells strung together, and their bodies from waist to knee covered with a thick crinoline, composed of the bright green leaves of the Dracaena plant, and a bustle behind of fern leaves. The men had their faces smeared with red ochre, and their arms decorated in the same way as the women. Both were armed with clubs, which were held aloft as they coursed along in the dance to the music of their rattling bracelets. Each dance would last for five minutes, the “fun” getting gradually “faster and more furious,” till it was brought to a sudden termination by a simultaneous yell of delight. After a brief rest they would begin again and go through the same figure. The appearance of the dancers by twilight—the painted beauties with the perspiration pouring in streams down their faces and backs—was a most extraordinary sight, and it was long before we could prevail on ourselves to leave them. Shortly after leaving this spot, we parted with our native guides, Captain Padden rewarding them with a little tobacco each, the only article of barter which they then cared to accept; but they seemed to be dissatisfied with the quantity, and muttered what we thought to be threats of vengeance as they parted from us about half a mile from the landing-place. We saw nothing more of them, however, and arrived on board quite safe. A small schooner that visited Port Resolution some months afterwards did not escape so fortunately. Her crew were all murdered in retaliation for an outrage committed by a sandal-wood trader a short time before, who had shot a chief, named Gaskin, whom we had found very civil and attentive. It is the reckless conduct of these unprincipled traders that renders cruising amongst this group of islands so very dangerous. A native offends them in some way or other, and their deliberately shoot him. His friends and tribesmen retaliate on the first white man they meet, no matter whether the guilty individual or not; and woe betide the unhappy voyager who is the first to land here after an outrage has been committed by some rascally sandal-wood trader, or beche-de-mer collector. I never heard what became of Captain Padden, but it is due to him to say, that he was an honest, upright trader, and highly esteemed by the natives of this group.

On the 27th of August we anchored off Erromango, the island where John Williams, the missionary, was murdered in 1839. Two other missionaries of the London Society were stationed here in 1842, but were obliged to leave in consequence of an epidemic breaking out soon after their arrival, the idea of the natives being that foreigners always bring sickness and death in their train.

Soon after we anchored we were visited “by numbers of natives, to whom we made presents of pipes and tobacco, strips of calico and red comforters, &c.; whilst they were on board they saw the ship’s barber shaving some of the men, and many of them begged for a shave and seemed highly delighted with the operation.

Next day the surgeon and myself went on a dredging expedition in the dingy, taking with us and landing on the beach an officer of the 11th Regiment who had come with us for a cruise. He was a keen hand at bargaining with the natives for curiosities, and anxious to cut us all out, took this opportunity of lauding all alone and getting the first pick of everything, whilst the doctor and myself were intent upon dredging up, if possible, one of the far-famed “orange couries.” He took with him a bundle of razors for bartering with, and no sooner exhibited one than the news spread like wild-fire amongst the natives far and wide. He was soon surrounded by a crowd, wildly gesticulating, and jabbering like a parcel of monkeys. He did not at first know what to make of it, and called lustily to us to come to his assistance with the dingy. We saw that he was in no danger, and took time to haul up our dredge, and then leisurely pulled away towards him. By the time we arrived on the spot he had discovered what the good-natured savages wanted, and was busy operating on a