The Floating Island (34 page)

But if this part of the
archipelago is volcanic, it was not to one of its volcanoes that could be
attributed the formidable eruption of scoriæ and cinders that had been spread
over these regions. The Tongans had not even been plunged into darkness, the
western breezes having driven the clouds of eruptive matter towards the
opposite horizon. Probably the crater from which they came belonged to some
isolated island in the east, unless it was a volcano of recent formation
between Samoa and Tonga.

The stay at Vavao lasted but a
week. This island was worth visiting, although a few years before it had been
ravaged by a terrible cyclone, which had thrown down the little church of the
French Maristes and destroyed a quantity of native dwellings. Nevertheless the
country remained very attractive with its numerous villages, enclosed by belts
of orange trees, its fertile plains, its fields of sugarcane and yams, its
clumps of banana trees, mulberry trees, bread-fruit trees, and sandalwood
trees. The only domestic animals were pigs and poultry. The only birds were
thousands of pigeons and noisy parrots of brilliant colours. For reptiles there
were only a few harmless serpents and lovely green lizards, which could be
mistaken for leaves fallen from the trees.

The superintendent had not
exaggerated the beauty of the native type
—
which
is common to the Malay race of the different archipelagoes of the central
Pacific. Superb men of tall stature, rather stout, perhaps, but of admirable build
and noble attitude, and a colour as of copper shaded with olive. The women
graceful and well proportioned, hands and feet of a delicacy of form and a smallness
that must move to envy the Germans and English of the European colony. The
women are employed only in the making of mats, baskets, and fabrics like those
of Tahiti, and their fingers are not deformed by such manual labour. And then
it is easy to judge of the perfection of Tongan beauty. Neither the abominable
trousers nor the trained skirt had been adopted in the native fashions. Mere
cotton drawers or a belt for the men, the caraco and short petticoat with
ornaments in fine dried bark for the women, who are at once distant and
coquettish. In both sexes the headdress is elaborate, the girls raising their
hair over their foreheads and piling it up on a trellis of cocoanut fibre in
the shape of a comb.

But there was nothing in all this
to make Sebastien Zorn recall his resolution. He would not marry either at
Vavao or at Tonga-Tabou or anywhere else in this sublunary world.

It was always a great
satisfaction for his comrades and himself to land on these archipelagoes. They
were pleased enough with Floating Island, but to set foot on firm ground was
none the less pleasing to them. Real mountains, real country, real
water-courses were a change from imitation streams and artificial shores. It
required a Calistus Munbar to assign to his Pearl of the Pacific a superiority
over the works of nature.

Although Vavao is not the usual
residence of King George, he possesses at Nu-ofa a palace, let us say a pretty
cottage, at which he frequently lives. But on this island of Tonga-Tabou are
found the royal palace and the establishments of the English residents.

Floating Island was to make its
last stoppage there almost at the limit of the Tropic of Capricorn, the extreme
point it would reach in the course of its voyage across the southern
hemisphere.

After leaving Vavao, the voyage
of the Milliardites for two days was one of considerable variety. One island
was not lost sight of until another rose to view; all of them presenting the
same volcanic character due to the action of plutonian force. It was with this
northern group as with the central group of Hapai. The hydrographic charts of
these regions are extremely accurate, and allowed Commodore Simcoe to venture
without danger amid the channels of the labyrinth between Hapai and Tonga-Tabou.
Besides there was no paucity of pilots if he had wanted their services. A
number of vessels were moving among the islands
—
for
the most part schooners under the German flag employed in the coasting trade,
while the larger merchant vessels take away the cotton and coprah and coffee
and maize, the principal productions of the archipelago. Not only would pilots
have hastened to come if Ethel Simcoe had asked them, but also the crews of
their double canoes, united by a platform and able to carry two hundred men.
Yes! Hundreds of natives would have come at the first signal, and what a
harvest they would have had if the pilotage dues were calculated on the tonnage
of Floating Island. Two hundred and fifty-nine million tons! But Commodore
Simcoe, to whom all these figures were familiar, had no want of their good
offices. He had confidence in himself, and trusted to the merit of the officers
who executed his orders with absolute precision.

Tonga-Tabou was sighted on the
morning of the 9th of January, when Floating Island was but three or four miles
away from it. Very low, its foundation not being due to geologic effort, it has
not been thrust up from below like so many other islands that seem to have
remained motionless after coming to the surface of the sea to breathe. It has
been gradually built by infusorians, who have raised tier upon tier of coral,
and what labour! A hundred kilometres in circumference, an area of from seven
to eight hundred superficial kilometres on which live twenty thousand
inhabitants.

Commodore Simcoe stopped off the
port of Maofuga. Communications were immediately opened between the sedentary
island and the movable island, a sister of the Latona of mythologic memory.
What a difference there was between this archipelago and the Marquesas,
Paumotu, and the Society Islands! English influence is here predominant, and
King George the First was in no hurry to offer a cordial welcome to these
Milliardites of American origin.

However, at Maofuga the quartette
discovered a small French centre. There resides the Bishop of Oceania, who was
then making a pastoral tour among the different groups. There are the Catholic
mission, the house of the sisters, the schools for the boys and girls. Needless
to say, the Parisians were received with cordiality by their compatriots. As to
their excursions, there were only two places of importance for them to go to,
Nakualofa, the capital, and the village of Mua, where four hundred inhabitants
profess the Catholic religion.

When Tasman discovered
Tonga-Tabou he gave it the name of Amsterdam-
—
name
hardly justified by its houses of pandanus leaves and cocoanut fibres. It is
true that European habitations are not wanting; but the native name is more
appropriate for this island.

The port of Maofuga is situated
on the northern coast. If Floating Island had taken up its position a few miles
more to the west of Nakualofa, its royal gardens and its royal palace would
have been in sight of it. If, on the contrary, Commodore Simcoe had gone more
to the east, he would have found a bay cut deeply into the coast, the head of
which is occupied by the village of Mua. He did not do this because the island
would have run the risk of being wrecked among the hundreds of islets, the
channels between which only give passage to vessels of moderate tonnage.
Floating Island had therefore to remain off Maofuga during the whole of the
stay.

Though a certain number of
Milliardites landed, there were not many who thought of exploring the interior
of the island. It is charming nevertheless, and deserves the praises which Elisée
Reclus has showered upon it. Doubtless the heat is very great, the atmosphere
stormy, the rains of extreme violence and calculated to calm the ardour of an
excursionist, and a man must be touched with the tourist’s mania who would
venture into the country. Nevertheless this is what Frascolin, Pinchinat, and Yvernès
did, for it was impossible to persuade the violoncellist to leave his
comfortable room in the casino before the evening, when the sea-breeze
refreshed the beach of Maofuga. Even the superintendent begged to be excused
for being unable to accompany the enthusiasts.

“I should melt on the road,” he
told them.

“Well, we could carry you along
in a bottle!” replied his Highness.

This engaging prospect did not
persuade Calistus Munbar, who preferred to retain his solid state.

Very fortunately for the
Milliardites, the sun had been moving northward for three weeks, and Floating
Island could keep it at a distance, so as to maintain a normal temperature.

Next morning the three friends
left Maofuga at daybreak, and started for the capital of the island. Certainly
it was warm; but the warmth was bearable under cover of the cocoanut trees, the
leki-lekis, the toui-touis, which are the candle trees, the cocas, whose red
and black berries formed bunches of dazzling gems.

It was nearly noon when the
capital showed itself in full bloom
—
an
expression which is not inappropriate at this season of the year. The King’s
palace seemed to rise from a gigantic bouquet of verdure. There was a striking
contrast between the native huts covered with flowers and the houses of English
aspect which belonged to the Protestant missionaries. The influence of these
Wesleyan ministers has been considerable, and after massacring a certain number
of them the Tongans have adopted their creed. Observe, however, that they have
not entirely renounced the practices of their Kanaka mythology; with them the
high priest is superior to the King. In the teachings of their curious
cosmogony good and evil geniuses play an important part. Christianity will not
easily uproot the taboo which is always held in honour, and when it has been
decided to break it, it cannot be done without expiatory sacrifices in which
human life is sometimes sacrificed.

It should be mentioned that
according to the accounts of explorers
—
particularly
that of Aylie Marin in his travels in 1882
—
Nakualofa
is still but half-civilized.

Frascolin, Pinchinat, and Yvernès
had no desire to pay their respects at the feet of King George. This is not to
be understood in a metaphoric sense, as the custom is to kiss the sovereign’s
feet. And our Parisians congratulated themselves when, in the square of
Nakualofa, they noticed the “tui” whom they call his Majesty, clothed in a sort
of white shirt, with a little skirt of native stuff tied round his waist. This
kissing of the feet would certainly have been among the most disagreeable
remembrances of the voyage.

“You can see,” said Pinchinat, “that
water-courses are not very abundant in this country.”

At Tonga-Tabou, at Vavao, as in
the other islands of the archipelago, the maps show neither stream nor lagoon.
The rain-water is collected in cisterns, and that is all the natives have, the
subjects of George I. being as careful with it as their sovereign.

During the day the three
tourists, greatly fatigued, returned to the port of Maofuga, and regained their
rooms in the casino with great satisfaction. To the incredulous Sebastien Zorn
they affirmed that their excursion had been most interesting. But the poetic
inducements of Yvernès could not prevail on the violoncellist to start next
morning for the village of Mua.

The journey promised to be long
and very fatiguing. They might have easily spared themselves this fatigue by
using one of the electric launches that Cyrus Bikerstaff offered to put at
their disposal. But to explore the interior of this curious country was a
consideration of some value, and the tourists started on foot for Mua Bay along
the coral shore which bordered the islets, where there seemed to have collected
all the cocoanut trees in Oceania.

Their arrival at Mua could not
take place before the afternoon. There was a place evidently pointed out for
the Frenchmen to stay at. This was the residence of the Catholic missionaries.
In welcoming his guests the Superior’s delight was most affecting
—
the welcome
recalled the way in which they had been received by the Maristes of Samoa. What
an excellent evening! What interesting conversation, in which France was more
talked of than the Tongan colony! These good men could not think without regret
of their native land so far away.

It was with a certain pride that
the Superior showed, to the admiration of his visitors, the establishments of
the Mission
—
the
house which was built for nothing by the natives of Mua, and the beautiful
church due to the Tongan architects, of which their brethren in France would
not be ashamed.

During the evening they took a
walk in the environs of the village and visited the ancient tombs of Tui-Tonga,
where schist and coral are intermingled with primitive and charming art. They
even visited that old plantation of meas, banyans or monstrous fig-trees, with
their roots interlaced like serpents, the circumference of which, in places,
exceeds sixty metres. Frascolin measured them, and having entered the figures
in his note-book, had them certified as correct by the Superior. After that,
there could be no doubt as to the existence of such a vegetable phenomenon.

A good supper was followed by a
good night in the best rooms of the mission. After that was a good breakfast
and hearty farewells from the missionaries, and the return to Floating Island
as five o’clock was striking from the belfry of the town hall. This time the
three excursionists had not to have recourse to metaphorical amplification to
assure Sebastien Zorn that their journey had left them with pleasant memories.

Next day Cyrus Bikerstaff
received a visit from Captain Sarol under the following circumstances.

A certain number of Malays
—
about a hundred
—
had been recruited
at the New Hebrides and taken to Tonga-Tabou to work in the clearings
—
an indispensable
importation considering the indifference, or rather idleness, of the Tongans,
who live from day to day. These clearings had been finished a short time
before, and the Malays were awaiting an opportunity of returning to their
country. Would the Governor allow them to take passage on Floating Island? It
was this permission which Captain Sarol had come to ask. In five or six weeks
they would arrive at Erromango, and the carriage of these natives would not be
much expense.