The Call Of The South by George Lewis Becke (rocket ebook reader .TXT) 📖

a reef. So I dived, and found that five sheets of copper were gone from the port side about half a fathom from the keel. So the captain took five new sheets of copper, and punched the nail holes, and gave me one sheet at a time, and I nailed them on securely. In three hours it was done, for the ship was in quiet, clear water, and I knew what to do. The captain then said to me laughingly that he feared I had but tacked on the sheets loosely, and that they would come off. My heart was sore at this, and so I asked Mr. Houston, who is a good diver, to go and look. And he dived and looked, and then five other of the crew--natives--dived and looked, and they all said that the work was well and truly done--all the nails driven home, and the sheets smooth, and without a crinkle. This pleased the captain greatly, and he gave me a small gold piece, and told me that I could go on shore, and spend it at the white trader's store.

"Now I did a foolish thing. I bought from the trader two bottles of strange grog called _arrak_. It was very strong--stronger than rum--and soon I and two others who drank it became very drunk, and lay on the ground like pigs. Mr. Houston came and found me, and brought me on board, and I was laid on the after-deck under the awning.

"At sunset the ship sailed. I was still asleep, and heard nothing, though in a little while it began to blow, and much rain fell The captain let me lie on the lee side, so that the rain might beat upon me, and bring me to life again.

"When four bells struck I awoke. I was ashamed. Waiting until the wheel was relieved, I crept along the deck unseen, for it was very dark, and goy up on the top of the top-gallant fo'c'stle, and again lay down. The ship was running before the wind under close-reefed sails, and the sea was so great that she pitched heavily every now and then, and much water came over the bows. This did me good, and I soon began to feel able to go below and turn in in my bunk. Then presently, as I was about to rise, the ship made a great plunge, and a mighty sea fell upon her, and I was swept away. No one saw me go, for no one knew that I was there, and the night was very, very dark.

"When I came to the surface, I could see the ship's lights, and cried out, but no one heard me, for the wind and sea made a great noise; and then, too, there was sweeping rain In a little while the lights were gone, and I was alone.

"'Now,' I said to myself, 'Vanaki, thou art a fool, and will go into the belly of a shark because of becoming drunk.' And then my heart came back to me, and I swam on easily over the sea, hoping that I would be missed, and the ship heave-to, and send a boat. But I looked in vain.

"By-and-by the sky cleared, and the stars came out, but the wind still blew fiercely, and the seas swept me along so quickly that I knew it would be folly for me to try and face them, and try to swim back to Ureparapara.

"'I will swim to Tog,' I said; 'if the sharks spare me I can do it.' For now that the sky was clear, and I could see the stars my fear died away; and so I turned a little, and swam to the west a little by the north.

"There was a strong current with me, and hour by hour as I swam the wind became less, and the sea died away.

"When daylight came I was not tired, and rested on my back. And as I rested, two green turtle rose near me. They looked at me, and I was glad, for I knew that where turtle were there would be no sharks. I am not afraid of sharks, but what is a man to do with a shark in the open sea without a knife?

"Towards noon there came rain I lay on my back and put my hollowed hands together, and caught enough to satisfy my great thirst. The rain did not last long.

"A little after noon I saw the land--the island of Tog. It was but three leagues away.

"Then I swam into a great and swift tide-rip, which carried me to the eastward. It was so strong that I feared it would take me away from the island, but soon it turned and swept me to the westward. And then I saw the land becoming nearer and nearer.

"When the sun was nearly touching the sea-rim, I was so close to the south-end of Tog, that I could see the spars of a ship lying at anchor in the bay called Pio. And then when the sun had set I could see the lights of many canoes catching flying-fish by torchlight.

"I swam on and came to the ship. It was the _Aurore_.

"I clambered up the side-ladder, and stood on deck, and the man who was on anchor watch--an ignorant Tokelau--shouted out in fear, and ran to tell the captain, and Mr. Houston.

"They brought me below and made much of me, and gave me something to drink which made me sleep for many hours.

"When I awakened I was strong and well, but my eyes were _malai_ (bloodshot). That is all."



CHAPTER XXIII ~ TWO PACIFIC ISLANDS BIRDS: THE SOUTH SEA CORNCRAKE AND THE TOOTH-BILLED PIGEON

THE SOUTH SEA CORNCRAKE


Although I had often heard of the "corncrake" or landrail of the British Isles, I did not see one until a few years ago, on my first visit to Ireland, when a field labourer in County Louth brought me a couple, which he had killed in a field of oats. I looked at them with interest, and at once recognised a striking likeness in shape, markings and plumage to an old acquaintance--the shy and rather rare "banana-bird" of some of the Polynesian and Melanesian Islands. I had frequently when in Ireland heard at night, during the summer months, the repeated and harsh "crake, crake," of many of these birds, issuing from the fields of growing corn, and was very curious to see one, for the unmelodious cry was exactly like that of the _kili vao_, or "banana-bird" of the Pacific Islands. And when I saw the two corncrakes I found them to be practically the same bird, though but half the size of the _kili vao_.

_Kili vao_ in native means bush-snipe, as distinct from _kili fusi_, swamp snipe. It feeds upon ripe bananas, and papaws (mamee apples), and such other sweet fruit, that when over-ripe fall to the ground. It is very seldom seen in the day-time, when the sun is strong, though its hoarse frog-like note may often be heard in cultivated banana plantations, or on the mountain sides, where the wild banana thrives. At early dawn, or towards sunset, however, they come out from their retreats, and search for fallen bananas, papaws or guavas, and I have spent many a delightful half-hour watching them from my own hiding-place. Although they have such thick, long and clumsy legs, and coarse splay feet they run to and fro with marvelous speed, continually uttering their insistent croak. Usually they were in pairs, male and female, although I once saw a male and three female birds together. The former can easily be recognised, for it is considerably larger than its mate, and the coloration of the plumage on the back and about the eyes is more pronounced, and the beautiful quail-like semi-circular belly markings are more clearly defined. When disturbed, and if unable to run into hiding among the dead banana leaves, they rise and present a ludicrous appearance, for their legs hang down almost straight, and their flight is slow, clumsy and laborious, and seldom extends more than fifty yards.

The natives of the Banks and Santa Cruz Groups (north of the New Hebrides) assert that the _kili_ is a ventriloquist, and delights to "fool" any one attempting to capture it. "If you hear it call from the right, it is hiding to the left; and its mate is perhaps only two fathoms away from you, hiding under the fallen banana leaves, and pretending to be dead. And you will never find either, unless it is a dark night, and you suddenly light a big torch of dried coco-nut leaves; then they become dazed and stupid, and will let you catch them with your hand."

Whilst one cannot accept the ventriloquial theory, there can be no doubt of the extraordinary cunning in hiding, and noiseless speed on foot of these birds when disturbed. One afternoon, near sunset, I was returning from pigeon-shooting on Ureparapara (Banks Group) when in walking along the margin of a taro-swamp, which was surrounded by banana trees, a big _kili_ rose right in front of me, and before I could bring my gun to shoulder, my native boy hurled his shoulder-stick at it and brought it down, dead. Then he called to me to be ready for a shot at the mate, which, he said, was close by in hiding.

Walking very gently, he carefully scanned the dead leaves at the foot of the banana trees, and silently pointed to a heap which was soddened by rain.

"It is underneath there," he whispered, then flung himself upon the heap of leaves, and in a few seconds dragged out the prize--a fine full-grown female bird, beautifully marked. I put her in my game-bag. During our two-mile walk to the village she behaved in a disgusting manner, and so befouled herself (after the manner of a young Australian curlew when captured) that she presented a repellent appearance, and had such a disgusting odour that I was at first inclined to throw her--game-bag and all--away. However, my native boy washed her, and then we put her in a native pigeon cage. In the morning she was quite clean and dry, but persistently hid her head when any one approached, refused to take food and died two days later, although I kept the cage in a dark place.

These birds are excellent eating when not too fat; but when the papaws are ripe they become grossly unwieldy, and the whole body is covered with thick yellow fat, and the flesh has the strong sweet taste of the papaw. At this time, so the natives say, they are actually unable to rise for flight, and are easily captured by the women and children at work in the banana and taro plantations.

(Apropos of this common tendency of the flesh of birds to acquire the taste of their principal article of food, I may mention that in those Melanesian Islands where the small Chili pepper grows wild, the pigeons at certain times of the year feed almost exclusively upon the ripe berries, and their flesh is so pungent as to be almost uneatable. At one place on the littoral of New Britain, there is a patch of country covered with pepper trees, and it is visited by thousands of pigeons, who devour the berries, although their ordinary food of sweet berries was available in profusion in the mountain forests.)

On some of the Melanesian islands there is a variety of the banana-bird which frequents the yam and sweet potato plantation, digs into the hillocks with its power-fill feet, and feeds upon the tubers, as does the rare