Title: Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. I (of 2)
Author: Melville, Herman, 1819-1891
Language: English
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MARDI: AND A VOYAGE THITHER

BY HERMAN MELVILLE

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I


1864


DEDICATED TO My Brother, ALLAN MELVILLE.



PREFACE

Not long ago, having published two narratives of voyages in the
Pacific, which, in many quarters, were received with incredulity,
the thought occurred to me, of indeed writing a romance of Polynesian
adventure, and publishing it as such; to see whether, the fiction
might not, possibly, be received for a verity: in some degree the
reverse of my previous experience.

This thought was the germ of others, which have resulted in Mardi.
New York, January, 1849.



MARDI.

CONTENTS
VOL. I

CHAPTER
  1. Foot in Stirrup
  2. A Calm
  3. A King for a Comrade
  4. A Chat in the Clouds
  5. Seats secured and Portmanteaus packed
  6. Eight Bells
  7. A Pause
  8. They push off, Velis et Bemis
  9. The Watery World is all before Them
 10. They arrange their Canopies and Lounges, and try to make Things
       comfortable
 11. Jarl afflicted with the Lockjaw
 12. More about being in an open Boat
 13. Of the Chondropterygii, and other uncouth Hordes infesting the
       South Seas
 14. Jarl's Misgivings
 15. A Stitch in time saves Nine
 16. They are Becalmed
 17. In high Spirits they push on for the Terra Incognita
 18. My Lord Shark and his Pages
 19. Who goes there?
 20. Noises and Portents
 21. Man ho!
 22. What befel the Brigantine at the Pearl Shell Islands
 23. Sailing from the Island they pillage the Cabin
 24. Dedicated to the College of Physicians and Surgeons
 25. Peril a Peace-maker
 26. Containing a Pennyweight of Philosophy
 27. In which the past History of the Parki is concluded
 28. Suspicions laid, and something about the Calmuc
 29. What they lighted upon in further searching the Craft, and the
       Resolution they came to
 30. Hints for a full length of Samoa
 31. Rovings Alow and Aloft
 32. Xiphius Platypterus
 33. Otard
 34. How they steered on their Way
 35. Ah, Annatoo!
 36. The Parki gives up the Ghost
 37. Once more they take to the Chamois
 38. The Sea on Fire
 39. They fall in with Strangers
 40. Sire and Sons
 41. A Fray
 42. Remorse
 43. The Tent entered
 44. Away!
 45. Reminiscences
 46. The Chamois with a roving Commission
 47. Yillah, Jarl, and Samoa
 48. Something under the Surface
 49. Yillah
 50. Yillah in Ardair
 51. The Dream begins to fade
 52. World ho!
 53. The Chamois Ashore
 54. A Gentleman from the Sun
 55. Tiffin in a Temple
 56. King Media a Host
 57. Taji takes Counsel with himself
 58. Mardi by Night and Yillah by Day
 59. Their Morning Meal
 60. Belshazzar on the Bench
 61. An Incognito
 62. Taji retires from the World
 63. Odo and its Lord
 64. Yillah a Phantom
 65. Taji makes three Acquaintances
 66. With a fair Wind at Sunrise they sail
 67. Little King Peepi
 68. How Teeth were regarded in Valapee
 69. The Company discourse, and Braid-Beard rehearses a Legend
 70. The Minstrel leads of with a Paddle-Song; and a Message is received
       from Abroad
 71. They land upon the Island of Juam
 72. A Book from the Chronicles of Mohi
 73. Something more of the Prince
 74. Advancing deeper into the Vale, they encounter Donjalolo
 75. Time and Temples
 76. A pleasant Place for a Lounge
 77. The House of the Afternoon
 78. Babbalanja solus
 79. The Center of many Circumferences
 80. Donjalolo in the Bosom of his Family
 81. Wherein Babbalanja relates the Adventure of one Karkeke in the Land
       of Shades
 82. How Donjalolo, sent Agents to the surrounding Isles; with the Result
 83. They visit the Tributary Islets
 84. Taji sits down to Dinner with five-and-twenty Kings, and a royal Time
       they have
 85. After Dinner
 86. Of those Scamps the Plujii
 87. Nora-Bamma
 88. In a Calm, Hautia's Heralds approach
 89. Braid-Beard rehearses the Origin of the Isle of Rogues
 90. Rare Sport at Ohonoo
 91. Of King Uhia and his Subjects
 92. The God Keevi and the Precipice of Mondo
 93. Babbalanja steps in between Mohi and Yoomy; and Yoomy relates a
      Legend
 94. Of that jolly old Lord, Borabolla; and that jolly Island of his,
       Mondoldo; and of the Fish-ponds, and the Hereafters of Fish
 95. That jolly old Lord Borabolla laughs on both Sides of his Face
 96. Samoa a Surgeon
 97. Faith and Knowledge
 98. The Tale of a Traveler
 99. "Marnee Ora, Ora Marnee."
100. The Pursuer himself is pursued
101. The Iris
102. They depart from Mondoldo
103. As they sail
104. Wherein Babbalanja broaches a diabolical Theory, and in his own
       Person proves it



MARDI



CHAPTER I
Foot In Stirrup


We are off! The courses and topsails are set: the coral-hung anchor
swings from the bow: and together, the three royals are given to the
breeze, that follows us out to sea like the baying of a hound. Out
spreads the canvas--alow, aloft-boom-stretched, on both sides, with
many a stun' sail; till like a hawk, with pinions poised, we shadow
the sea with our sails, and reelingly cleave the brine.

But whence, and whither wend ye, mariners?

We sail from Ravavai, an isle in the sea, not very far northward from
the tropic of Capricorn, nor very far westward from Pitcairn's
island, where the mutineers of the Bounty settled. At Ravavai I had
stepped ashore some few months previous; and now was embarked on a
cruise for the whale, whose brain enlightens the world.

And from Ravavai we sail for the Gallipagos, otherwise called the
Enchanted Islands, by reason of the many wild currents and eddies
there met.

Now, round about those isles, which Dampier once trod, where the
Spanish bucaniers once hived their gold moidores, the Cachalot, or
sperm whale, at certain seasons abounds.

But thither, from Ravavai, your craft may not fly, as flies the
sea-gull, straight to her nest. For, owing to the prevalence of
the trade winds, ships bound to the northeast from the vicinity of
Ravavai are fain to take something of a circuit; a few thousand miles
or so. First, in pursuit of the variable winds, they make all haste
to the south; and there, at length picking up a stray breeze, they
stand for the main: then, making their easting, up helm, and away
down the coast, toward the Line.

This round-about way did the Arcturion take; and in all conscience a
weary one it was. Never before had the ocean appeared so monotonous;
thank fate, never since.

But bravo! in two weeks' time, an event. Out of the gray of the
morning, and right ahead, as we sailed along, a dark object rose out
of the sea; standing dimly before us, mists wreathing and curling
aloft, and creamy breakers frothing round its base.--We turned aside,
and, at length, when day dawned, passed Massafuero. With a glass,
we spied two or three hermit goats winding down to the sea, in a
ravine; and presently, a signal: a tattered flag upon a summit beyond.
Well knowing, however, that there was nobody on the island but two or
three noose-fulls of runaway convicts from Chili, our captain had no
mind to comply with their invitation to land. Though, haply, he may
have erred in not sending a boat off with his card.

A few days more and we "took the trades." Like favors snappishly
conferred, they came to us, as is often the case, in a very sharp
squall; the shock of which carried away one of our spars; also our
fat old cook off his legs; depositing him plump in the scuppers to
leeward.

In good time making the desired longitude upon the equator, a few
leagues west of the Gallipagos, we spent several weeks chassezing
across the Line, to and fro, in unavailing search for our prey. For
some of their hunters believe, that whales, like the silver ore in
Peru, run in veins through the ocean. So, day after day, daily; and
week after week, weekly, we traversed the self-same longitudinal
intersection of the self-same Line; till we were almost ready to
swear that we felt the ship strike every time her keel crossed
that imaginary locality.

At length, dead before the equatorial breeze, we threaded our way
straight along the very Line itself. Westward sailing; peering right,
and peering left, but seeing naught.

It was during this weary time, that I experienced the first symptoms
of that bitter impatience of our monotonous craft, which ultimately
led to the adventures herein recounted.

But hold you! Not a word against that rare old ship, nor its crew.
The sailors were good fellows all, the half, score of pagans we had
shipped at the islands included. Nevertheless, they were not
precisely to my mind. There was no soul a magnet to mine; none with
whom to mingle sympathies; save in deploring the calms with which we
were now and then overtaken; or in hailing the breeze when it came.
Under other and livelier auspices the tarry knaves might have
developed qualities more attractive. Had we sprung a leak, been
"stove" by a whale, or been blessed with some despot of a captain
against whom to stir up some spirited revolt, these shipmates of mine
might have proved limber lads, and men of mettle. But as it was,
there was naught to strike fire from their steel.

There were other things, also, tending to make my lot on ship-board
very hard to be borne. True, the skipper himself was a trump; stood
upon no quarter-deck dignity; and had a tongue for a sailor. Let me
do him justice, furthermore: he took a sort of fancy for me in
particular; was sociable, nay, loquacious, when I happened to stand
at the helm. But what of that? Could he talk sentiment or philosophy?
Not a bit. His library was eight inches by four: Bowditch, and
Hamilton Moore.

And what to me, thus pining for some one who could page me a
quotation from Burton on Blue Devils; what to me, indeed, were
flat repetitions of long-drawn yams, and the everlasting stanzas
of Black-eyed Susan sung by our full forecastle choir? Staler
than stale ale.

Ay, ay, Arcturion! I say it in no malice, but thou wast exceedingly
dull. Not only at sailing: hard though it was, that I could have
borne; but in every other respect. The days went slowly round and
round, endless and uneventful as cycles in space. Time, and time-
pieces; How many centuries did my hammock tell, as pendulum-like it
swung to the ship's dull roll, and ticked the hours and ages. Sacred
forever be the Areturion's fore-hatch--alas! sea-moss is over it
now--and rusty forever the bolts that held together that old sea
hearth-stone, about which we so often lounged. Nevertheless, ye lost
and leaden hours, I will rail at ye while life lasts.

Well: weeks, chronologically speaking, went by. Bill Marvel's stories
were told over and over again, till the beginning and end dovetailed
into each other, and were united for aye. Ned Ballad's songs were
sung till the echoes lurked in the very tops, and nested in the bunts
of the sails. My poor patience was clean gone.

But, at last after some time sailing due westward we quitted the Line
in high disgust; having seen there, no sign of a whale.

But whither now? To the broiling coast of Papua? That region of sun-
strokes, typhoons, and bitter pulls after whales unattainable. Far
worse. We were going, it seemed, to illustrate the Whistonian theory
concerning the damned and the comets;--hurried from equinoctial heats
to arctic frosts. To be short, with the true fickleness of his tribe,
our skipper had abandoned all thought of the Cachalot. In desperation,
he was bent upon bobbing for the Right whale on the Nor'-West Coast
and in the Bay of Kamschatska.

To the uninitiated in the business of whaling, my feelings at this
juncture may perhaps be hard to understand. But this much let me say:
that Right whaling on the Nor'-West Coast, in chill and dismal fogs,
the sullen inert monsters rafting the sea all round like Hartz forest
logs on the Rhine, and submitting to the harpoon like half-stunned
bullocks to the knife; this horrid and indecent Right whaling,
I say, compared to a spirited hunt for the gentlemanly Cachalot in
southern and more genial seas, is as the butchery of white bears upon
blank Greenland icebergs to zebra hunting in Caffraria, where the
lively quarry bounds before you through leafy glades.

Now, this most unforeseen determination on the part of my captain to
measure the arctic circle was nothing more nor less than a tacit
contravention of the agreement between us. That agreement needs not
to be detailed. And having shipped but for a single cruise, I had
embarked aboard his craft as one might put foot in stirrup for a
day's following of the hounds. And here, Heaven help me, he was going
to carry me off to the Pole! And on such a vile errand too! For there
was something degrading in it. Your true whaleman glories in keeping
his harpoon unspotted by blood of aught but Cachalot. By my halidome,
it touched the knighthood of a tar. Sperm and spermaceti! It was
unendurable.

"Captain," said I, touching my sombrero to him as I stood at the
wheel one day, "It's very hard to carry me off this way to purgatory.
I shipped to go elsewhere."

"Yes, and so did I," was his reply. "But it can't be helped. Sperm
whales are not to be had. We've been out now three years, and
something or other must be got; for the ship is hungry for oil, and
her hold a gulf to look into. But cheer up my boy; once in the Bay of
Kamschatka, and we'll be all afloat with what we want, though it be
none of the best."

Worse and worse! The oleaginous prospect extended into an immensity of
Macassar. "Sir," said I, "I did not ship for it; put me ashore
somewhere, I beseech." He stared, but no answer vouchsafed; and for a
moment I thought I had roused the domineering spirit of the sea-captain,
to the prejudice of the more kindly nature of the man.

But not so. Taking three turns on the deck, he placed his hand
on the wheel, and said, "Right or wrong, my lad, go with us you must.
Putting you ashore is now out of the question. I make no port till
this ship is full to the combings of her hatchways. However, you may
leave her if you can." And so saying he entered his cabin, like
Julius Caesar into his tent.

He may have meant little by it, but that last sentence rung in my ear
like a bravado. It savored of the turnkey's compliments to the
prisoner in Newgate, when he shoots to the bolt on him.

"Leave the ship if I can!" Leave the ship when neither sail nor shore
was in sight! Ay, my fine captain, stranger things have been done.
For on board that very craft, the old Arcturion, were four tall
fellows, whom two years previous our skipper himself had picked up in
an open boat, far from the farthest shoal. To be sure, they spun a
long yarn about being the only survivors of an Indiaman burnt down to
the water's edge. But who credited their tale? Like many others, they
were keepers of a secret: had doubtless contracted a disgust for some
ugly craft still afloat and hearty, and stolen away from her, off
soundings. Among seamen in the Pacific such adventures not seldom
occur. Nor are they accounted great wonders. They are but incidents,
not events, in the career of the brethren of the order of South Sea
rovers. For what matters it, though hundreds of miles from land, if a
good whale-boat be under foot, the Trades behind, and mild, warm seas
before? And herein lies the difference between the Atlantic and
Pacific:--that once within the Tropics, the bold sailor who has a
mind to quit his ship round Cape Horn, waits not for port. He regards
that ocean as one mighty harbor.

Nevertheless, the enterprise hinted at was no light one; and I
resolved to weigh well the chances. It's worth noticing, this way we
all have of pondering for ourselves the enterprise, which, for
others, we hold a bagatelle.

My first thoughts were of the boat to be obtained, and the
right or wrong of abstracting it, under the circumstances. But to
split no hairs on this point, let me say, that were I placed in the
same situation again, I would repeat the thing I did then. The
captain well knew that he was going to detain me unlawfully: against
our agreement; and it was he himself who threw out the very hint,
which I merely adopted, with many thanks to him.

In some such willful mood as this, I went aloft one day, to stand my
allotted two hours at the mast-head. It was toward the close of a
day, serene and beautiful. There I stood, high upon the mast, and
away, away, illimitably rolled the ocean beneath. Where we then were
was perhaps the most unfrequented and least known portion of these
seas. Westward, however, lay numerous groups of islands, loosely laid
down upon the charts, and invested with all the charms of dream-land.
But soon these regions would be past; the mild equatorial breeze
exchanged for cold, fierce squalls, and all the horrors of northern
voyaging.

I cast my eyes downward to the brown planks of the dull, plodding
ship, silent from stem to stern; then abroad.

In the distance what visions were spread! The entire western horizon
high piled with gold and crimson clouds; airy arches, domes, and
minarets; as if the yellow, Moorish sun were setting behind some vast
Alhambra. Vistas seemed leading to worlds beyond. To and fro, and all
over the towers of this Nineveh in the sky, flew troops of birds.
Watching them long, one crossed my sight, flew through a low arch,
and was lost to view. My spirit must have sailed in with it; for
directly, as in a trance, came upon me the cadence of mild billows
laving a beach of shells, the waving of boughs, and the voices of
maidens, and the lulled beatings of my own dissolved heart, all
blended together.

Now, all this, to be plain, was but one of the many visions one has
up aloft. But coming upon me at this time, it wrought upon me so,
that thenceforth my desire to quit the Arcturion became little short
of a frenzy.



CHAPTER II
A Calm


Next day there was a calm, which added not a little to my impatience
of the ship. And, furthermore, by certain nameless associations
revived in me my old impressions upon first witnessing as a landsman
this phenomenon of the sea. Those impressions may merit a page.

To a landsman a calm is no joke. It not only revolutionizes his
abdomen, but unsettles his mind; tempts him to recant his belief in
the eternal fitness of things; in short, almost makes an infidel of
him.

At first he is taken by surprise, never having dreamt of a state of
existence where existence itself seems suspended. He shakes himself
in his coat, to see whether it be empty or no. He closes his eyes, to
test the reality of the glassy expanse. He fetches a deep breath, by
way of experiment, and for the sake of witnessing the effect. If a
reader of  books, Priestley on Necessity occurs to him; and he
believes in that old Sir Anthony Absolute to the very last chapter.
His faith in Malte Brun, however, begins to fail; for the geography,
which from boyhood he had implicitly confided in, always assured him,
that though expatiating all over the globe, the sea was at least
margined by land. That over against America, for example, was Asia.
But it is a calm, and he grows madly skeptical.

To his alarmed fancy, parallels and meridians become emphatically
what they are merely designated as being: imaginary lines drawn round
the earth's surface.

The log assures him that he is in such a place; but the log is
a liar; for no place, nor any thing possessed of a local angularity,
is to be lighted upon in the watery waste.

At length horrible doubts overtake him as to the captain's competency
to navigate his ship. The ignoramus must have lost his way, and
drifted into the outer confines of creation, the region of the
everlasting lull, introductory to a positive vacuity.

Thoughts of eternity thicken. He begins to feel anxious concerning
his soul.

The stillness of the calm is awful. His voice begins to grow strange
and portentous. He feels it in him like something swallowed too big
for the esophagus. It keeps up a sort of involuntary interior humming
in him, like a live beetle. His cranium is a dome full of
reverberations. The hollows of his very bones are as whispering
galleries. He is afraid to speak loud, lest he be stunned; like the
man in the bass drum.

But more than all else is the consciousness of his utter
helplessness. Succor or sympathy there is none. Penitence for
embarking avails not. The final satisfaction of despairing may not be
his with a relish. Vain the idea of idling out the calm. He may sleep
if he can, or purposely delude himself into a crazy fancy, that he is
merely at leisure. All this he may compass; but he may not lounge;
for to lounge is to be idle; to be idle implies an absence of any
thing to do; whereas there is a calm to be endured: enough to attend
to, Heaven knows.

His physical organization, obviously intended for locomotion, becomes
a fixture; for where the calm leaves him, there he remains. Even his
undoubted vested rights, comprised in his glorious liberty of
volition, become as naught. For of what use? He wills to go: to get
away from the calm: as ashore he would avoid the plague. But he can
not; and how foolish to revolve expedients. It is more hopeless than
a bad marriage in a land where there is no Doctors' Commons. He has
taken the ship to wife, for better or for worse, for calm or
for gale; and she is not to be shuffled off.  With yards akimbo, she
says unto him scornfully, as the old beldam said to the little
dwarf:--"Help yourself"

And all this, and more than this, is a calm.



CHAPTER III
A King For A Comrade


At the time I now write of, we must have been something more than
sixty degrees to the west of the Gallipagos. And having attained a
desirable longitude, we were standing northward for our arctic
destination: around us one wide sea.

But due west, though distant a thousand miles, stretched north and
south an almost endless Archipelago, here and there inhabited, but
little known; and mostly unfrequented, even by whalemen, who go
almost every where. Beginning at the southerly termination of this
great chain, it comprises the islands loosely known as Ellice's
group; then, the Kingsmill isles; then, the Radack and Mulgrave
clusters. These islands had been represented to me as mostly of coral
formation, low and fertile, and abounding in a variety of fruits. The
language of the people was said to be very similar to that or the
Navigator's islands, from which, their ancestors are supposed to have
emigrated.

And thus much being said, all has been related that I then knew of
the islands in question. Enough, however, that they existed at all;
and that our path thereto lay over a pleasant sea, and before a
reliable Trade-wind. The distance, though great, was merely an
extension of water; so much blankness to be sailed over; and in a
craft, too, that properly managed has been known to outlive great
ships in a gale. For this much is true of a whale-boat, the
cunningest thing in its way ever fabricated by man.

Upon one of the Kingsmill islands, then, I determined to plant
my foot, come what come would. And I was equally determined that one
of the ship's boats should float me thither. But I had no idea of
being without a companion. It would be a weary watch to keep all by
myself, with naught but the horizon in sight.

Now, among the crew was a fine old seaman, one Jarl; how old, no one
could tell, not even himself. Forecastle chronology is ever vague and
defective. "Man and boy," said honest Jarl, "I have lived ever since
I can remember." And truly, who may call to mind when he was not? To
ourselves, we all seem coeval with creation. Whence it comes, that it
is so hard to die, ere the world itself is departed.

Jarl hailed from the isle of Skye, one of the constellated Hebrides.
Hence, they often called him the Skyeman. And though he was far from
being piratical of soul, he was yet an old Norseman to behold. His
hands were brawny as the paws of a bear; his voice hoarse as a storm
roaring round the old peak of Mull; and his long yellow hair waved
round his head like a sunset. My life for it, Jarl, thy ancestors
were Vikings, who many a time sailed over the salt German sea and the
Baltic; who wedded their Brynhildas in Jutland; and are now quaffing
mead in the halls of Valhalla, and beating time with their cans to
the hymns of the Scalds. Ah! how the old Sagas run through me!

Yet Jarl, the descendant of heroes and kings, was a lone, friendless
mariner on the main, only true to his origin in the sea-life that he
led. But so it has been, and forever will be. What yeoman shall swear
that he is not descended from Alfred? what dunce, that he is not
sprung of old Homer? King Noah, God bless him! fathered us all. Then
hold up your heads, oh ye Helots, blood potential flows through your
veins. All of us have monarchs and sages for kinsmen; nay, angels and
archangels for cousins; since in antediluvian days, the sons of God
did verily wed with our mothers, the irresistible daughters of Eve.
Thus all generations are blended: and heaven and earth of one
kin: the hierarchies of seraphs in the uttermost skies; the thrones
and principalities in the zodiac; the shades that roam throughout
space; the nations and families, flocks and folds of the earth; one
and all, brothers in essence--oh, be we then brothers indeed! All
things form but one whole; the universe a Judea, and God Jehovah its
head. Then no more let us start with affright. In a theocracy, what
is to fear? Let us compose ourselves to death as fagged horsemen
sleep in the saddle. Let us welcome even ghosts when they rise. Away
with our stares and grimaces. The New Zealander's tattooing is not a
prodigy; nor the Chinaman's ways an enigma. No custom is strange; no
creed is absurd; no foe, but who will in the end prove a friend. In
heaven, at last, our good, old, white-haired father Adam will greet
all alike, and sociality forever prevail. Christian shall join hands
between Gentile and Jew; grim Dante forget his Infernos, and shake
sides with fat Rabelais; and monk Luther, over a flagon of old
nectar, talk over old times with Pope Leo. Then, shall we sit by the
sages, who of yore gave laws to the Medes and Persians in the sun; by
the cavalry captains in Perseus, who cried, "To horse!" when waked by
their Last Trump sounding to the charge; by the old hunters, who
eternities ago, hunted the moose in Orion; by the minstrels, who sang
in the Milky Way when Jesus our Saviour was born. Then shall we list
to no shallow gossip of Magellans and Drakes; but give ear to the
voyagers who have circumnavigated the Ecliptic; who rounded the Polar
Star as Cape Horn. Then shall the Stagirite and Kant be forgotten,
and another folio than theirs be turned over for wisdom; even the
folio now spread with horoscopes as yet undeciphered, the heaven of
heavens on high.

Now, in old Jarl's lingo there was never an idiom. Your aboriginal
tar is too much of a cosmopolitan for that. Long companionship with
seamen of all tribes: Manilla-men, Anglo-Saxons, Cholos, Lascars, and
Danes, wear away in good time all mother-tongue stammerings. You sink
your clan; down goes your nation; you speak a world's language,
jovially jabbering in the Lingua-Franca of the forecastle.

True to his calling, the Skyeman was very illiterate; witless of
Salamanca, Heidelberg, or Brazen-Nose; in Delhi, had never turned
over the books of the Brahmins. For geography, in which sailors
should be adepts, since they are forever turning over and over the
great globe of globes, poor Jarl was deplorably lacking. According to
his view of the matter, this terraqueous world had been formed in the
manner of a tart; the land being a mere marginal crust, within which
rolled the watery world proper. Such seemed my good Viking's theory
of cosmography. As for other worlds, he weened not of them; yet full
as much as Chrysostom.

Ah, Jarl! an honest, earnest Wight; so true and simple, that the
secret operations of thy soul were more inscrutable than the subtle
workings of Spinoza's.

Thus much be said of the Skyeman; for he was exceedingly taciturn,
and but seldom will speak for himself.

Now, higher sympathies apart, for Jarl I had a wonderful liking; for
he loved me; from the first had cleaved to me.

It is sometimes the case, that an old mariner like him will conceive
a very strong attachment for some young sailor, his shipmate; an
attachment so devoted, as to be wholly inexplicable, unless
originating in that heart-loneliness which overtakes most seamen as
they grow aged; impelling them to fasten upon some chance object of
regard. But however it was, my Viking, thy unbidden affection was the
noblest homage ever paid me. And frankly, I am more inclined to think
well of myself, as in some way deserving thy devotion, than from the
rounded compliments of more cultivated minds.

Now, at sea, and in the fellowship of sailors, all men appear as they
are. No school like a ship for studying human nature. The contact of
one man with another is too near and constant to favor deceit. You
wear your character as loosely as your flowing trowsers. Vain
all endeavors to assume qualities not yours; or to conceal those you
possess. Incognitos, however desirable, are out of the question. And
thus aboard of all ships in which I have sailed, I have invariably
been known by a sort of thawing-room title. Not,--let me hurry to
say,--that I put hand in tar bucket with a squeamish air, or ascended
the rigging with a Chesterfieldian mince. No, no, I was never better
than my vocation; and mine have been many. I showed as brown a chest,
and as hard a hand, as the tarriest tar of them all. And never did
shipmate of mine upbraid me with a genteel disinclination to duty,
though it carried me to truck of main-mast, or jib-boom-end, in the
most wolfish blast that ever howled.

Whence then, this annoying appellation? for annoying it most
assuredly was. It was because of something in me that could not be
hidden; stealing out in an occasional polysyllable; an otherwise
incomprehensible deliberation in dining; remote, unguarded allusions
to Belles-Lettres affairs; and other trifles superfluous to mention.

But suffice it to say, that it had gone abroad among the Areturion's
crew, that at some indefinite period of my career, I had been a
"nob." But Jarl seemed to go further. He must have taken me for one
of the House of Hanover in disguise; or, haply, for bonneted Charles
Edward the Pretender, who, like the Wandering Jew, may yet be a
vagrant. At any rate, his loyalty was extreme. Unsolicited, he was my
laundress and tailor; a most expert one, too; and when at meal-times
my turn came round to look out at the mast-head, or stand at the
wheel, he catered for me among the "kids" in the forecastle with
unwearied assiduity. Many's the good lump of "duff" for which I was
indebted to my good Viking's good care of me. And like Sesostris I
was served by a monarch. Yet in some degree the obligation was
mutual. For be it known that, in sea-parlance, we were _chummies._

Now this _chummying_ among sailors is like the brotherhood subsisting
between a brace of collegians (chums) rooming together. It is a
Fidus-Achates-ship, a league of offense and defense, a copartnership
of chests and toilets, a bond of love and good feeling, and a mutual
championship of the absent one. True, my nautical reminiscenses
remind me of sundry lazy, ne'er-do-well, unprofitable, and abominable
chummies; chummies, who at meal times were last at the "kids," when
their unfortunate partners were high upon the spars; chummies, who
affected awkwardness at the needle, and conscientious scruples about
dabbling in the suds; so that chummy the simple was made to do all
the work of the firm, while chummy the cunning played the sleeping
partner in his hammock. Out upon such chummies!

But I appeal to thee, honest Jarl, if I was ever chummy the cunning.
Never mind if thou didst fabricate my tarpaulins; and with Samaritan
charity bind up the rents, and pour needle and thread into the
frightful gashes that agonized my hapless nether integuments, which
thou calledst "ducks;"--Didst thou not expressly declare, that all
these things, and more, thou wouldst do for me, despite my own quaint
thimble, fashioned from the ivory tusk of a whale? Nay; could I even
wrest from thy willful hands my very shirt, when once thou hadst it
steaming in an unsavory pickle in thy capacious vat, a decapitated
cask? Full well thou knowest, Jarl, that these things are true; and I
am bound to say it, to disclaim any lurking desire to reap advantage
from thy great good nature.

Now my Viking for me, thought I, when I cast about for a comrade; and
my Viking alone.



CHAPTER IV
A Chat In The Clouds


The Skyeman seemed so earnest and upright a seaman, that to tell the
plain truth, in spite of his love for me, I had many misgivings as to
his readiness to unite in an undertaking which apparently savored of
a moral dereliction. But all things considered, I deemed my own
resolution quite venial; and as for inducing another to join me, it
seemed a precaution so indispensable, as to outweigh all other
considerations.

Therefore I resolved freely to open my heart to him; for that special
purpose paying him a visit, when, like some old albatross in the air,
he happened to be perched at the foremast-head, all by himself, on
the lookout for whales never seen.

Now this standing upon a bit of stick 100 feet aloft for hours at a
time, swiftly sailing over the sea, is very much like crossing the
Channel in a balloon. Manfred-like, you talk to the clouds: you have
a fellow feeling for the sun. And when Jarl and I got conversing up
there, smoking our dwarfish "dudeens," any sea-gull passing by might
have taken us for Messrs. Blanchard and Jeffries, socially puffing
their after-dinner Bagdads, bound to Calais, via Heaven, from Dover.
Honest Jarl, I acquainted with all: my conversation with the captain,
the hint implied in his last words, my firm resolve to quit the ship
in one of her boats, and the facility with which I thought the thing
could be done. Then I threw out many inducements, in the shape of
pleasant anticipations of bearing right down before the wind upon the
sunny isles under our lee.

He listened attentively; but so long remained silent that I almost
fancied there was something in Jarl which would prove too much for me
and my eloquence.

At last he very bluntly declared that the scheme was a crazy one; he
had never known of such a thing but thrice before; and in every case
the runaways had never afterwards been heard of. He entreated me to
renounce my determination, not be a boy, pause and reflect, stick to
the ship, and go home in her like a man. Verily, my Viking talked to
me like my uncle.

But to all this I turned a deaf ear; affirming that my mind was made
up; and that as he refused to accompany me, and I fancied no one else
for a comrade, I would go stark alone rather than not at all. Upon
this, seeing my resolution immovable, he bluntly swore that he would
follow me through thick and thin.

Thanks, Jarl! thou wert one of those devoted fellows who will wrestle
hard to convince one loved of error; but failing, forthwith change
their wrestling to a sympathetic hug.

But now his elderly prudence came into play. Casting his eye over
the boundless expanse below, he inquired how far off were the islands
in question.

"A thousand miles and no less."

"With a fair trade breeze, then, and a boat sail, that is a good
twelve days' passage, but calms and currents may make it a month,
perhaps more." So saying, he shook his old head, and his yellow hair
streamed.

But trying my best to chase away these misgivings, he at last gave
them over. He assured me I might count upon him to his uttermost
keel.

My Viking secured, I felt more at ease; and thoughtfully considered
how the enterprise might best be accomplished.

There was no time to be lost. Every hour was carrying us farther and
farther from the parallel most desirable for us to follow in our
route to the westward. So, with all possible dispatch, I
matured my plans, and communicated them to Jarl, who gave several old
hints--having ulterior probabilities in view--which were not
neglected.

Strange to relate, it was not till my Viking, with a rueful face,
reminded me of the fact, that I bethought me of a circumstance
somewhat alarming at the first blush. We must push off without chart
or quadrant; though, as will shortly be seen, a compass was by no
means out of the question. The chart, to be sure, I did not so much
lay to heart; but a quadrant was more than desirable. Still, it was
by no means indispensable. For this reason. When we started, our
latitude would be exactly known; and whether, on our voyage westward,
we drifted north or south therefrom, we could not, by any
possibility, get so far out of our reckoning, as to fail in striking
some one of a long chain of islands, which, for many degrees, on both
sides of the equator, stretched right across our track.

For much the same reason, it mattered little, whether on our passage
we daily knew our longitude; for no known land lay between us and the
place we desired to reach. So what could be plainer than this: that
if westward we patiently held on our way, we must eventually achieve
our destination?

As for intervening shoals or reefs, if any there were, they
intimidated us not. In a boat that drew but a few inches of water,
but an indifferent look-out would preclude all danger on that score.
At all events, the thing seemed feasible enough, notwithstanding old
Jarl's superstitious reverence for nautical instruments, and the
philosophical objections which might have been urged by a pedantic
disciple of Mercator.

Very often, as the old maxim goes, the simplest things are the most
startling, and that, too, from their very simplicity. So cherish no
alarms, if thus we addressed the setting sun--"Be thou, old pilot,
our guide!"



CHAPTER V
Seats Secured And Portmanteaus Packed


But thoughts of sextants and quadrants were the least of our cares.

Right from under the very arches of the eyebrows of thirty men--
captain, mates, and crew--a boat was to be abstracted; they knowing
nothing of the event, until all knowledge would prove unavailing.

Hark ye:

At sea, the boats of a South Sea-man (generally four in number, spare
ones omitted,) are suspended by tackles, hooked above, to curved
timbers called "davits," vertically fixed to the ship's sides.

Now, no fair one with golden locks is more assiduously waited upon,
or more delicately handled by her tire-women, than the slender whale-
boat by her crew. And out of its element, it seems fragile enough to
justify the utmost solicitude. For truly, like a fine lady, the fine
whale-boat is most delicate when idle, though little coy at a pinch.

Besides the "davits," the following supports are provided Two small
cranes are swung under the keel, on which the latter rests,
preventing the settling of the boat's middle, while hanging suspended
by the bow and stern. A broad, braided, hempen band, usually worked
in a tasteful pattern, is also passed round both gunwales; and
secured to the ship's bulwarks, firmly lashes the craft to its place.
Being elevated above the ship's rail, the boats are in plain sight
from all parts of the deck.

Now, one of these boats was to be made way with. No facile
matter, truly. Harder than for any dashing young Janizary to run off
with a sultana from the Grand Turk's seraglio. Still, the thing could
be done, for, by Jove, it had been.

What say you to slyly loosing every thing by day; and when night
comes, cast off the band and swing in the cranes? But how lower the
tackles, even in the darkest night, without a creaking more fearful
than the death rattle? Easily avoided. Anoint the ropes, and they
will travel deftly through the subtle windings of the blocks.

But though I had heard of this plan being pursued, there was a degree
of risk in it, after all, which I was far from fancying. Another plan
was hit upon; still bolder; and hence more safe. What it was, in the
right place will be seen.

In selecting my craft for this good voyage, I would fain have
traversed the deck, and eyed the boats like a cornet choosing his
steed from out a goodly stud. But this was denied me. And the "bow
boat" was, perforce, singled out, as the most remote from the
quarter-deck, that region of sharp eyes and relentless purposes.

Then, our larder was to be thought of; also, an abundant supply of
water; concerning which last I determined to take good heed. There
were but two to be taken care of; but I resolved to lay in sufficient
store of both meat and drink for four; at the same time that the
supplemental twain thus provided for were but imaginary. And if it
came to the last dead pinch, of which we had no fear, however, I was
food for no man but Jarl.

Little time was lost in catering for our mess. Biscuit and salt beef
were our sole resource; and, thanks to the generosity of the
Areturion's owners, our ship's company had a plentiful supply. Casks
of both, with heads knocked out, were at the service of all. In bags
which we made for the purpose, a sufficiency of the biscuit was
readily stored away, and secreted in a corner of easy access. The
salt beef was more difficult to obtain; but, little by little,
we managed to smuggle out of the cask enough to answer our purpose.

As for water, most luckily a day or two previous several "breakers"
of it had been hoisted from below for the present use of the ship's
company.

These "breakers" are casks, long and slender, but very strong. Of
various diameters, they are made on purpose to stow into spaces
intervening between the immense butts in a ship's hold.

The largest we could find was selected, first carefully examining it
to detect any leak. On some pretense or other, we then rolled them
all over to that side of the vessel where our boat was suspended, the
selected breaker being placed in their middle.

Our compendious wardrobes were snugly packed into bundles and laid
aside for the present. And at last, by due caution, we had every
thing arranged preliminary to the final start. Let me say, though,
perhaps to the credit of Jarl, that whenever the most strategy was
necessary, he seemed ill at ease, and for the most part left the
matter to me. It was well that he did; for as it was, by his untimely
straight-forwardness, he once or twice came near spoiling every
thing. Indeed, on one occasion he was so unseasonably blunt, that
curiously enough, I had almost suspected him of taking that odd sort
of interest in one's welfare, which leads a philanthropist, all other
methods failing, to frustrate a project deemed bad; by pretending
clumsily to favor it. But no inuendoes; Jarl was a Viking, frank as
his fathers; though not so much of a bucanier.



CHAPTER VI
Eight Bells


The moon must be monstrous coy, or some things fall out opportunely,
or else almanacs are consulted by nocturnal adventurers; but so it
is, that when Cynthia shows a round and chubby disk, few daring deeds
are done. Though true it may be, that of moonlight nights, jewelers'
caskets and maidens' hearts have been burglariously broken into--and
rifled, for aught Copernicus can tell.

The gentle planet was in her final quarter, and upon her slender horn
I hung my hopes of withdrawing from the ship undetected.

Now, making a tranquil passage across the ocean, we kept at this time
what are called among whalemen "boatscrew-watches." That is, instead
of the sailors being divided at night into two bands, alternately on
deck every four hours, there were four watches, each composed of a
boat's crew, the "headsman" (always one of the mates) excepted. To
the officers, this plan gives uninterrupted repose--"all-night-in,"
as they call it, and of course greatly lightens the duties of the crew.

The harpooneers head the boats' crews, and are responsible for the
ship during the continuance of their watches.

Now, my Viking being a stalwart seaman, pulled the midship oar of the
boat of which I was bowsman. Hence, we were in the same watch; to
which, also, three others belonged, including Mark, the harpooner.
One of these seamen, however, being an invalid, there were only two
left for us to manage.

Voyaging in these seas, you may glide along for weeks without
starting tack or sheet, hardly moving the helm a spoke, so mild and
constant are the Trades. At night, the watch seldom trouble
themselves with keeping much of a look-out; especially, as a strange
sail is almost a prodigy in these lonely waters. In some ships, for
weeks in and weeks out, you are puzzled to tell when your nightly
turn on deck really comes round; so little heed is given to the
standing of watches, where in the license of presumed safety, nearly
every one nods without fear.

But remiss as you may be in the boats-crew-watch of a heedless
whaleman, the man who heads it is bound to maintain his post on the
quarter-deck until regularly relieved. Yet drowsiness being
incidental to all natures, even to Napoleon, beside his own sentry
napping in the snowy bivouac; so, often, in snowy moonlight, or ebon
eclipse, dozed Mark, our harpooneer. Lethe be his portion this
blessed night, thought I, as during the morning which preceded our
enterprise, I eyed the man who might possibly cross my plans.

But let me come closer to this part of my story. During what are
called at sea the "dog-watches" (between four o'clock and eight in
the evening), sailors are quite lively and frolicsome; their spirits
even flow far into the first of the long "night-watches;" but upon
its expiration at "eight bells" (midnight), silence begins to reign;
if you hear a voice it is no cherub's: all exclamations are oaths.

At eight bells, the mariners on deck, now relieved from their cares,
crawl out from their sleepy retreats in old monkey jackets, or coils
of rigging, and he to their hammocks, almost without interrupting
their dreams: while the sluggards below lazily drag themselves up the
ladder to resume their slumbers in the open air.

For these reasons then, the moonless sea midnight was just the time
to escape. Hence, we suffered a whole day to pass unemployed; waiting
for the night, when the star board-quarter-boats'-watch, to
which we belonged, would be summoned on deck at the eventful eight of
the bell.

But twenty-four hours soon glide away; and "Starboleens ahoy; eight
bells there below;" at last started me from a troubled doze.

I sprang from my hammock, and would have lighted my pipe. But the
forecastle lamp had gone out. An old sea-dog was talking about sharks
in his sleep. Jarl and our solitary watch-mate were groping their way
into their trowsers. And little was heard but the humming of the
still sails aloft; the dash of the waves against the bow; and the
deep breathing of the dreaming sailors around.



CHAPTER VII
A Pause


Good old Arcturion! Maternal craft; that rocked me so often in thy
heart of oak, I grieve to tell how I deserted thee on the broad deep.
So far from home, with  such a motley crew, so many islanders, whose
heathen babble echoing through thy Christian hull, must have grated
harshly on every carline.

Old ship! where sails thy lone ghost now? For of the stout Arcturion
no word was ever heard, from the dark hour we pushed from her fated
planks. In what time of tempest, to what seagull's scream, the
drowning eddies did their work, knows no mortal man. Sunk she
silently, helplessly, into the calm depths of that summer sea,
assassinated by the ruthless blade of the swordfish? Such things have
been. Or was hers a better fate? Stricken down while gallantly
battling with the blast; her storm-sails set; helm manned; and every
sailor at his post; as sunk the Hornet, her men at quarters, in some
distant gale.

But surmises are idle. A very old craft, she may have foundered; or
laid her bones upon some treacherous reef; but as with many a far
rover, her fate is a mystery.

Pray Heaven, the spirit of that lost vessel roaming abroad through
the troubled mists of midnight gales--as old mariners believe of
missing ships--may never haunt my future path upon the waves.
Peacefully may she rest at the bottom of the sea; and sweetly sleep
my shipmates in the lowest watery zone, where prowling sharks come
not, nor billows roll.

By quitting the Arcturion when we did, Jarl and I unconsciously
eluded a sailor's grave. We hear of providential deliverances. Was
this one? But life is sweet to all, death comes as hard. And for
myself I am almost tempted to hang my head, that I escaped the fate
of my shipmates; something like him who blushed to have escaped the
fell carnage at Thermopylae.

Though I can not repress a shudder when I think of that old ship's
end, it is impossible for me so much as to imagine, that our
deserting her could have been in any way instrumental in her loss.
Nevertheless, I would to heaven the Arcturion still floated; that it
was given me once more to tread her familiar decks.



CHAPTER VIII
They Push Off, Velis Et Remis


And now to tell how, tempted by devil or good angel, and a thousand
miles from land, we embarked upon this western voyage.

It was midnight, mark you, when our watch began; and my turn at the
helm now coming on was of course to be avoided. On some plausible
pretense, I induced our solitary watchmate to assume it; thus leaving
myself untrammeled, and at the same time satisfactorily disposing of
him. For being a rather fat fellow, an enormous consumer of "duff,"
and with good reason supposed to be the son of a farmer, I made no
doubt, he would pursue his old course and fall to nodding over the
wheel. As for the leader of the watch--our harpooner--he fell heir to
the nest of old jackets, under the lee of the mizzen-mast, left nice
and warm by his predecessor.

The night was even blacker than we had anticipated; there was no
trace of a moon; and the dark purple haze, sometimes encountered at
night near the Line, half shrouded the stars from view.

Waiting about twenty minutes after the last man of the previous watch
had gone below, I motioned to Jarl, and we slipped our shoes from our
feet. He then descended into the forecastle, and I sauntered aft
toward the quarter-deck. All was still. Thrice did I pass my hand
full before the face of the slumbering lubber at the helm, and right
between him and the light of the binnacle.

Mark, the harpooneer, was not so easily sounded. I feared to
approach him. He lay quietly, though; but asleep or awake, no more
delay. Risks must be run, when time presses. And our ears were a
pointer's to catch a sound.

To work we went, without hurry, but swiftly and silently. Our various
stores were dragged from their lurking-places, and placed in the
boat, which hung from the ship's lee side, the side depressed in the
water, an indispensable requisite to an attempt at escape. And though
at sundown the boat was to windward, yet, as we had foreseen, the
vessel having been tacked during the first watch, brought it to leeward.

Endeavoring to manhandle our clumsy breaker, and lift it into the
boat, we found, that by reason of the intervention of the shrouds, it
could not be done without, risking a jar; besides straining the craft
in lowering. An expedient, however, though at the eleventh hour, was
hit upon. Fastening a long rope to the breaker, which was perfectly
tight, we cautiously dropped it overboard; paying out enough line, to
insure its towing astern of the ship, so as not to strike against the
copper. The other end of the line we then secured to the boat's stern.

Fortunately, this was the last thing to be done; for the breaker,
acting as a clog to the vessel's way in the water, so affected her
steering as to fling her perceptibly into the wind. And by causing
the helm to work, this must soon rouse the lubber there stationed, if
not already awake. But our dropping overboard the breaker greatly
aided us in this respect: it diminished the ship's headway; which
owing to the light breeze had not been very great at any time during
the night. Had it been so, all hope of escaping without first
arresting the vessel's progress, would have been little short of
madness. As it was, the sole daring of the deed that night achieved,
consisted in our lowering away while the ship yet clove the brine,
though but moderately.

All was now ready: the cranes swung in, the lashings adrift,
and the boat fairly suspended; when, seizing the ends of the tackle
ropes, we silently stepped into it, one at each end. The dead weight
of the breaker astern now dragged the craft horizontally through the
air, so that her tackle ropes strained hard. She quivered like a
dolphin. Nevertheless, had we not feared her loud splash upon
striking the wave, we might have quitted the ship almost as silently
as the breath the body. But this was out of the question, and our
plans were laid accordingly.

"All ready, Jarl?"

"Ready."

"A man overboard!" I shouted at the top of my compass; and like
lightning the cords slid through our blistering hands, and with a
tremendous shock the boat bounded on the sea's back. One mad sheer
and plunge, one terrible strain on the tackles as we sunk in the
trough of the waves, tugged upon by the towing breaker, and our
knives severed the tackle ropes--we hazarded not unhooking the
blocks--our oars were out, and the good boat headed round, with prow
to leeward.

"Man overboard!" was now shouted from stem to stern. And directly we
heard the confused tramping and shouting of the sailors, as they
rushed from their dreams into the almost inscrutable darkness.

"Man overboard! Man overboard!" My heart smote me as the human cry of
horror came out of the black vaulted night.

"Down helm!" was soon heard from the chief mate. "Back the main-yard!
Quick to the boats! How's this? One down already? Well done! Hold on,
then, those other boats!"

Meanwhile several seamen were shouting as they strained at the braces.

"Cut! cut all! Lower away! lower away!" impatiently cried the
sailors, who already had leaped into the boats.

"Heave the ship to, and hold fast every thing," cried the captain,
apparently just springing to the deck. "One boat's enough. Steward;
show a light there from the mizzen-top. Boat ahoy!--Have you got that
man?"

No reply. The voice came out of a cloud; the ship dimly showing like
a ghost. We had desisted from rowing, and hand over hand were now
hauling in upon the rope attached to the breaker, which we soon
lifted into the boat, instantly resuming our oars.

"Pull! pull, men! and save him!" again shouted the captain.

"Ay, ay, sir," answered Jarl instinctively, "pulling as hard as ever
we can, sir."

And pull we did, till nothing could be heard from the ship but a
confused tumult; and, ever and anon, the hoarse shout of the captain,
too distant to be understood.

We now set our sail to a light air; and right into the darkness, and
dead to leeward, we rowed and sailed till morning dawned.



CHAPTER IX
The Watery World Is All Before Them


At sea in an open boat, and a thousand miles from land!

Shortly after the break of day, in the gray transparent light, a
speck to windward broke the even line of the horizon. It was the ship
wending her way north-eastward.

Had I not known the final indifference of sailors to such disasters
as that which the Arcturion's crew must have imputed to the night
past (did not the skipper suspect the truth) I would have regarded
that little speck with many compunctions of conscience. Nor, as it
was, did I feel in any very serene humor. For the consciousness of
being deemed dead, is next to the presumable unpleasantness of being
so in reality. One feels like his own ghost unlawfully tenanting a
defunct carcass. Even Jarl's glance seemed so queer, that I begged
him to look another way.

Secure now from all efforts of the captain to recover those whom he
most probably supposed lost; and equally cut off from all hope of
returning to the ship even had we felt so inclined; the resolution
that had thus far nerved me, began to succumb in a measure to the
awful loneliness of the scene. Ere this, I had regarded the ocean as
a slave, the steed that bore me whither I listed, and whose vicious
propensities, mighty though they were, often proved harmless, when
opposed to the genius of man. But now, how changed! In our frail
boat, I would fain have built an altar to Neptune.

What a mere toy we were to the billows, that jeeringly shouldered
us from crest to crest, as from hand to hand lost souls may be tossed
along by the chain of shades which enfilade the route to Tartarus.

But drown or swim, here's overboard with care! Cheer up, Jarl! Ha!
Ha! how merrily, yet terribly, we sail! Up, up--slowly up--toiling up
the long, calm wave; then balanced on its summit a while, like a
plank on a rail; and down, we plunge headlong into the seething
abyss, till arrested, we glide upward again. And thus did we go. Now
buried in watery hollows--our sail idly flapping; then lifted aloft--
canvas bellying; and beholding the furthest horizon.

Had not our familiarity with the business of whaling divested our
craft's wild motions of its first novel horrors, we had been but a
rueful pair. But day-long pulls after whales, the ship left miles
astern; and entire dark nights passed moored to the monsters, killed
too late to be towed to the ship far to leeward:--all this, and much
more, accustoms one to strange things. Death, to be sure, has a mouth
as black as a wolf's, and to be thrust into his jaws is a serious
thing. But true it most certainly is--and I speak from no hearsay--
that to sailors, as a class, the grisly king seems not half so
hideous as he appears to those who have only regarded him on shore,
and at a deferential distance. Like many ugly mortals, his features
grow less frightful upon acquaintance; and met over often and
sociably, the old adage holds true, about familiarity breeding
contempt. Thus too with soldiers. Of the quaking recruit, three
pitched battles make a grim grenadier; and he who shrank from the
muzzle of a cannon, is now ready to yield his mustache for a sponge.

And truly, since death is the last enemy of all, valiant souls will
taunt him while they may. Yet rather, should the wise regard him as
the inflexible friend, who, even against our own wills, from life's
evils triumphantly relieves us.

And there is but little difference in the manner of dying. To die, is
all. And death has been gallantly encountered by those who never
beheld blood that was red, only its light azure seen through the
veins. And to yield the ghost proudly, and march out of your fortress
with all the honors of war, is not a thing of sinew and bone. Though
in prison, Geoffry Hudson, the dwarf, died more bravely than Goliah,
the giant; and the last end of a butterfly shames us all. Some women
have lived nobler lives, and died nobler deaths, than men. Threatened
with the stake, mitred Cranmer recanted; but through her fortitude,
the lorn widow of Edessa stayed the tide of Valens' persecutions.
'Tis no great valor to perish sword in hand, and bravado on lip;
cased all in panoply complete. For even the alligator dies in his
mail, and the swordfish never surrenders. To expire, mild-eyed, in
one's bed, transcends the death of Epaminondas.



CHAPTER X
They Arrange Their Canopies And Lounges, And Try To Make Things
Comfortable


Our little craft was soon in good order. From the spare rigging
brought along, we made shrouds to the mast, and converted the boat-
hook into a handy boom for the jib. Going large before the wind, we
set this sail wing-and-wing with the main-sail. The latter, in
accordance with the customary rig of whale-boats, was worked with a
sprit and sheet. It could be furled or set in an instant. The bags of
bread we stowed away in the covered space about the loggerhead, a
useless appurtenance now, and therefore removed. At night, Jarl used
it for a pillow; saying, that when the boat rolled it gave easy play
to his head. The precious breaker we lashed firmly amidships; thereby
much improving our sailing.

Now, previous to leaving the ship, we had seen to it well, that our
craft was supplied with all those equipments, with which, by the
regulations of the fishery, a whale-boat is constantly provided:
night and day, afloat or suspended. Hanging along our gunwales
inside, were six harpoons, three lances, and a blubber-spade; all
keen as razors, and sheathed with leather. Besides these, we had
three waifs, a couple of two-gallon water-kegs, several bailers, the
boat-hatchet for cutting the whale-line, two auxiliary knives for the
like purpose, and several minor articles, also employed in hunting
the leviathan. The line and line-tub, however, were on ship-board.

And here it may be mentioned, that to prevent the strain upon
the boat when suspended to the ship's side, the heavy whale-line,
over two hundred fathoms in length, and something more than an inch
in diameter, when not in use is kept on ship-board, coiled away like
an endless snake in its tub. But this tub is always in readiness to
be launched into the boat. Now, having no use for the line belonging
to our craft, we had purposely left it behind.

But well had we marked that by far the most important item of a
whale-boat's furniture was snugly secured in its place. This was the
water-tight keg, at both ends firmly headed, containing a small
compass, tinder-box and flint, candles, and a score or two of
biscuit. This keg is an invariable precaution against what so
frequently occurs in pursuing the sperm whale--prolonged absence from
the ship, losing sight of her, or never seeing her more, till years
after you reach home again. In this same keg of ours seemed coopered
up life and death, at least so seemed it to honest Jarl. No sooner
had we got clear from the Arcturion, than dropping his oar for an
instant, he clutched at it in the dark.

And when day at last came, we knocked out the head of the keg with
the little hammer and chisel, always attached to it for that purpose,
and removed the compass, that glistened to us like a human eye. Then
filling up the vacancy with biscuit, we again made all tight, driving
down the hoops till they would budge no more.

At first we were puzzled to fix our compass. But at last the Skyeman
out knife, and cutting a round hole in the after-most thwart, or seat
of the boat, there inserted the little brass case containing the
needle.

Over the stern of the boat, with some old canvas which my Viking's
forethought had provided, we spread a rude sort of awning, or rather
counterpane. This, however, proved but little or no protection from
the glare of the sun; for the management of the main-sail forbade any
considerable elevation of the shelter. And when the breeze was fresh,
we were fain to strike it altogether; for the wind being from
aft, and getting underneath the canvas, almost lifted the light
boat's stem into the air, vexing the counterpane as if it were a
petticoat turning a gusty corner. But when a mere breath rippled the
sea, and the sun was fiery hot, it was most pleasant to lounge in
this shady asylum. It was like being transferred from the roast to
cool in the cupboard. And Jarl, much the toughest fowl of the two,
out of an abundant kindness for his comrade, during the day
voluntarily remained exposed at the helm, almost two hours to my one.
No lady-like scruples had he, the old Viking, about marring his
complexion, which already was more than bronzed. Over the ordinary
tanning of the sailor, he seemed masked by a visor of japanning,
dotted all over with freckles, so intensely yellow, and symmetrically
circular, that they seemed scorched there by a burning glass.

In the tragico-comico moods which at times overtook me, I used to
look upon the brown Skyeman with humorous complacency. If we fall in
with cannibals, thought I, then, ready-roasted Norseman that thou
art, shall I survive to mourn thee; at least, during the period I
revolve upon the spit.

But of such a fate, it needs hardly be said, we had no apprehension.



CHAPTER XI
Jarl Afflicted With The Lockjaw


If ever again I launch whale-boat from sheer-plank of ship at sea, I
shall take good heed, that my comrade be a sprightly fellow, with a
rattle-box head. Be he never so silly, his very silliness, so long as
he be lively at it, shall be its own excuse.

Upon occasion, who likes not a lively loon, one of your giggling,
gamesome oafs, whose mouth is a grin? Are not such, well-ordered
dispensations of Providence? filling up vacuums, in intervals of
social stagnation relieving the tedium of existing? besides keeping
up, here and there, in very many quarters indeed, sundry people's
good opinion of themselves? What, if at times their speech is insipid
as water after wine? What, if to ungenial and irascible souls, their
very "mug" is an exasperation to behold, their clack an inducement to
suicide? Let us not be hard upon them for this; but let them live on
for the good they may do.

But Jarl, dear, dumb Jarl, thou wert none of these. Thou didst carry
a phiz like an excommunicated deacon's. And no matter what happened,
it was ever the same. Quietly, in thyself, thou didst revolve upon
thine own sober axis, like a wheel in a machine which forever goes
round, whether you look at it or no. Ay, Jarl! wast thou not forever
intent upon minding that which so many neglect--thine own especial
business? Wast thou not forever at it, too, with no likelihood of
ever winding up thy moody affairs, and striking a balance sheet?

But at times how wearisome to me these everlasting reveries in
my one solitary companion. I longed for something enlivening; a burst
of words; human vivacity of one kind or other. After in vain essaying
to get something of this sort out of Jarl, I tried it all by myself;
playing upon my body as upon an instrument; singing, halloing, and
making empty gestures, till my Viking stared hard; and I myself
paused to consider whether I had run crazy or no.

But how account for the Skyeman's gravity? Surely, it was based upon
no philosophic taciturnity; he was nothing of an idealist; an aerial
architect; a constructor of flying buttresses. It was inconceivable,
that his reveries were Manfred-like and exalted, reminiscent of
unutterable deeds, too mysterious even to be indicated by the
remotest of hints. Suppositions all out of the question.

His ruminations were a riddle. I asked him anxiously, whether, in any
part of the world, Savannah, Surat, or Archangel, he had ever a wife
to think of; or children, that he carried so lengthy a phiz. Nowhere
neither. Therefore, as by his own confession he had nothing to think
of but himself, and there was little but honesty in him (having
which, by the way, he may be thought full to the brim), what could I
fall back upon but my original theory: namely, that in repose, his
intellects stepped out, and left his body to itself.



CHAPTER XII
More About Being In An Open Boat


On the third morning, at break of day, I sat at the steering oar, an
hour or two previous having relieved Jarl, now fast asleep. Somehow,
and suddenly, a sense of peril so intense, came over me, that it
could hardly have been aggravated by the completest solitude.

On a ship's deck, the mere feeling of elevation above the water, and
the reach of prospect you command, impart a degree of confidence
which disposes you to exult in your fancied security. But in an open
boat, brought down to the very plane of the sea, this feeling almost
wholly deserts you. Unless the waves, in their gambols, toss you and
your chip upon one of their lordly crests, your sphere of vision is
little larger than it would be at the bottom of a well. At best, your
most extended view in any one direction, at least, is in a high,
slow-rolling sea; when you descend into the dark, misty spaces,
between long and uniform swells. Then, for the moment, it is like
looking up and down in a twilight glade, interminable; where two
dawns, one on each hand, seem struggling through the semi-transparent
tops of the fluid mountains.

But, lingering not long in those silent vales, from watery cliff to
cliff, a sea-chamois, sprang our solitary craft,--a goat among the Alps!

How undulated the horizon; like a vast serpent with ten thousand
folds coiled all round the globe; yet so nigh, apparently, that it
seemed as if one's hand might touch it.

What loneliness; when the sun rose, and spurred up the heavens, we
hailed him as a wayfarer in Sahara the sight of a distant horseman.
Save ourselves, the sun and the Chamois seemed all that was left of
life in the universe. We yearned toward its jocund disk, as in
strange lands the traveler joyfully greets a face from home, which
there had passed unheeded. And was not the sun a fellow-voyager? were
we not both wending westward? But how soon he daily overtook and
passed us; hurrying to his journey's end.

When a week had gone by, sailing steadily on, by day and by night, and
nothing in sight but this self-same sea, what wonder if disquieting
thoughts at last entered our hearts? If unknowingly we should pass
the spot where, according to our reckoning, our islands lay, upon what
shoreless sea would we launch? At times, these forebodings bewildered
my idea of the positions of the groups beyond. All became vague and
confused; so that westward of the Kingsmil isles and the Radack chain,
I fancied there could be naught but an endless sea.



CHAPTER XIII
Of The Chondropterygii, And Other Uncouth Hordes Infesting The South Seas


At intervals in our lonely voyage, there were sights which
diversified the scene; especially when the constellation Pisces was
in the ascendant.

It's famous botanizing, they say, in Arkansas' boundless prairies; I
commend the student of Ichthyology to an open boat, and the ocean
moors of the Pacific. As your craft glides along, what strange
monsters float by. Elsewhere, was never seen their like. And nowhere
are they found in the books of the naturalists.

Though America be discovered, the Cathays of the deep are unknown.
And whoso crosses the Pacific might have read lessons to Buffon. The
sea-serpent is not a fable; and in the sea, that snake is but a
garden worm. There are more wonders than the wonders rejected, and
more sights unrevealed than you or I ever ever dreamt of. Moles and
bats alone should be skeptics; and the only true infidelity is for a
live man to vote himself dead. Be Sir Thomas Brown our ensample; who,
while exploding "Vulgar Errors," heartily hugged all the mysteries in
the Pentateuch.

But look! fathoms down in the sea; where ever saw you a phantom like
that? An enormous crescent with antlers like a reindeer, and a Delta
of mouths. Slowly it sinks, and is seen no more.

Doctor Faust saw the devil; but you have seen the "Devil Fish."

Look again! Here comes another. Jarl calls it a Bone Shark. Full as
large as a whale, it is spotted like a leopard; and tusk-like teeth
overlap its jaws like those of the walrus. To seamen, nothing strikes
more terror than the near vicinity of a creature like this. Great
ships steer out of its path. And well they may; since the good craft
Essex, and others, have been sunk by sea-monsters, as the alligator
thrusts his horny snout through a Carribean canoe.

Ever present to us, was the apprehension of some sudden disaster from
the extraordinary zoological specimens we almost hourly passed.

For the sharks, we saw them, not by units, nor by tens, nor by
hundreds; but by thousands and by myriads. Trust me, there are more
sharks in the sea than mortals on land.

And of these prolific fish there are full as many species as of dogs.
But by the German naturalists Muller and Henle, who, in christening
the sharks, have bestowed upon them the most heathenish names, they
are classed under one family; which family, according to Muller,
king-at-arms, is an undoubted branch of the ancient and famous tribe
of the Chondropterygii.

To begin. There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so
called by sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the
hard knocks received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering
oar. At times, these gentry swim in herds; especially about the
remains of a slaughtered whale. They are the vultures of the deep.

Then we often encountered the dandy Blue Shark, a long, taper and
mighty genteel looking fellow, with a slender waist, like a Bond-
street beau, and the whitest tiers of teeth imaginable. This dainty
spark invariably lounged by with a careless fin and an indolent tail.
But he looked infernally heartless.

How his cold-blooded, gentlemanly air, contrasted with the rude,
savage swagger of the Tiger Shark; a round, portly gourmand; with
distended mouth and collapsed conscience, swimming about seeking whom
he might devour. These gluttons are the scavengers of navies,
following ships in the South Seas, picking up odds and ends of
garbage, and sometimes a tit-bit, a stray sailor. No wonder, then,
that sailors denounce them. In substance, Jarl once assured me, that
under any temporary misfortune, it was one of his sweetest
consolations to remember, that in his day, he had murdered, not
killed, shoals of Tiger Sharks.

Yet this is all wrong. As well hate a seraph, as a shark. Both were
made by the same hand. And that sharks are lovable, witness their
domestic endearments. No Fury so ferocious, as not to have some
amiable side. In the wild wilderness, a leopard-mother caresses her
cub, as Hagar did Ishmael; or a queen of France the dauphin. We know
not what we do when we hate. And I have the word of my gentlemanly
friend Stanhope, for it; that he who declared he loved a good hater
was but a respectable sort of Hottentot, at best. No very genteel
epithet this, though coming from the genteelest of men. But when the
digger of dictionaries said that saying of his, he was assuredly not
much of a Christian. However, it is hard for one given up to
constitutional hypos like him; to be filled with the milk and
meekness of the gospels. Yet, with deference, I deny that my old
uncle Johnson really believed in the sentiment ascribed to him. Love
a hater, indeed! Who smacks his lips over gall? Now hate is a
thankless thing. So, let us only hate hatred; and once give love
play, we will fall in love with a unicorn. Ah! the easiest way is the
best; and to hate, a man must work hard. Love is a delight; but hate
a torment. And haters are thumbscrews, Scotch boots, and Spanish
inquisitions to themselves. In five words--would they were a Siamese
diphthong--he who hates is a fool.

For several days our Chamois was followed by two of these aforesaid
Tiger Sharks. A brace of confidential inseparables, jogging along in
our wake, side by side, like a couple of highwaymen, biding their
time till you come to the cross-roads. But giving it up at last, for
a bootless errand, they dropped farther and farther astern, until
completely out of sight. Much to the Skyeman's chagrin; who long
stood in the stern, lance poised for a dart.

But of all sharks, save me from the ghastly White Shark. For though
we should hate naught, yet some dislikes are spontaneous; and
disliking is not hating. And never yet could I bring myself to be
loving, or even sociable, with a White Shark. He is not the sort of
creature to enlist young affections.

This ghost of a fish is not often encountered, and shows plainer by
night than by day. Timon-like, he always swims by himself; gliding
along just under the surface, revealing a long, vague shape, of a
milky hue; with glimpses now and then of his bottomless white pit of
teeth. No need of a dentist hath he. Seen at night, stealing along
like a spirit in the water, with horrific serenity of aspect, the
White Shark sent many a thrill to us twain in the Chamois.

By day, and in the profoundest calms, oft were we startled by the
ponderous sigh of the grampus, as lazily rising to the surface, he
fetched a long breath after napping below.

And time and again we watched the darting albicore, the fish with the
chain-plate armor and golden scales; the Nimrod of the seas, to whom
so many flying fish fall a prey. Flying from their pursuers, many of
them flew into our boat. But invariably they died from the shock. No
nursing could restore them. One of their wings I removed, spreading
it out to dry under a weight. In two days' time the thin membrane,
all over tracings like those of a leaf, was transparent as isinglass,
and tinted with brilliant hues, like those of a changing silk.

Almost every day, we spied Black Fish; coal-black and glossy. They
seemed to swim by revolving round and round in the water, like a wheel;
their dorsal fins, every now and then shooting into view, like spokes.

Of a somewhat similar species, but smaller, and clipper-built about
the nose, were the Algerines; so called, probably, from their corsair
propensities; waylaying peaceful fish on the high seas, and
plundering them of body and soul at a gulp. Atrocious Turks! a
crusade should be preached against them.

Besides all these, we encountered Killers and Thrashers, by far the
most spirited and "spunky" of the finny tribes. Though little larger
than a porpoise, a band of them think nothing of assailing leviathan
himself. They bait the monster, as dogs a bull. The Killers seizing
the Right whale by his immense, sulky lower lip, and the Thrashers
fastening on to his back, and beating him with their sinewy tails.
Often they come off conquerors, worrying the enemy to death. Though,
sooth to say, if leviathan gets but one sweep al them with his terrible
tail, they go flying into the air, as if tossed from Taurus' horn.

This sight we beheld. Had old Wouvermans, who once painted a bull
bait, been along with us, a rare chance, that, for his pencil. And
Gudin or Isabey might have thrown the blue rolling sea into the
picture. Lastly, one of Claude's setting summer suns would have
glorified the whole. Oh, believe me, God's creatures fighting, fin
for fin, a thousand miles from land, and with the round horizon for
an arena; is no ignoble subject for a masterpiece.

Such are a few of the sights of the great South Sea. But there is no
telling all. The Pacific is populous as China.



CHAPTER XIV
Jarl's Misgivings


About this time an event took place. My good Viking opened his mouth,
and spoke. The prodigy occurred, as, jacknife in hand, he was bending
over the midship oar; on the loom, or handle, of which he kept our
almanac; making a notch for every set sun. For some forty-eight hours
past, the wind had been light and variable. It was more than
suspected that a current was sweeping us northward.

Now, marking these things, Jarl threw out the thought, that the more
wind, and the less current, the better; and if a long calm came on,
of which there was some prospect, we had better take to our oars.

Take to our oars! as if we were crossing a ferry, and no ocean
leagues to traverse. The idea indirectly suggested all possible
horrors. To be rid of them forthwith, I proceeded to dole out our
morning meal. For to make away with such things, there is nothing
better than bolting something down on top of them; albeit, oft
repeated, the plan is very apt to beget dyspepsia; and the dyspepsia
the blues.

But what of our store of provisions? So far as enough to eat was
concerned, we felt not the slightest apprehension; our supplies
proving more abundant than we had anticipated. But, curious to tell,
we felt but little inclination for food. It was water, bright water,
cool, sparkling water, alone, that we craved. And of this, also, our
store at first seemed ample. But as our voyage lengthened, and
breezes blew faint, and calms fell fast, the idea of being deprived
of the precious fluid grew into something little short of a mono-
mania; especially with Jarl.

Every hour or two with the hammer and chisel belonging to the tinder
box keg, he tinkered away at the invaluable breaker; driving down the
hoops, till in his over solicitude, I thought he would burst them
outright.

Now the breaker lay on its bilge, in the middle of the boat, where
more or less sea-water always collected. And ever and anon, dipping
his finger therein, my Viking was troubled with the thought, that
this sea-water tasted less brackish than that alongside. Of course
the breaker must be leaking. So, he would turn it over, till its wet
side came uppermost; when it would quickly become dry as a bone. But
now, with his knife, he would gently probe the joints of the staves;
shake his head; look up; look down; taste of the water in the bottom
of the boat; then that of the sea; then lift one end of the breaker;
going through with every test of leakage he could dream of. Nor was
he ever fully satisfied, that the breaker was in all respects sound.
But in reality it was tight as the drum-heads that beat at Cerro-
Gordo. Oh! Jarl, Jarl: to me in the boat's quiet stern, steering and
philosophizing at one time and the same, thou and thy breaker were a
study.

Besides the breaker, we had, full of water, the two boat-kegs,
previously alluded to. These were first used. We drank from them by
their leaden spouts; so many swallows three times in the day; having
no other means of measuring an allowance. But when we came to the
breaker, which had only a bung-hole, though a very large one, dog-
like, it was so many laps apiece; jealously counted by the observer.
This plan, however, was only good for a single day; the water then
getting beyond the reach of the tongue. We therefore daily poured
from the breaker into one of the kegs; and drank from its spout. But
to obviate the absorption inseparable from decanting, we at last hit
upon something better,--my comrade's shoe, which, deprived of
its quarters, narrowed at the heel, and diligently rinsed out in the
sea, was converted into a handy but rather limber ladle. This we kept
suspended in the bung-hole of the breaker, that it might never twice
absorb the water.

Now pewter imparts flavor to ale; a Meerschaum bowl, the same to the
tobacco of Smyrna; and goggle green glasses are deemed indispensable
to the bibbing of Hock. What then shall be said of a leathern goblet
for water? Try it, ye mariners who list.

One morning, taking his wonted draught, Jarl fished up in his ladle a
deceased insect; something like a Daddy-long-legs, only more
corpulent. Its fate? A sea-toss? Believe it not; with all those
precious drops clinging to its lengthy legs. It was held over the
ladle till the last globule dribbled; and even then, being moist,
honest Jarl was but loth to drop it overboard.

For our larder, we could not endure the salt beef; it was raw as a
live Abyssinian steak, and salt as Cracow. Besides, the Feegee simile
would not have held good with respect to it. It was far from being
"tender as a dead man." The biscuit only could we eat; not to be
wondered at; for even on shipboard, seamen in the tropics are but
sparing feeders.

And here let not, a suggestion be omitted, most valuable to any
future castaway or sailaway as the case may be. Eat not your biscuit
dry; but dip it in the sea: which makes it more bulky and palatable.
During meal times it was soak and sip with Jarl and me: one on each
side of the Chamois dipping our biscuit in the brine. This plan
obviated finger-glasses at the conclusion of our repast. Upon the
whole, dwelling upon the water is not so bad after all. The Chinese
are no fools. In the operation of making your toilet, how handy to
float in your ewer!



CHAPTER XV
A Stitch In Time Saves Nine


Like most silent earnest sort of people, my good Viking was a pattern
of industry. When in the boats after whales, I have known him carry
along a roll of sinnate to stitch into a hat. And the boats lying
motionless for half an hour or so, waiting the rising of the chase,
his fingers would be plying at their task, like an old lady knitting.
Like an experienced old-wife too, his digits had become so expert and
conscientious, that his eyes left them alone; deeming optic
supervision unnecessary. And on this trip of ours, when not otherwise
engaged, he was quite as busy with his fingers as ever: unraveling
old Cape Horn hose, for yarn wherewith to darn our woolen frocks;
with great patches from the skirts of a condemned reefing jacket,
panneling the seats of our "ducks;" in short, veneering our broken
garments with all manner of choice old broadcloths.

With the true forethought of an old tar, he had brought along wish
him nearly the whole contents of his chest. His precious "Ditty Bag,"
containing his sewing utensils, had been carefully packed away in the
bottom of one of his bundles; of which he had as many as an old maid
on her travels. In truth, an old salt is very much of an old maid,
though, strictly speaking, far from deserving that misdeemed
appellative. Better be an old maid, a woman with herself for a
husband, than the wife of a fool; and Solomon more than hints that
all men are fools; and every wise man knows himself to be one.
When playing the sempstress, Jarl's favorite perch was the
triangular little platform in the bow; which being the driest and
most elevated part of the boat, was best adapted to his purpose. Here
for hours and hours together the honest old tailor would sit darning
and sewing away, heedless of the wide ocean around; while forever,
his slouched Guayaquil hat kept bobbing up and down against the
horizon before us.

It was a most solemn avocation with him. Silently he nodded like the
still statue in the opera of Don Juan. Indeed he never spoke, unless
to give pithy utterance to the wisdom of keeping one's wardrobe in
repair. But herein my Viking at times waxed oracular. And many's the
hour we glided along, myself deeply pondering in the stem, hand upon
helm; while crosslegged at the other end of the boat Jarl laid down
patch upon patch, and at long intervals precept upon precept; here
several saws, and there innumerable stitches.



CHAPTER XVI
They Are Becalmed


On the eighth day there was a calm.

It came on by night: so that waking at daybreak, and folding my arms
over the gunwale, I looked out upon a scene very hard to describe.
The sun was still beneath the horizon; perhaps not yet out of sight
from the plains of Paraguay. But the dawn was too strong for the
stars; which, one by one, had gone out, like waning lamps after a
ball.

Now, as the face of a mirror is a blank, only borrowing character
from what it reflects; so in a calm in the Tropics, a colorless sky
overhead, the ocean, upon its surface, hardly presents a sign of
existence. The deep blue is gone; and the glassy element lies
tranced; almost viewless as the air.

But that morning, the two gray firmaments of sky and water seemed
collapsed into a vague ellipsis. And alike, the Chamois seemed
drifting in the atmosphere as in the sea. Every thing was fused into
the calm: sky, air, water, and all. Not a fish was to be seen. The
silence was that of a vacuum. No vitality lurked in the air. And this
inert blending and brooding of all things seemed gray chaos in
conception.

This calm lasted four days and four nights; during which, but a few
cat's-paws of wind varied the scene. They were faint as the breath of
one dying.

At times the heat was intense. The heavens, at midday, glowing like
an ignited coal mine. Our skin curled up like lint; our vision became
dim; the brain dizzy.

To our consternation, the water in the breaker became
lukewarm, brackish, and slightly putrescent; notwithstanding we kept
our spare clothing piled upon the breaker, to shield it from the sun.
At last, Jarl enlarged the vent, carefully keeping it exposed. To
this precaution, doubtless, we owed more than we then thought. It was
now deemed wise to reduce our allowance of water to the smallest
modicum consistent with the present preservation of life; strangling
all desire for more.

Nor was this all. The upper planking of the boat began to warp; here
and there, cracking and splintering. But though we kept it moistened
with brine, one of the plank-ends started from its place; and the
sharp, sudden sound, breaking the scorching silence, caused us both
to spring to our feet. Instantly the sea burst in; but we made shift
to secure the rebellious plank with a cord, not having a nail; we
then bailed out the boat, nearly half full of water.

On the second day of the calm, we unshipped the mast, to prevent its
being pitched out by the occasional rolling of the vast smooth swells
now overtaking us. Leagues and leagues away, after its fierce raging,
some tempest must have been sending to us its last dying waves. For
as a pebble dropped into a pond ruffles it to its marge; so, on all
sides, a sea-gale operates as if an asteroid had fallen into the
brine; making ringed mountain billows, interminably expanding,
instead of ripples.

The great September waves breaking at the base of the Neversink
Highlands, far in advance of the swiftest pilot-boat, carry tidings.
And full often, they know the last secret of many a stout ship, never
heard of from the day she left port. Every wave in my eyes seems a
soul.

As there was no steering to be done, Jarl and I sheltered ourselves
as well as we could under the awning. And for the first two days, one
at a time, and every three or four hours, we dropped overboard for a
bath, clinging to the gun-wale; a sharp look-out being kept for
prowling sharks. A foot or two below the surface, the water
felt cool and refreshing.

On the third day a change came over us. We relinquished bathing, the
exertion taxing us too much. Sullenly we laid ourselves down; turned
our backs to each other; and were impatient of the slightest casual
touch of our persons. What sort of expression my own countenance
wore, I know not; but I hated to look at Jarl's. When I did it was a
glare, not a glance. I became more taciturn than he. I can not tell
what it was that came over me, but I wished I was alone. I felt that
so long as the calm lasted, we were without help; that neither could
assist the other; and above all, that for one, the water would hold
out longer than for two. I felt no remorse, not the slightest, for
these thoughts. It was instinct. Like a desperado giving up the
ghost, I desired to gasp by myself.

From being cast away with a brother, good God deliver me!

The four days passed. And on the morning of the fifth, thanks be to
Heaven, there came a breeze. Dancingly, mincingly it came, just
rippling the sea, until it struck our sails, previously set at the
very first token of its advance. At length it slightly freshened; and
our poor Chamois seemed raised from the dead.

Beyond expression delightful! Once more we heard the low humming of
the sea under our bow, as our boat, like a bird, went singing on its way.

How changed the scene! Overhead, a sweet blue haze, distilling
sunlight in drops. And flung abroad over the visible creation was the
sun-spangled, azure, rustling robe of the ocean, ermined with wave
crests; all else, infinitely blue. Such a cadence of musical sounds!
Waves chasing each other, and sporting and frothing in frolicsome
foam: painted fish rippling past; and anon the noise of wings as sea-
fowls flew by.

Oh, Ocean, when thou choosest to smile, more beautiful thou art than
flowery mead or plain!



CHAPTER XVII
In High Spirits, They Push On For The Terra Incognita


There were now fourteen notches on the loom of the Skyeman's oar:--So
many days since we had pushed from the fore-chains of the Arcturion.
But as yet, no floating bough, no tern, noddy, nor reef-bird, to
denote our proximity to land. In that long calm, whither might not
the currents have swept us?

Where we were precisely, we knew not; but according to our reckoning,
the loose estimation of the knots run every hour, we must have sailed
due west but little more than one hundred and fifty leagues; for the
most part having encountered but light winds, and frequent
intermitting calms, besides that prolonged one described. But spite
of past calms and currents, land there must be to the westward. Sun,
compass, stout hearts, and steady breezes, pointed our prow thereto.
So courage! my Viking, and never say drown!

At this time, our hearts were much lightened by discovering that our
water was improving in taste. It seemed to have been undergoing anew
that sort of fermentation, or working, occasionally incident to ship
water shortly after being taken on board. Sometimes, for a period, it
is more or less offensive to taste and smell; again, however,
becoming comparatively limpid.

But as our water improved, we grew more and more miserly of so
priceless a treasure.

And here it may be well to make mention of another little
circumstance, however unsentimental. Thorough-paced tar that he was,
my Viking was an inordinate consumer of the Indian weed. From
the Arcturion, he had brought along with him a small half-keg, at
bottom impacted with a solitary layer of sable Negrohead, fossil-
marked, like the primary stratum of the geologists. It was the last
tier of his abundant supply for the long whaling voyage upon which he
had embarked upwards of three years previous. Now during the calm,
and for some days after, poor Jarl's accustomed quid was no longer
agreeable company. To pun: he eschewed his chew. I asked him
wherefore. He replied that it puckered up his mouth, above all
provoked thirst, and had somehow grown every way distasteful. I was
sorry; for the absence of his before ever present wad impaired what
little fullness there was left in his cheek; though, sooth to say, I
no longer called upon him as of yore to shift over the enormous
morsel to starboard or larboard, and so trim our craft.

The calm gone by, once again my sea-tailor plied needle and thread;
or turning laundress, hung our raiment to dry on oars peaked
obliquely in the thole-pins. All of which tattered pennons, the wind
being astern, helped us gayly on our way; as jolly poor devils, with
rags flying in the breeze, sail blithely through life; and are merry
although they are poor!



CHAPTER XVIII
My Lord Shark And His Pages


There is a fish in the sea that evermore, like a surly lord, only
goes abroad attended by his suite. It is the Shovel-nosed Shark. A
clumsy lethargic monster, unshapely as his name, and the last species
of his kind, one would think, to be so bravely waited upon, as he is.
His suite is composed of those dainty little creatures called Pilot
fish by sailors. But by night his retinue is frequently increased by
the presence of several small luminous fish, running in advance, and
flourishing their flambeaux like link-boys lighting the monster's
way. Pity there were no ray-fish in rear, page-like, to carry his
caudal train.

Now the relation subsisting between the Pilot fish above mentioned
and their huge ungainly lord, seems one of the most inscrutable
things in nature. At any rate, it poses poor me to comprehend. That a
monster so ferocious, should suffer five or six little sparks, hardly
fourteen inches long, to gambol about his grim hull with the utmost
impunity, is of itself something strange. But when it is considered,
that by a reciprocal understanding, the Pilot fish seem to act as
scouts to the shark, warning him of danger, and apprising him of the
vicinity of prey; and moreover, in case of his being killed, evincing
their anguish by certain agitations, otherwise inexplicable; the
whole thing becomes a mystery unfathomable. Truly marvels abound. It
needs no dead man to be raised, to convince us of some things. Even
my Viking marveled full as much at those Pilot fish as he would have
marveled at the Pentecost.

But perhaps a little incident, occurring about this period, will best
illustrate the matter in hand.

We were gliding along, hardly three knots an hour, when my comrade,
who had been dozing over the gunwale, suddenly started to his feet,
and pointed out an immense Shovel-nosed Shark, less than a boat's
length distant, and about half a fathom beneath the surface. A lance
was at once snatched from its place; and true to his calling, Jarl
was about to dart it at the fish, when, interested by the sight of
its radiant little scouts, I begged him to desist.

One of them was right under the shark, nibbling at his ventral fin;
another above, hovering about his dorsal appurtenance; one on each
flank; and a frisking fifth pranking about his nose, seemingly having
something to say of a confidential nature. They were of a bright,
steel-blue color, alternated with jet black stripes; with glistening
bellies of a silver-white. Clinging to the back of the shark, were
four or five Remoras, or sucking-fish; snaky parasites, impossible to
remove from whatever they adhere to, without destroying their lives.
The Remora has little power in swimming; hence its sole locomotion is
on the backs of larger fish. Leech-like, it sticketh closer than a
false brother in prosperity; closer than a beggar to the benevolent;
closer than Webster to the Constitution. But it feeds upon what it
clings to; its feelers having a direct communication with the
esophagus.

The shark swam sluggishly; creating no sign of a ripple, but ever
and, anon shaking his Medusa locks, writhing and curling with
horrible life. Now and then, the nimble Pilot fish darted from his
side--this way and that--mostly toward our boat; but previous to
taking a fresh start ever returning to their liege lord to report
progress.

A thought struck me. Baiting a rope's end with a morsel of our almost
useless salt beef, I suffered it to trail in the sea. Instantly the
foremost scout swam toward it; hesitated; paused; but at last
advancing, briskly snuffed at the line, and taking one finical
little nibble, retreated toward the shark. Another moment, and the
great Tamerlane himself turned heavily about; pointing his black,
cannon-like nose directly toward our broadside. Meanwhile, the little
Pilot fish darted hither and thither; keeping up a mighty fidgeting,
like men of small minds in a state of nervous agitation.

Presently, Tamerlane swam nearer and nearer, all the while lazily
eyeing the Chamois, as a wild boar a kid. Suddenly making a rush for
it, in the foam he made away with the bait. But the next instant, the
uplifted lance sped at his skull; and thrashing his requiem with his
sinewy tail, he sunk slowly, through his own blood, out of sight.
Down with him swam the terrified Pilot fish; but soon after, three of
them were observed close to the boat, gliding along at a uniform
pace; one an each side, and one in advance; even as they had attended
their lord. Doubtless, one was under our keel.

"A good omen," said Jarl; "no harm will befall us so long as they stay."

But however that might be, follow us they did, for many days after:
until an event occurred, which necessitated their withdrawal.



CHAPTER XIX
Who Goes There?


Jarl's oar showed sixteen notches on the loom, when one evening, as
the expanded sun touched the horizon's rim, a ship's uppermost spars
were observed, traced like a spider's web against its crimson disk.
It looked like a far-off craft on fire.

In bright weather at sea, a sail, invisible in the full flood of
noon, becomes perceptible toward sunset. It is the reverse in the
morning. In sight at gray dawn, the distant vessel, though in reality
approaching, recedes from view, as the sun rises higher and higher.
This holds true, till its vicinity makes it readily fall within the
ordinary scope of vision. And thus, too, here and there, with other
distant things: the more light you throw on them, the more you
obscure. Some revelations show best in a twilight.

The sight of the stranger not a little surprised us. But brightening
up, as if the encounter were welcome, Jarl looked happy and
expectant. He quickly changed his demeanor, however, upon perceiving
that I was bent upon shunning a meeting.

Instantly our sails were struck; and calling upon Jarl, who was
somewhat backward to obey, I shipped the oars; and, both rowing, we
stood away obliquely from our former course.

I divined that the vessel was a whaler; and hence, that by help of
the glass, with which her look-outs must be momentarily sweeping the
horizon, they might possibly have descried us; especially, as we were
due east from the ship; a direction, which at sunset is the
one most favorable for perceiving a far-off object at sea.
Furthermore, our canvas was snow-white and conspicuous. To be sure,
we could not be certain what kind of a vessel it was; but whatever it
might be, I, for one, had no mind to risk an encounter; for it was
quite plain, that if the stranger came within hailing distance, there
would be no resource but to link our fortunes with hers; whereas I
desired to pursue none but the Chamois'. As for the Skyeman, he kept
looking wistfully over his shoulder; doubtless, praying Heaven, that
we might not escape what I sought to avoid.

Now, upon a closer scrutiny, being pretty well convinced that the
stranger, after all, was steering a nearly westerly course--right
away from us--we reset our sail; and as night fell, my Viking's
entreaties, seconded by my own curiosity, induced me to resume our
original course; and so follow after the vessel, with a view of
obtaining a nearer glimpse, without danger of detection. So, boldly
we steered for the sail.

But not gaining much upon her, spite of the lightness of the breeze
(a circumstance in our favor: the chase being a ship, and we but a
boat), at my comrade's instigation, we added oars to sails, readily
guiding our way by the former, though the helm was left to itself.

As we came nearer, it was plain that the vessel was no whaler; but a
small, two-masted craft; in short, a brigantine. Her sails were in a
state of unaccountable disarray; .only the foresail, mainsail, and
jib being set. The first was much tattered; and the jib was hoisted
but half way up the stay, where it idly flapped, the breeze coming
from over the taffrail. She continually yawed in her course; now
almost presenting her broadside, then showing her stern.

Striking our sails once more, we lay on our oars, and watched her in
the starlight. Still she swung from side to side, and still sailed on.

Not a little terrified at the sight, superstitious Jarl more than
insinuated that the craft must be a gold-huntress, haunted. But I
told him, that if such were the case, we must board her, come gold or
goblins. In reality, however, I began to think that she must have
been abandoned by her crew; or else, that from sickness, those on
board were incapable of managing her.

After a long and anxious reconnoiter, we came still nearer, using our
oars, but very reluctantly on Jarl's part; who, while rowing, kept
his eyes over his shoulder, as if about to beach the little Chamois
on the back of a whale as of yore. Indeed, he seemed full as
impatient to quit the vicinity of the vessel, as before he had been
anxiously courting it.

Now, as the silent brigantine again swung round her broadside, I
hailed her loudly. No return. Again. But all was silent. With a few
vigorous strokes, we closed with her, giving yet another unanswered
hail; when, laying the Chamois right alongside, I clutched at the
main-chains. Instantly we felt her dragging us along. Securing our
craft by its painter, I sprang over the rail, followed by Jarl, who
had snatched his harpoon, his favorite arms. Long used with that
weapon to overcome the monsters of the deep, he doubted not it would
prove equally serviceable in any other encounter.

The deck was a complete litter. Tossed about were pearl oyster
shells, husks of cocoa-nuts, empty casks, and cases. The deserted
tiller was lashed; which accounted for the vessel's yawing. But we
could not conceive, how going large before the wind; the craft could,
for any considerable time, at least, have guided herself without the
help of a hand. Still, the breeze was light and steady.

Now, seeing the helm thus lashed, I could not but distrust the
silence that prevailed. It conjured up the idea of miscreants
concealed below, and meditating treachery; unscrupulous mutineers--
Lascars, or Manilla-men; who, having murdered the Europeans of
the crew, might not be willing to let strangers depart unmolested. Or
yet worse, the entire ship's company might have been swept away by a
fever, its infection still lurking in the poisoned hull. And though
the first conceit, as the last, was a mere surmise, it was
nevertheless deemed prudent to secure the hatches, which for the
present we accordingly barred down with the oars of our boat. This
done, we went about the deck in search of water. And finding some in
a clumsy cask, drank long and freely, and to our thirsty souls'
content.

The wind now freshening, and the rent sails like to blow from the
yards, we brought the brigantine to the wind, and brailed up the
canvas. This left us at liberty to examine the craft, though,
unfortunately, the night was growing hazy.

All this while our boat was still towing alongside; and I was about
to drop it astern, when Jarl, ever cautious, declared it safer where
it was; since, if there were people on board, they would most likely
be down in the cabin, from the dead-lights of which, mischief might
be done to the Chamois.

It was then, that my comrade observed, that the brigantine had no
boats, a circumstance most unusual in any sort of a vessel at sea.
But marking this, I was exceedingly gratified. It seemed to indicate,
as I had opined, that from some cause or other, she must have been
abandoned of her crew. And in a good measure this dispelled my fears
of foul play, and the apprehension of contagion. Encouraged by these
reflections, I now resolved to descend, and explore the cabin, though
sorely against Jarl's counsel. To be sure, as he earnestly said, this
step might have been deferred till daylight; but it seemed too
wearisome to wait. So bethinking me of our tinder-box and candles, I
sent him into the boat for them. Presently, two candles were lit; one
of which the Skyeman tied up and down the barbed end of his harpoon;
so that upon going below, the keen steel might not be far off,
should the light be blown out by a dastard.

Unfastening the cabin scuttle, we stepped downward into the smallest
and murkiest den in the world. The altar-like transom, surmounted by
the closed dead-lights in the stem, together with the dim little sky-
light overhead, and the somber aspect of every thing around, gave the
place the air of some subterranean oratory, say a Prayer Room of
Peter the Hermit. But coils of rigging, bolts of canvas, articles of
clothing, and disorderly heaps of rubbish, harmonized not with this
impression. Two doors, one on each side, led into wee little state-
rooms, the berths of which also were littered. Among other things,
was a large box, sheathed with iron and stoutly clamped, containing a
keg partly filled with powder, the half of an old cutlass, a pouch of
bullets, and a case for a sextant--a brass plate on the lid, with the
maker's name. London. The broken blade of the cutlass was very rusty
and stained; and the iron hilt bent in. It looked so tragical that I
thrust it out of sight.

Removing a small trap-door, opening into the space beneath, called
the "run," we lighted upon sundry cutlasses and muskets, lying
together at sixes and sevens, as if pitched down in a hurry.

Casting round a hasty glance, and satisfying ourselves, that through
the bulkhead of the cabin, there was no passage to the forward part
of the hold, we caught up the muskets and cutlasses, the powder keg
and the pouch of bullets, and bundling them on deck, prepared to
visit the other end of the vessel. Previous to so doing, however, I
loaded a musket, and belted a cutlass to my side. But my Viking
preferred his harpoon.

In the forecastle reigned similar confusion. But there was a snug
little lair, cleared away in one corner, and furnished with a grass
mat and bolster, like those used among the Islanders of these seas.
This little lair looked to us as if some leopard had crouched there.
And as it turned out, we were not far from right. Forming one
side of this retreat, was a sailor's chest, stoutly secured by a
lock, and monstrous heavy withal. Regardless of Jarl's entreaties, I
managed to burst the lid; thereby revealing a motley assemblage of
millinery, and outlandish knick-knacks of all sorts; together with
sundry rude Calico contrivances, which though of unaccountable cut,
nevertheless possessed a certain petticoatish air, and latitude of
skirt, betokening them the habiliments of some feminine creature;
most probably of the human species.

In this strong box, also, was a canvas bag, jingling with rusty old
bell-buttons, gangrened copper bolts, and sheathing nails; damp,
greenish Carolus dollars (true coin all), besides divers iron screws,
and battered, chisels, and belaying-pins. Sounded on the chest lid,
the dollars rang clear as convent bells. These were put aside by Jarl
the sight of substantial dollars doing away, for the nonce, with his
superstitious Misgivings. True to his kingship, he loved true coin;
though abroad on the sea, and no land but dollarless dominions
ground, all this silver was worthless as charcoal or diamonds. Nearly
one and the same thing, say the chemists; but tell that to the
marines, say the illiterate Jews and the jewelers. Go, buy a house,
or a ship, if you can, with your charcoal! Yea, all the woods in
Canada charred down to cinders would not be worth the one famed
Brazilian diamond, though no bigger than the egg of a carrier pigeon.
Ah! but these chemists are liars, and Sir Humphrey Davy a cheat.
Many's the poor devil they've deluded into the charcoal business, who
otherwise might have made his fortune with a mattock.

Groping again into the chest, we brought to light a queer little hair
trunk, very bald and rickety. At every corner was a mighty clamp, the
weight of which had no doubt debilitated the box. It was jealously
secured with a padlock, almost as big as itself; so that it was
almost a question, which was meant to be security to the other.
Prying at it hard, we at length effected an entrance; but saw
no golden moidores, no ruddy doubloons; nothing under heaven but
three pewter mugs, such as are used in a ship's cabin, several brass
screws, and brass plates, which must have belonged to a quadrant;
together with a famous lot of glass beads, and brass rings; while,
pasted on the inside of the cover, was a little colored print,
representing the harlots, the shameless hussies, having a fine time
with the Prodigal Son.

It should have been mentioned ere now, that while we were busy in the
forecastle, we were several times startled by strange sounds aloft.
And just after, crashing into the little hair trunk, down came a
great top-block, right through the scuttle, narrowly missing my
Viking's crown; a much stronger article, by the way, than your
goldsmiths turn out in these days. This startled us much;
particularly Jarl, as one might suppose; but accustomed to the
strange creakings and wheezings of the masts and yards of old vessels
at sea, and having many a time dodged stray blocks accidentally
falling from aloft, I thought little more of the matter; though my
comrade seemed to think the noises somewhat different from any thing
of that kind he had even heard before.

After a little more turning over of the rubbish in the forecastle,
and much marveling thereat, we ascended to the deck; where we found
every thing so silent, that, as we moved toward the taffrail, the
Skyeman unconsciously addressed me in a whisper.



CHAPTER XX
Noises And Portents


I longed for day. For however now inclined to believe that the
brigantine was untenanted, I desired the light of the sun to place
that fact beyond a misgiving.

Now, having observed, previous to boarding the vessel, that she lay
rather low in the water, I thought proper to sound the well. But
there being no line-and-sinker at hand, I sent Jarl to hunt them up
in the arm-chest on the quarter-deck, where doubtless they must be
kept. Meanwhile I searched for the "breaks," or pump-handles, which,
as it turned out, could not have been very recently used; for they
were found lashed up and down to the main-mast.

Suddenly Jarl came running toward me, whispering that all doubt was
dispelled;--there were spirits on board, to a dead certainty. He had
overheard a supernatural sneeze. But by this time I was all but
convinced, that we were alone in the brigantine. Since, if otherwise,
I could assign no earthly reason for the crew's hiding away from a
couple of sailors, whom, were they so minded, they might easily have
mastered. And furthermore, this alleged disturbance of the atmosphere
aloft by a sneeze, Jarl averred to have taken place in the main-top;
directly underneath which I was all this time standing, and had heard
nothing. So complimenting my good Viking upon the exceeding delicacy
of his auriculars, I bade him trouble himself no more with his
piratical ghosts and goblins, which existed nowhere but in his own
imagination.

Not finding the line-and-sinker, with the spare end of a bowline we
rigged a substitute; and sounding the well, found nothing to excite
our alarm. Under certain circumstances, however, this sounding a
ship's well is a nervous sort of business enough. 'Tis like feeling
your own pulse in the last stage of a fever.

At the Skyeman's suggestion, we now proceeded to throw round the
brigantine's head on the other tack. For until daylight we desired to
alter the vessel's position as little as possible, fearful of coming
unawares upon reefs.

And here be it said, that for all his superstitious misgivings about
the brigantine; his imputing to her something equivalent to a purely
phantom-like nature, honest Jarl was nevertheless exceedingly
downright and practical in all hints and proceedings concerning her.
Wherein, he resembled my Right Reverend friend, Bishop Berkeley--
truly, one of your lords spiritual--who, metaphysically speaking,
holding all objects to be mere optical delusions, was, notwith-
standing, extremely matter-of-fact in all matters touching
matter itself. Besides being pervious to the points of pins, and
possessing a palate capable of appreciating plum-puddings:--which
sentence reads off like a pattering of hailstones.

Now, while we were employed bracing round the yards, whispering Jarl
must needs pester me again with his confounded suspicions of goblins
on board. He swore by the main-mast, that when the fore-yard swung
round, he had heard a half-stifled groan from that quarter; as if one
of his bugbears had been getting its aerial legs jammed. I laughed:--
hinting that goblins were incorporeal. Whereupon he besought me to
ascend the fore-rigging and test the matter for myself But here my
mature judgment got the better of my first crude opinion. I civilly
declined. For assuredly, there was still a possibility, that the
fore-top might be tenanted, and that too by living miscreants; and a
pretty hap would be mine, if, with hands full of rigging, and legs
dangling in air, while surmounting the oblique futtock-
shrouds, some unseen arm should all at once tumble me overboard.
Therefore I held my peace; while Jarl went on to declare, that with
regard to the character of the brigantine, his mind was now pretty
fully made up;--she was an arrant impostor, a shade of a ship, full
of sailors' ghosts, and before we knew where we were, would dissolve
in a supernatural squall, and leave us twain in the water. In short,
Jarl, the descendant of the superstitious old Norsemen, was full of
old Norse conceits, and all manner of Valhalla marvels concerning the
land of goblins and goblets. No wonder then, that with this catastrophe
in prospect, he again entreated me to quit the ill-starred craft,
carrying off nothing from her ghostly hull. But I refused.

One can not relate every thing at once. While in the cabin, we came
across a "barge" of biscuit, and finding its contents of a quality
much superior to our own, we had filled our pockets and occasionally
regaled ourselves in the intervals of rummaging. Now this sea cake-
basket we had brought on deck. And for the first time since bidding
adieu to the Arcturion having fully quenched our thirst, our appetite
returned with a rush; and having nothing better to do till day
dawned, we planted the bread-barge in the middle of the quarter-deck;
and crossing our legs before it, laid close seige thereto, like the
Grand Turk and his Vizier Mustapha sitting down before Vienna.

Our castle, the Bread-Barge was of the common sort; an oblong oaken
box, much battered and bruised, and like the Elgin Marbles, all over
inscriptions and carving:--foul anchors, skewered hearts, almanacs,
Burton-blocks, love verses, links of cable, Kings of Clubs; and
divers mystic diagrams in chalk, drawn by old Finnish mariners; in
casting horoscopes and prophecies. Your old tars are all Daniels.
There was a round hole in one side, through which, in getting at the
bread, invited guests thrust their hands.

And mighty was the thrusting of hands that night; also, many
and earnest the glances of Mustapha at every sudden creaking of the
spars or rigging. Like Belshazzar, my royal Viking ate with great
fear and trembling; ever and anon pausing to watch the wild shadows
flitting along the bulwarks.



CHAPTER XXI
Man Ho!


Slowly, fitfully, broke the morning in the East, showing the desolate
brig forging heavily through the water, which sluggishly thumped
under her bows. While leaping from sea to sea, our faithful Chamois,
like a faithful dog, still gamboled alongside, confined to the main-
chains by its painter. At times, it would long lag behind; then,
pushed by a wave like lightning dash forward; till bridled by its
leash, it again fell in rear.

As the gray light came on, anxiously we scrutinized the features of
the craft, as one by one they became more plainly revealed. Every
thing seemed stranger now, than when partially visible in the dingy
night. The stanchions, or posts of the bulwarks, were of rough
stakes, still incased in the bark. The unpainted sides were of a
dark-colored, heathenish looking wood. The tiller was a wry-necked,
elbowed bough, thrusting itself through the deck, as if the tree
itself was fast rooted in the hold. The binnacle, containing the
compass, was defended at the sides by yellow matting. The rigging--
shrouds, halyards and all--was of "Kaiar," or cocoa-nut fibres; and
here and there the sails were patched with plaited rushes.

But this was not all. Whoso will pry, must needs light upon matters
for suspicion. Glancing over the side, in the wake of every scupper-
hole, we beheld a faded, crimson stain, which Jarl averred to be
blood. Though now he betrayed not the slightest trepidation; for what
he saw pertained not to ghosts; and all his fears hitherto had been
of the super-natural.

Indeed, plucking up a heart, with the dawn of the day my Viking
looked bold as a lion; and soon, with the instinct of an old seaman
cast his eyes up aloft.

Directly, he touched my arm,--"Look: what stirs in the main-top?"

Sure enough, something alive was there.

Fingering our arms, we watched it; till as the day came on, a
crouching stranger was beheld.

Presenting my piece, I hailed him to descend or be shot. There was
silence for a space, when the black barrel of a musket was thrust
forth, leveled at my head. Instantly, Jarl's harpoon was presented at
a dart;--two to one;--and my hail was repeated. But no reply.

"Who are you?"

"Samoa," at length said a clear, firm voice.

"Come down from the rigging. We are friends."

Another pause; when, rising to his feet, the stranger slowly
descended, holding on by one hand to the rigging, for but one did he
have; his musket partly slung from his back, and partly griped under
the stump of his mutilated arm.

He alighted about six paces from where we stood; and balancing his
weapon, eyed us bravely as the Cid.

He was a tall, dark Islander, a very devil to behold, theatrically
arrayed in kilt and turban; the kilt of a gay calico print, the
turban of a red China silk. His neck was jingling with strings of
beads.

"Who else is on board?" I asked; while Jarl, thus far covering the
stranger with his weapon, now dropped it to the deck.

"Look there:--Annatoo!" was his reply in broken English, pointing
aloft to the fore-top. And lo! a woman, also an Islander; and barring
her skirts, dressed very much like Samoa, was beheld descending.

"Any more?"

"No more."

"Who are _you_ then; and what craft is this?"

"Ah, ah--you are no ghost;--but are you my friend?" he cried,
advancing nearer as he spoke; while the woman having gained the deck,
also approached, eagerly glancing.

We said we were friends; that we meant no harm; but desired to know
what craft this was; and what disaster had befallen her; for that
something untoward had occurred, we were certain.

Whereto, Samoa made answer, that it was true that something dreadful
had happened; and that he would gladly tell us all, and tell us the
truth. And about it he went.

Now, this story of his was related in the mixed phraseology of a
Polynesian sailor. With a few random reflections, in substance, it
will be found in the six following chapters.



CHAPTER XXII
What Befel The Brigantine At The Pearl Shell Islands


The vessel was the Parki, of Lahina, a village and harbor on the
coast of Mowee, one of the Hawaian isles, where she had been
miserably cobbled together with planks of native wood, and fragments
of a wreck, there drifted ashore.

Her appellative had been bestowed in honor of a high chief, the
tallest and goodliest looking gentleman in all the Sandwich Islands.
With a mixed European and native crew, about thirty in number (but
only four whites in all, captain included), the Parki, some four
months previous, had sailed from her port on a voyage southward, in
quest of pearls, and pearl oyster shells, sea-slugs, and other
matters of that sort.

Samoa, a native of the Navigator Islands, had long followed the sea,
and was well versed in the business of oyster diving and its
submarine mysteries. The native Lahineese on board were immediately
subordinate to him; the captain having bargained with Samoa for their
services as divers.

The woman, Annatoo, was a native of a far-off, anonymous island to
the westward: whence, when quite young, she had been carried by the
commander of a ship, touching there on a passage from Macao to
Valparaiso. At Valparaiso her protector put her ashore; most
probably, as I afterward had reason to think, for a nuisance.

By chance it came to pass that when Annatoo's first virgin bloom had
departed, leaving nothing but a lusty frame and a lustier soul,
Samoa, the Navigator, had fallen desperately in love with her. And
thinking the lady to his mind, being brave like himself, and
doubtless well adapted to the vicissitudes of matrimony at sea, he
meditated suicide--I would have said, wedlock--and the twain became
one. And some time after, in capacity of wife, Annatoo the dame,
accompanied in the brigantine, Samoa her lord. Now, as Antony flew to
the refuse embraces of Caesar, so Samoa solaced himself in the arms
of this discarded fair one. And the sequel was the same. For not
harder the life Cleopatra led my fine frank friend, poor Mark, than
Queen Annatoo did lead this captive of her bow and her spear. But all
in good time.

They left their port; and crossing the Tropic and the Line, fell in
with a cluster of islands, where the shells they sought were found in
round numbers. And here--not at all strange to tell besides the
natives, they encountered a couple of Cholos, or half-breed
Spaniards, from the Main; one half Spanish, the other half quartered
between the wild Indian and the devil; a race, that from Baldivia to
Panama are notorious for their unscrupulous villainy.

Now, the half-breeds having long since deserted a ship at these
islands, had risen to high authority among the natives. This hearing,
the Parki's captain was much gratified; he, poor ignorant, never
before having fallen in with any of their treacherous race. And, no
doubt, he imagined that their influence over the Islanders would tend
to his advantage. At all events, he made presents to the Cholos; who,
in turn, provided him with additional divers from among the natives.
Very kindly, also, they pointed out the best places for seeking the
oysters. In a word, they were exceedingly friendly; often coming off
to the brigantine, and sociably dining with the captain in the cabin;
placing the salt between them and him.

All things went on very pleasantly until, one morning, the half-
breeds prevailed upon the captain to go with them, in his whale-boat,
to a shoal on the thither side of the island, some distance from the
spot where lay the brigantine. They so managed it, moreover, that none
but the Lahineese under Samoa, in whom the captain much confided, were
left in custody of the Parki; the three white men going along to row;
for there happened to be little or no wind for a sail.

Now, the fated brig lay anchored within a deep, smooth, circular
lagoon, margined on all sides but one by the most beautiful groves.
On that side, was the outlet to the sea; perhaps a cable's length or
more from where the brigantine had been moored. An hour or two after
the party were gone, and when the boat was completely out of sight,
the natives in shoals were perceived coming off from the shore; some
in canoes, and some swimming. The former brought bread fruit and
bananas, ostentatiously piled up in their proas; the latter dragged
after them long strings of cocoanuts; for all of which, on nearing
the vessel, they clamorously demanded knives and hatchets in barter.

From their actions, suspecting some treachery, Samoa stood in the
gangway, and warned them off; saying that no barter could take place
until the captain's return. But presently one of the savages
stealthily climbed up from the water, and nimbly springing from the
bob-stays to the bow-sprit, darted a javelin full at the foremast,
where it vibrated. The signal of blood! With terrible outcries, the
rest, pulling forth their weapons, hitherto concealed in the canoes,
or under the floating cocoanuts, leaped into the low chains of the
brigantine; sprang over the bulwarks; and, with clubs and spears,
attacked the aghast crew with the utmost ferocity.

After one faint rally, the Lahineese scrambled for the rigging; but
to a man were overtaken and slain.

At the first alarm, Annatoo, however, had escaped to the fore-top-
gallant-yard, higher than which she could not climb, and whither the
savages durst not venture. For though after their nuts these
Polynesians will climb palm trees like squirrels; yet, at the first
blush, they decline a ship's mast like Kennebec farmers.

Upon the first token of an onslaught, Samoa, having rushed toward the
cabin scuttle for arms, was there fallen upon by two young savages.
But after a desperate momentary fray, in which his arm was mangled,
he made shift to spring below, instantly securing overhead the slide
of the scuttle. In the cabin, while yet the uproar of butchery
prevailed, he quietly bound up his arm; then laying on the transom
the captain's three loaded muskets, undauntedly awaited an assault.

The object of the natives, it seems, was to wreck the brigantine upon
the sharp coral beach of the lagoon. And with this intent, one of
their number had plunged into the water, and cut the cable, which was
of hemp. But the tide ebbing, cast the Parki's head seaward--toward
the outlet; and the savages, perceiving this, clumsily boarded the
fore-tack, and hauled aft the sheet; thus setting, after a fashion,
the fore-sail, previously loosed to dry.

Meanwhile, a gray-headed old chief stood calmly at the tiller,
endeavoring to steer the vessel shoreward. But not managing the helm
aright, the brigantine, now gliding apace through the water, only
made more way toward the outlet. Seeing which, the ringleaders, six
or eight in number, ran to help the old graybeard at the helm. But it
was a black hour for them. Of a sudden, while they were handling the
tiller, three muskets were rapidly discharged upon them from the
cabin skylight. Two of the savages dropped dead. The old steersman,
clutching wildly at the helm, fell over it, mortally wounded; and in
a wild panic at seeing their leaders thus unaccountably slain, the
rest of the natives leaped overboard and made for the shore.

Hearing the slashing, Samoa flew on deck; and beholding the foresail
set, and the brigantine heading right out to sea, he cried out to
Annatoo, still aloft, to descend to the topsail-yard, and loose the
canvas there. His command was obeyed. Annatoo deserved a gold medal
for what she did that day. Hastening down the rigging, after loosing
the topsail, she strained away at the sheets; in which operation she
was assisted by Samoa, who snatched an instant from the helm.

The foresail and fore-topsail were now tolerably well set; and as the
craft drew seaward, the breeze freshened. And well that it did; for,
recovered from their alarm, the savages were now in hot pursuit; some
in canoes, and some swimming as before. But soon the main-topsail was
given to the breeze, which still freshening, came from over the
quarter. And with this brave show of canvas, the Parki made gallantly
for the outlet; and loud shouted Samoa as she shot by the reef, and
parted the long swells without. Against these, the savages could not
swim. And at that turn of the tide, paddling a canoe therein was
almost equally difficult. But the fugitives were not yet safe. In
full chase now came in sight the whale-boat manned by the Cholos, and
four or five Islanders. Whereat, making no doubt, that all the whites
who left the vessel that morning had been massacred through the
treachery of the half-breeds; and that the capture of the brigantine
had been premeditated; Samoa now saw no other resource than to point
his craft dead away from the land.

Now on came the devils buckling to their oars. Meantime Annatoo was
still busy aloft, loosing the smaller sails--t'gallants and royals,
which she managed partially to set.

The strong breeze from astern now filling the ill-set sails, they
bellied, and rocked in the air, like balloons, while, from the novel
strain upon it, every spar quivered and sprung. And thus, like a
frightened gull fleeing from sea-hawks, the little Parki swooped
along, and bravely breasted the brine.

His shattered arm in a hempen sling, Samoa stood at the helm, the
muskets reloaded, and planted full before him on the binnacle. For a
time, so badly did the brigantine steer, by reason of her ill-
adjusted sails, made still more unmanageable by the strength
of the breeze,--that it was doubtful, after all, notwithstanding her
start, whether the fugitives would not yet fall a prey to their
hunters. The craft wildly yawed, and the boat drew nearer and nearer.
Maddened by the sight, and perhaps thinking more of revenge for the
past, than of security for the future, Samoa, yielding the helm to
Annatoo, rested his muskets on the bulwarks, and taking long, sure
aim, discharged them, one by one at the advancing foe.

The three reports were answered by loud jeers from the savages, who
brandished their spears, and made gestures of derision; while with
might and main the Cholos tugged at their oars.

The boat still gaining on the brigantine, the muskets were again
reloaded. And as the next shot sped, there was a pause; when, like
lightning, the headmost Cholo bounded upwards from his seat, and oar
in hand, fell into the sea. A fierce yell; and one of the natives
springing into the water, caught the sinking body by its long hair;
and the dead and the living were dragged into the boat. Taking heart
from this fatal shot, Samoa fired yet again; but not with the like
sure result; merely grazing the remaining half-breed, who, crouching
behind his comrades, besought them to turn the boat round, and make
for the shore. Alarmed at the fate of his brother, and seemingly
distrustful of the impartiality of Samoa's fire, the pusillanimous
villain refused to expose a limb above the gunwale.

Fain now would the pursuers have made good their escape; but an
accident forbade. In the careening of the boat, when the stricken
Cholo sprung overboard, two of their oars had slid into the water;
and together with that death-griped by the half-breed, were now
floating off; occasionally lost to view, as they sunk in the trough
of the sea. Two of the Islanders swam to recover them; but frightened
by the whirring of a shot over their heads, as they unavoidably
struck out towards the Parki, they turned quickly about; just
in time to see one of their comrades smite his body with his hand, as
he received a bullet from Samoa.

Enough: darting past the ill-fated boat, they swam rapidly for land,
followed by the rest; who plunged overboard, leaving in the boat the
surviving Cholo--who it seems could not swim--the wounded savage, and
the dead man.

"Load away now, and take thy revenge, my fine fellow," said Samoa to
himself. But not yet. Seeing all at his mercy, and having none, he
quickly laid his fore-topsail to the mast; "hove to" the brigantine;
and opened fire anew upon the boat; every swell of the sea heaving it
nearer and nearer. Vain all efforts to escape. The wounded man
paddled wildly with his hands the dead one rolled from side to side;
and the Cholo, seizing the solitary oar, in his frenzied
heedlessness, spun the boat round and round; while all the while shot
followed shot, Samoa firing as fast as Annatoo could load. At length
both Cholo and savage fell dead upon their comrades, canting the boat
over sideways, till well nigh awash; in which manner she drifted off.



CHAPTER XXIII
Sailing From The Island They Pillage The Cabin


There was a small carronade on the forecastle, unshipped from its
carriage, and lashed down to ringbolts on the deck. This Samoa now
loaded; and with an ax knocking off the round knob upon the breech,
rammed it home in the tube. When, running the cannon out at one of
the ports, and studying well his aim, he let fly, sunk the boat, and
buried his dead.

It was now late in the afternoon; and for the present bent upon
avoiding land, and gaining the shoreless sea, never mind where, Samoa
again forced round his craft before the wind, leaving the island
astern. The decks were still cumbered with the bodies of the
Lahineese, which heel to point and crosswise, had, log-like, been
piled up on the main-hatch. These, one by one, were committed to the
sea; after which, the decks were washed down.

At sunrise next morning, finding themselves out of sight of land,
with little or no wind, they stopped their headway, and lashed the
tiller alee, the better to enable them to overhaul the brigantine;
especially the recesses of the cabin. For there, were stores of goods
adapted for barter among the Islanders; also several bags of dollars.

Now, nothing can exceed the cupidity of the Polynesian, when, through
partial commerce with the whites, his eyes are opened to his
nakedness, and he perceives that in some things they are richer than
himself.

The poor skipper's wardrobe was first explored; his chests of clothes
being capsized, and their contents strown about the cabin floor.

Then took place the costuming. Samoa and Annatoo trying on coats and
pantaloons, shirts and drawers, and admiring themselves in the little
mirror panneled in the bulk-head. Then, were broken open boxes and
bales; rolls of printed cotton were inspected, and vastly admired;
insomuch, that the trumpery found in the captain's chests was
disdainfully doffed: and donned were loose folds of calico, more
congenial to their tastes.

As case after case was opened and overturned, slippery grew the cabin
deck with torrents of glass beads; and heavy the necks of Samoa and
Annatoo with goodly bunches thereof.

Among other things, came to light brass jewelry,--Rag Fair gewgaws
and baubles a plenty, more admired than all; Annatoo, bedecking
herself like, a tragedy queen: one blaze of brass. Much mourned the
married dame, that thus arrayed, there was none to admire but Samoa
her husband; but he was all the while admiring himself, and not her.

And here must needs be related, what has hitherto remained unsaid.
Very often this husband and wife were no Darby and Joan. Their
married life was one long campaign, whereof the truces were only by
night. They billed and they cooed on their arms, rising fresh in the
morning to battle, and often Samoa got more than a hen-pecking. To be
short, Annatoo was a Tartar, a regular Calmuc, and Samoa--Heaven help
him--her husband.

Yet awhile, joined together by a sense of common danger, and long
engrossed in turning over their tinsel acquisitions without present
thought of proprietorship, the pair refrained from all squabbles. But
soon burst the storm. Having given every bale and every case a good
shaking, Annatoo, making an estimate of the whole, very coolly
proceeded to set apart for herself whatever she fancied. To this,
Samoa objected; to which objection Annatoo objected; and then they
went at it.

The lady vowed that the things were no more Samoa's than hers;
nay, not so much; and that whatever she wanted, that same would she
have. And furthermore, by way of codicil, she declared that she was
slave to nobody.

Now, Samoa, sad to tell, stood in no little awe of his bellicose
spouse. What, though a hero in other respects; what, though he had
slain his savages, and gallantly carried his craft from their
clutches:--Like the valiant captains Marlborough and Belisarius, he
was a poltroon to his wife. And Annatoo was worse than either Sarah
or Antonina.

However, like every thing partaking of the nature of a scratch, most
conjugal squabbles are quickly healed; for if they healed not, they
would never anew break out: which is the beauty of the thing. So at
length they made up but the treaty stipulations of Annatoo told much
against the interests of Samoa. Nevertheless, ostensibly, it was
agreed upon, that they should strictly go halves; the lady, however,
laying special claim to certain valuables, more particularly fancied.
But as a set-off to this, she generously renounced all claims upon
the spare rigging; all claims upon the fore-mast and mainmast; and
all claims upon the captain's arms and ammunition. Of the latter, by
the way, Dame Antonina stood in no need. Her voice was a park of
artillery; her talons a charge of bayonets.



CHAPTER XXIV
Dedicated To The College Of Physicians And Surgeons


By this time Samoa's wounded arm was in such a state, that amputation
became necessary. Among savages, severe personal injuries are, for
the most part, accounted but trifles. When a European would be taking
to his couch in despair, the savage would disdain to recline.

More yet. In Polynesia, every man is his own barber and surgeon,
cutting off his beard or arm, as occasion demands. No unusual thing,
for the warriors of Varvoo to saw off their own limbs, desperately
wounded in battle. But owing to the clumsiness of the instrument
employed--a flinty, serrated shell--the operation has been known to
last several days. Nor will they suffer any friend to help them;
maintaining, that a matter so nearly concerning a warrior is far
better attended to by himself. Hence it may be said, that they
amputate themselves at their leisure, and hang up their tools when
tired. But, though thus beholden to no one for aught connected with
the practice of surgery, they never cut off their own heads, that
ever I heard; a species of amputation to which, metaphorically
speaking, many would-be independent sort of people in civilized lands
are addicted.

Samoa's operation was very summary. A fire was kindled in the little
caboose, or cook-house, and so made as to produce much smoke. He then
placed his arm upon one of the windlass bitts (a short upright
timber, breast-high), and seizing the blunt cook's ax would have
struck the blow; but for some reason distrusting the precision of his
aim, Annatoo was assigned to the task. Three strokes, and the
limb, from just above the elbow, was no longer Samoa's; and he saw
his own bones; which many a centenarian can not say. The very
clumsiness of the operation was safety to the subject. The weight and
bluntness of the instrument both deadened the pain and lessened the
hemorrhage. The wound was then scorched, and held over the smoke of
the fire, till all signs of blood vanished. From that day forward it
healed, and troubled Samoa but little.

But shall the sequel be told? How that, superstitiously averse to
burying in the sea the dead limb of a body yet living; since in that
case Samoa held, that he must very soon drown and follow it; and how,
that equally dreading to keep the thing near him, he at last hung it
aloft from the topmast-stay; where yet it was suspended, bandaged
over and over in cerements. The hand that must have locked many
others in friendly clasp, or smote a foe, was no food, thought Samoa,
for fowls of the air nor fishes of the sea.

Now, which was Samoa? The dead arm swinging high as Haman? Or the
living trunk below? Was the arm severed from the body, or the body
from the arm? The residual part of Samoa was alive, and therefore we
say it was he. But which of the writhing sections of a ten times
severed worm, is the worm proper?

For myself, I ever regarded Samoa as but a large fragment of a man,
not a man complete. For was he not an entire limb out of pocket? And
the action at Teneriffe over, great Nelson himself--physiologically
speaking--was but three-quarters of a man. And the smoke of Waterloo
blown by, what was Anglesea but the like? After Saratoga, what
Arnold? To say nothing of Mutius Scaevola minus a hand, General Knox
a thumb, and Hannibal an eye; and that old Roman grenadier, Dentatus,
nothing more than a bruised and battered trunk, a knotty sort of
hemlock of a warrior, hard to hack and hew into chips, though
much marred in symmetry by battle-ax blows. Ah! but these warriors,
like anvils, will stand a deal of hard hammering. Especially in the
old knight-errant times. For at the battle of Brevieux in Flanders,
my glorious old gossiping ancestor, Froissart, informs me, that ten
good knights, being suddenly unhorsed, fell stiff and powerless to
the plain, fatally encumbered by their armor. Whereupon, the rascally
burglarious peasants, their foes, fell to picking their visors; as
burglars, locks; or oystermen, oysters; to get at their lives. But
all to no purpose. And at last they were fain to ask aid of a
blacksmith; and not till then, were the inmates of the armor
dispatched. Now it was deemed very hard, that the mysterious state-
prisoner of France should be riveted in an iron mask; but these
knight-errants did voluntarily prison themselves in their own iron
Bastiles; and thus helpless were murdered there-in. Days of chivalry
these, when gallant chevaliers died chivalric deaths!

And this was the epic age, over whose departure my late eloquent and
prophetic friend and correspondent, Edmund Burke, so movingly
mourned. Yes, they were glorious times. But no sensible man, given to
quiet domestic delights, would exchange his warm fireside and
muffins, for a heroic bivouac, in a wild beechen wood, of a raw gusty
morning in Normandy; every knight blowing his steel-gloved fingers,
and vainly striving to cook his cold coffee in his helmet.



CHAPTER XXV
Peril A Peace-Maker


A few days passed: the brigantine drifting hither and thither, and
nothing in sight but the sea, when forth again on its stillness rung
Annatoo's domestic alarum. The truce was up. Most egregiously had the
lady infringed it; appropriating to herself various objects
previously disclaimed in favor of Samoa. Besides, forever on the
prowl, she was perpetually going up and down; with untiring energy,
exploring every nook and cranny; carrying off her spoils and
diligently secreting them. Having little idea of feminine
adaptations, she pilfered whatever came handy:--iron hooks, dollars,
bolts, hatchets, and stopping not at balls of marline and sheets of
copper. All this, poor Samoa would have borne with what patience he
might, rather than again renew the war, were it not, that the
audacious dame charged him with peculations upon her own private
stores; though of any such thing he was innocent as the bowsprit.

This insulting impeachment got the better of the poor islander's
philosophy. He keenly resented it. And the consequence was, that
seeing all domineering useless, Annatoo flew off at a tangent;
declaring that, for the future, Samoa might stay by himself; she
would have nothing more to do with him. Save when unavoidable in
managing the brigantine, she would not even speak to him, that she
wouldn't, the monster! She then boldly demanded the forecastle--in
the brig's case, by far the pleasantest end of the ship--for her own
independent suite of apartments. As for hapless Belisarius, he
might do what he pleased in his dark little den of a cabin.

Concerning the division of the spoils, the termagant succeeded in
carrying the day; also, to her quarters, bale after bale of goods,
together with numerous odds and ends, sundry and divers. Moreover,
she laid in a fine stock of edibles, so as, in all respects possible,
to live independent of her spouse.

Unlovely Annatoo! Unfortunate Samoa! Thus did the pair make a divorce
of it; the lady going upon a separate maintenance,--and Belisarius
resuming his bachelor loneliness. In the captain's state room, all
cold and comfortless, he slept; his lady whilome retiring to her
forecastle boudoir; beguiling the hours in saying her pater-nosters,
and tossing over and assorting her ill-gotten trinkets and finery;
like Madame De Maintenon dedicating her last days and nights to
continence and calicoes.

But think you this was the quiet end of their conjugal quarrels? Ah,
no! No end to those feuds, till one or t'other gives up the ghost.

Now, exiled from the nuptial couch, Belisarius bore the hardship
without a murmur. And hero that he was, who knows that he felt not
like a soldier on a furlough? But as for Antonina, she could neither
get along with Belisarius, nor without him. She made advances. But of
what sort? Why, breaking into the cabin and purloining sundry goods
therefrom; in artful hopes of breeding a final reconciliation out of
the temporary outburst that might ensue.

Then followed a sad scene of altercation; interrupted at last by a
sudden loud roaring of the sea. Rushing to the deck, they beheld
themselves sweeping head-foremost toward a shoal making out from a
cluster of low islands, hitherto, by banks of clouds, shrouded from
view.

The helm was instantly shifted; and the yards braced about. But for
several hours, owing to the freshness of the breeze, the set of the
currents, and the irregularity and extent of the shoal, it
seemed doubtful whether they would escape a catastrophe. But Samoa's
seamanship, united to Annatoo's industry, at last prevailed; and the
brigantine was saved.

Of the land where they came so near being wrecked, they knew nothing;
and for that reason, they at once steered away. For after the fatal
events which had overtaken the Parki at the Pearl Shell islands, so
fearful were they of encountering any Islanders, that from the first
they had resolved to keep open sea, shunning every appearance of
land; relying upon being eventually picked up by some passing sail.

Doubtless this resolution proved their salvation. For to the
navigator in these seas, no risk so great, as in approaching the
isles; which mostly are so guarded by outpost reefs, and far out from
their margins environed by perils, that the green flowery field
within, lies like a rose among thorns; and hard to be reached as the
heart of proud maiden. Though once attained, all three--red rose,
bright shore, and soft heart--are full of love, bloom, and all manner
of delights. The Pearl Shell islands excepted.

Besides, in those generally tranquil waters, Samoa's little craft,
though hundreds of miles from land, was very readily managed by
himself and Annatoo. So small was the Parki, that one hand could
brace the main-yard; and a very easy thing it was, even to hoist the
small top-sails; for after their first clumsy attempt to perform that
operation by hand, they invariably led the halyards to the windlass,
and so managed it, with the utmost facility.



CHAPTER XXVI
Containing A Pennyweight Of Philosophy


Still many days passed and the Parki yet floated. The little flying-
fish got used to her familiar, loitering hull; and like swallows
building their nests in quiet old trees, they spawned in the great
green barnacles that clung to her sides.

The calmer the sea, the more the barnacles grow. In the tropical
Pacific, but a few weeks suffice thus to encase your craft in shell
armor. Vast bunches adhere to the very cutwater, and if not stricken
off, much impede the ship's sailing. And, at intervals, this clearing
away of barnacles was one of Annatoo's occupations. For be it known,
that, like most termagants, the dame was tidy at times, though
capriciously; loving cleanliness by fits and starts. Wherefore, these
barnacles oftentimes troubled her; and with a long pole she would go
about, brushing them aside. It beguiled the weary hours, if nothing
more; and then she would return to her beads and her trinkets;
telling them all over again; murmuring forth her devotions, and
marking whether Samoa had been pilfering from her store.

Now, the escape from the shoal did much once again to heal the
differences of the good lady and her spouse. And keeping house, as
they did, all alone by themselves, in that lonely craft, a marvel it
is, that they should ever have quarreled. And then to divorce, and
yet dwell in the same tenement, was only aggravating the evil. So
Belisarius and Antonina again came together. But now, grown wise by
experience, they neither loved over-keenly, nor hated; but
took things as they were; found themselves joined, without hope of a
sundering, and did what they could to make a match of the mate.
Annatoo concluded that Samoa was not wholly to be enslaved; and Samoa
thought best to wink at Annatoo's foibles, and let her purloin when
she pleased.

But as in many cases, all this philosophy about wedlock is not proof
against the perpetual contact of the parties concerned; and as it is
far better to revive the old days of courtship, when men's mouths are
honey-combs: and, to make them still sweeter, the ladies the bees
which there store their sweets; when fathomless raptures glimmer far
down in the lover's fond eye; and best of all, when visits are
alternated by absence: so, like my dignified lord duke and his
duchess, Samoa and Annatoo, man and wife, dwelling in the same house,
still kept up their separate quarters. Marlborough visiting Sarah;
and Sarah, Marlborough, whenever the humor suggested.



CHAPTER XXVII
In Which The Past History Op The Parki Is Concluded


Still days, days, days sped by; and steering now this way, now that,
to avoid the green treacherous shores, which frequently rose into
view, the Parki went to and fro in the sea; till at last, it seemed
hard to tell, in what watery world she floated. Well knowing the
risks they ran, Samoa desponded. But blessed be ignorance. For in the
day of his despondency, the lively old lass his wife bade him be of
stout heart, cheer up, and steer away manfully for the setting sun;
following which, they must inevitably arrive at her own dear native
island, where all their cares would be over. So squaring their yards,
away they glided; far sloping down the liquid sphere.

Upon the afternoon of the day we caught sight of them in our boat,
they had sighted a cluster of low islands, which put them in no small
panic, because of their resemblance to those where the massacre had
taken place. Whereas, they must have been full five hundred leagues
from that fearful vicinity. However, they altered their course to
avoid it; and a little before sunset, dropping the islands astern,
resumed their previous track. But very soon after, they espied our
little sea-goat, bounding over the billows from afar.

This they took for a canoe giving chase to them. It renewed and
augmented their alarm.

And when at last they perceived that the strange object was a boat,
their fears, instead of being allayed, only so much the more
increased. For their wild superstitions led them to conclude,
that a white man's craft coming upon them so suddenly, upon the open
sea, and by night, could be naught but a phantom. Furthermore,
marking two of us in the Chamois, they fancied us the ghosts of the
Cholos. A conceit which effectually damped Samoa's courage, like my
Viking's, only proof against things tangible. So seeing us bent upon
boarding the brigantine; after a hurried over-turning of their
chattels, with a view of carrying the most valuable aloft for safe
keeping, they secreted what they could; and together made for the
fore-top; the man with a musket, the woman with a bag of beads. Their
endeavoring to secure these treasures against ghostly appropriation
originated in no real fear, that otherwise they would be stolen: it
was simply incidental to the vacant panic into which they were
thrown. No reproach this, to Belisarius' heart of game; for the most
intrepid Feegee warrior, he who has slain his hecatombs, will not go
ten yards in the dark alone, for fear of ghosts.

Their purpose was to remain in the top until daylight; by which time,
they counted upon the withdrawal of their visitants; who, sure
enough, at last sprang on board, thus verifying their worst
apprehensions.

They watched us long and earnestly. But curious to tell, in that very
strait of theirs, perched together in that airy top, their domestic
differences again broke forth; most probably, from their being
suddenly forced into such very close contact.

However that might be, taking advantage of our descent into the
cabin, Samoa, in desperation fled from his wife, and one-armed as he
was, sailor-like, shifted himself over by the fore and aft-stays to
the main-top, his musket being slung to his back. And thus divided,
though but a few yards intervened, the pair were as much asunder as
if at the opposite Poles.

During the live-long night they were both in great perplexity as to
the extraordinary goblins on board. Such inquisitive, meddlesome
spirits, had never before been encountered. So cool and systematic;
sagaciously stopping the vessel's headway the better torummage;--the
very plan they themselves had adopted. But what most
surprised them, was our striking a light, a thing of which no true
ghost would be guilty. Then, our eating and drinking on the quarter-
deck including the deliberate investment of Vienna; and many other
actions equally strange, almost led Samoa to fancy that we were no
shades, after all, but a couple of men from the moon.

Yet they had dimly caught sight of the frocks and trowsers we wore,
similar to those which the captain of the Parki had bestowed upon the
two Cholos, and in which those villains had been killed. This, with
the presence of the whale boat, united to chase away the conceit of
our lunar origin. But these considerations renewed their first
superstitious impressions of our being the ghosts of the murderous
half-breeds.

Nevertheless, while during the latter part of the night we were
reclining beneath him, munching our biscuit, Samoa eyeing us
intently, was half a mind to open fire upon us by way of testing our
corporeality. But most luckily, he concluded to defer so doing till
sunlight; if by that time we should not have evaporated.

For dame Annatoo, almost from our first boarding the brigantine,
something in our manner had bred in her a lurking doubt as to the
genuineness of our atmospheric organization; and abandoned to her
speculations when Samoa fled from her side, her incredulity waxed
stronger and stronger. Whence we came she knew not; enough, that we
seemed bent upon pillaging her own precious purloinings. Alas!
thought she, my buttons, my nails, my tappa, my dollars, my beads,
and my boxes!

Wrought up to desperation by these dismal forebodings, she at length
shook the ropes leading from her own perch to Samoa's; adopting this
method of arousing his attention to the heinousness of what
was in all probability going on in the cabin, a prelude most probably
to the invasion of her own end of the vessel. Had she dared raise her
voice, no doubt she would have suggested the expediency of shooting
us so soon as we emerged from the cabin. But failing to shake Samoa
into an understanding of her views on the subject, her malice proved
futile.

When her worst fears were confirmed, however, and we actually
descended into the forecastle; there ensued such a reckless shaking
of the ropes, that Samoa was fain to hold on hard, for fear of being
tossed out of the rigging. And it was this violent rocking that
caused the loud creaking of the yards, so often heard by us while
below in Annatoo's apartment.

And the fore-top being just over the open forecastle scuttle, the
dame could look right down upon us; hence our proceedings were
plainly revealed by the lights that we carried. Upon our breaking
open her strong-box, her indignation almost completely overmastered
her fears. Unhooking a top-block, down it came into the forecastle,
charitably commissioned with the demolition of Jarl's cocoa-nut, then
more exposed to the view of an aerial observer than my own. But of it
turned out, no harm was done to our porcelain.

At last, morning dawned; when ensued Jarl's discovery as the occupant
of the main-top; which event, with what followed, has been duly recounted.

And such, in substance, was the first, second, third and fourth acts
of the Parki drama. The fifth and last, including several scenes,
now follows.



CHAPTER XXVIII
Suspicions Laid, And Something About The Calmuc


Though abounding in details full of the savor of reality, Samoa's
narrative did not at first appear altogether satisfactory. Not that
it was so strange; for stranger recitals I had heard.

But one reason, perhaps, was that I had anticipated a narrative quite
different; something agreeing with my previous surmises.

Not a little puzzling, also, was his account of having seen islands
the day preceding; though, upon reflection, that might have been the
case, and yet, from his immediately altering the Parki's course, the
Chamois, unknowingly might have sailed by their vicinity. Still,
those islands could form no part of the chain we were seeking. They
must have been some region hitherto undiscovered.

But seems it likely, thought I, that one, who, according to his own
account, has conducted himself so heroically in rescuing the
brigantine, should be the victim of such childish terror at the mere
glimpse of a couple of sailors in an open boat, so well supplied,
too, with arms, as he was, to resist their capturing his craft, if
such proved their intention? On the contrary, would it not have been
more natural, in his dreary situation, to have hailed our approach
with the utmost delight? But then again, we were taken for phantoms,
not flesh and blood. Upon the whole, I regarded the narrator of these
things somewhat distrustfully. But he met my gaze like a man. While
Annatoo, standing by, looked so expressively the Amazonian character
imputed to her, that my doubts began to waver. And recalling
all the little incidents of their story, so hard to be conjured up on
the spur of a presumed necessity to lie; nay, so hard to be conjured
up at all; my suspicions at last gave way. And I could no longer
harbor any misgivings.

For, to be downright, what object could Samoa have, in fabricating
such a narrative of horrors--those of the massacre, I mean--unless to
conceal some tragedy, still more atrocious, in which he himself had
been criminally concerned? A supposition, which, for obvious reasons,
seemed out of the question. True, instances were known to me of half-
civilized beings, like Samoa, forming part of the crews of ships in
these seas, rising suddenly upon their white ship-mates, and
murdering them, for the sake of wrecking the ship on the shore of
some island near by, and plundering her hull, when stranded.

But had this been purposed with regard to the Parki, where the rest
of the mutineers? There was no end to my conjectures; the more I
indulged in them, the more they multiplied. So, unwilling to torment
myself, when nothing could be learned, but what Samoa related, and
stuck to like a hero; I gave over conjecturing at all; striving hard
to repose full faith in the Islander.

Jarl, however, was skeptical to the last; and never could be brought
completely to credit the tale. He stoutly maintained that the
hobgoblins must have had something or other to do with the Parki.

My own curiosity satisfied with respect to the brigantine, Samoa
himself turned inquisitor. He desired to know who we were; and whence
we came in our marvelous boat. But on these heads I thought best to
withhold from him the truth; among other things, fancying that if
disclosed, it would lessen his deference for us, as men superior to
himself. I therefore spoke vaguely of our adventures, and assumed the
decided air of a master; which I perceived was not lost upon the rude
Islander. As for Jarl, and what he might reveal, I embraced the first
opportunity to impress upon him the importance of never divulging our
flight from the Arcturion; nor in any way to commit himself on that
head: injunctions which he faithfully promised to observe.

If not wholly displeased with the fine form of Samoa, despite his
savage lineaments, and mutilated member, I was much less conciliated
by the person of Annatoo; who, being sinewy of limb, and neither
young, comely, nor amiable, was exceedingly distasteful in my eyes.
Besides, she was a tigress. Yet how avoid admiring those Penthesilian
qualities which so signally had aided Samoa, in wresting the Parki
from its treacherous captors. Nevertheless, it was indispensable that
she should at once be brought under prudent subjection; and made to
know, once for all, that though conjugally a rebel, she must be
nautically submissive. For to keep the sea with a Calmuc on board,
seemed next to impossible. In most military marines, they are
prohibited by law; no officer may take his Pandora and her bandbox
off soundings.

By the way, this self-same appellative, Pandora, has been bestowed
upon vessels. There was a British ship by that name, dispatched in
quest of the mutineers of the Bounty. But any old tar might have
prophesied her fate. Bound home she was wrecked on a reef off New
South Wales. Pandora, indeed! A pretty name for a ship: fairly
smiting Fate in the face. But in this matter of christening ships of
war, Christian nations are but too apt to be dare-devils. Witness the
following: British names all--The Conqueror, the Defiance, the
Revenge, the Spitfire, the Dreadnaught, the Thunderer, and the
Tremendous; not omitting the Etna, which, in the Roads of Corfu, was
struck by lightning, coming nigh being consumed by fire from above.
But almost potent as Moses' rod, Franklin's proved her salvation.

With the above catalogue, compare we the Frenchman's; quite
characteristic of the aspirations of Monsieur:--The Destiny, the
Glorious, the Magnanimous, the Magnificent, the Conqueror, the
Triumphant, the Indomitable, the Intrepid, the Mont-Blanc. Lastly,
the Dons; who have ransacked the theology of the religion of peace
for fine names for their fighting ships; stopping not at designating
one of their three-deckers, The Most Holy Trinity. But though, at
Trafalgar, the Santissima Trinidada thundered like Sinai, her
thunders were silenced by the victorious cannonade of the Victory.

And without being blown into splinters by artillery, how many of
these Redoubtables and Invincibles have succumbed to the waves, and
like braggarts gone down before hurricanes, with their bravadoes
broad on their bows.

Much better the American names (barring Scorpions, Hornets, and
Wasps;) Ohio, Virginia, Carolina, Vermont. And if ever these Yankees
fight great sea engagements--which Heaven forefend!--how glorious,
poetically speaking, to range up the whole federated fleet, and pour
forth a broadside from Florida to Maine. Ay, ay, very glorious
indeed! yet in that proud crowing of cannon, how shall the shade of
peace-loving Penn be astounded, to see the mightiest murderer of them
all, the great Pennsylvania, a very namesake of his. Truly, the
Pennsylvania's guns should be the wooden ones, called by men-of-
war's-men, Quakers.

But all this is an episode, made up of digressions. Time to tack
ship, and return.

Now, in its proper place, I omitted to mention, that shortly after
descending from the rigging, and while Samoa was rehearsing his
adventures, dame Annatoo had stolen below into the forecastle, intent
upon her chattels. And finding them all in mighty disarray, she
returned to the deck prodigiously, excited, and glancing angrily
toward Jarl and me, showered a whole torrent of objurgations into
both ears of Samoa.

This contempt of my presence surprised me at first; but perhaps women
are less apt to be impressed by a pretentious demeanor, than men.

Now, to use a fighting phrase, there is nothing like boarding an
enemy in the smoke. And therefore, upon this first token of Annatoo's
termagant qualities, I gave her to understand--craving her pardon--
that neither the vessel nor aught therein was hers; but that every
thing belonged to the owners in Lahina. I added, that at all hazards,
a stop must be put to her pilferings. Rude language for feminine
ears; but how to be avoided? Here was an infatuated woman, who,
according to Samoa's account, had been repeatedly detected in the act
of essaying to draw out the screw-bolts which held together the
planks. Tell me; was she not worse than the Load-Stone Rock, sailing
by which a stout ship fell to pieces?

During this scene, Samoa said little. Perhaps he was secretly pleased
that his matrimonial authority was reinforced by myself and my
Viking, whose views of the proper position of wives at sea, so fully
corresponded with his own; however difficult to practice, those
purely theoretical ideas of his had hitherto proved.

Once more turning to Annatoo, now looking any thing but amiable, I
observed, that all her clamors would be useless; and that if it came
to the worst, the Parki had a hull that would hold her.

In the end she went off in a fit of the sulks; sitting down on the
windlass and glaring; her arms akimbo, and swaying from side to side;
while ever and anon she gave utterance to a dismal chant. It sounded
like an invocation to the Cholos to rise and dispatch us.



CHAPTER XXIX
What They Lighted Upon In Further Searching The Craft, And The
Resolution They Came To


Descending into the cabin with Samoa, I bade him hunt up the
brigantine's log, the captain's writing-desk, and nautical
instruments; in a word, aught that could throw light on the previous
history of the craft, or aid in navigating her homeward.

But nearly every thing of the kind had disappeared: log, quadrant,
and ship's papers. Nothing was left but the sextant-case, which Jarl
and I had lighted upon in the state-room.

Upon this, vague though they were, my suspicions returned; and I
closely questioned the Islander concerning the disappearance of these
important articles. In reply, he gave me to understand, that the
nautical instruments had been clandestinely carried down into the
forecastle by Annatoo; and by that indefatigable and inquisitive dame
they had been summarily taken apart for scientific inspection. It was
impossible to restore them; for many of the fixtures were lost,
including the colored glasses, sights, and little mirrors; and many
parts still recoverable, were so battered and broken as to be
entirely useless. For several days afterward, we now and then came
across bits of the quadrant or sextant; but it was only to mourn over
their fate.

However, though sextant and quadrant were both unattainable, I did
not so quickly renounce all hope of discovering a chronometer, which,
if in good order, though at present not ticking, might still be made
in some degree serviceable. But no such instrument was to be seen.
No: nor to be heard of; Samoa himself professing utter ignorance.

Annatoo, I threatened and coaxed; describing the chronometer--a live,
round creature like a toad, that made a strange noise, which I
imitated; but she knew nothing about it. Whether she had lighted upon
it unbeknown to Samoa, and dissected it as usual, there was now no
way to determine. Indeed, upon this one point, she maintained an air
of such inflexible stupidity, that if she were really fibbing, her
dead-wall countenance superseded the necessity for verbal deceit.

It may be, however, that in this particular she was wronged; for, as
with many small vessels, the Parki might never have possessed the
instrument in question. All thought, therefore, of feeling our way,
as we should penetrate farther and farther into the watery
wilderness, was necessarily abandoned.

The log book had also formed a portion of Annatoo's pilferings. It
seems she had taken it into her studio to ponder over. But after
amusing herself by again and again counting over the leaves, and
wondering how so many distinct surfaces could be compacted together
in so small a compass, she had very suddenly conceived an aversion to
literature, and dropped the book overboard as worthless. Doubtless,
it met the fate of many other ponderous tomes; sinking quickly and
profoundly. What Camden or Stowe hereafter will dive for it?

One evening Samoa brought me a quarto half-sheet of yellowish, ribbed
paper, much soiled and tarry, which he had discovered in a dark hole
of the forecastle. It had plainly formed part of the lost log; but
all the writing thereon, at present decipherable, conveyed no
information upon the subject then nearest my heart.

But one could not but be struck by a tragical occurrence, which the
page very briefly recounted; as well, as by a noteworthy pictorial
illustration of the event in the margin of the text. Save the cut,
there was no further allusion to the matter than the following:--
"This day, being calm, Tooboi, one of the Lahina men, went overboard
for a bath, and was eaten up by a shark. Immediately sent forward
for his bag."

Now, this last sentence was susceptible of two meanings. It is truth,
that immediately upon the decease of a friendless sailor at sea, his
shipmates oftentimes seize upon his effects, and divide them; though
the dead man's clothes are seldom worn till a subsequent voyage. This
proceeding seems heartless. But sailors reason thus: Better we, than
the captain. For by law, either scribbled or unscribbled, the effects
of a mariner, dying on shipboard, should be held in trust by that
officer. But as sailors are mostly foundlings and castaways, and
carry all their kith and kin in their arms and their legs, there
hardly ever appears any heir-at-law to claim their estate; seldom
worth inheriting, like Esterhazy's. Wherefore, the withdrawal of a
dead man's "kit" from the forecastle to the cabin, is often held
tantamount to its virtual appropriation by the captain. At any rate,
in small ships on long voyages, such things have been done.

Thus much being said, then, the sentence above quoted from the
Parki's log, may be deemed somewhat ambiguous. At the time it struck
me as singular; for the poor diver's grass bag could not have
contained much of any thing valuable unless, peradventure, he had
concealed therein some Cleopatra pearls, feloniously abstracted from
the shells brought up from the sea.

Aside of the paragraph, copied above, was a pen-and-ink sketch of the
casualty, most cruelly executed; the poor fellow's legs being
represented half way in the process of deglutition; his arms firmly
grasping the monster's teeth, as if heroically bent upon making as
tough a morsel of himself as possible.

But no doubt the honest captain sketched this cenotaph to the
departed in all sincerity of heart; perhaps, during the
melancholy leisure which followed the catastrophe. Half obliterated
were several stains upon the page; seemingly, lingering traces of a
salt tear or two.

From this unwonted embellishment of the text, I was led to infer,
that the designer, at one time or other, must have been engaged in
the vocation of whaling. For, in India ink, the logs of certain
whalemen are decorated by somewhat similar illustrations.

When whales are seen, but not captured, the fact is denoted by an
outline figure representing the creature's flukes, the broad, curving
lobes of his tail. But in those cases where the monster is both
chased and killed, this outline is filled up jet black; one for every
whale slain; presenting striking objects in turning over the log; and
so facilitating reference. Hence, it is quite imposing to behold, all
in a row, three or four, sometime five or six, of these drawings;
showing that so many monsters that day jetted their last spout. And
the chief mate, whose duty it is to keep the ship's record, generally
prides himself upon the beauty, and flushy likeness to life, of his
flukes; though, sooth to say, many of these artists are no Landseers.

After vainly searching the cabin for those articles we most needed,
we proceeded to explore the hold, into which as yet we had not
penetrated. Here, we found a considerable quantity of pearl shells;
cocoanuts; an abundance of fresh water in casks; spare sails and
rigging; and some fifty barrels or more of salt beef and biscuit.
Unromantic as these last mentioned objects were, I lingered over them
long, and in a revery. Branded upon each barrel head was the name of
a place in America, with which I was very familiar. It is from
America chiefly, that ship's stores are originally procured for the
few vessels sailing out of the Hawaiian Islands.

Having now acquainted myself with all things respecting the Parki,
which could in any way be learned, I repaired to the quarter-deck,
and summoning round me Samoa, Annatoo, and Jarl, gravely addressed
them.

I said, that nothing would give me greater satisfaction than
forthwith to return to the scene of the massacre, and chastise its
surviving authors. But as there were only four of us in all; and the
place of those islands was wholly unknown to me; and even if known,
would be altogether out of our reach, since we possessed no
instruments of navigation; it was quite plain that all thought of
returning thither was entirely useless. The last mentioned reason,
also, prevented our voyaging to the Hawaiian group, where the vessel
belonged; though that would have been the most advisable step,
resulting, as it would, if successful, in restoring the ill-fated
craft to her owners.

But all things considered, it seemed best, I added, cautiously to
hold on our way to the westward. It was our easiest course; for we
would ever have the wind from astern; and though we could not so much
as hope to arrive at any one spot previously designated, there was
still a positive certainty, if we floated long enough, of falling in
with islands whereat to refresh ourselves; and whence, if we thought
fit, we might afterward embark for more agreeable climes. I then
reminded them of the fact, that so long as we kept the sea, there was
always some prospect of encountering a friendly sail; in which event,
our solicitude would be over.

All this I said in the mild, firm tone of a superior; being anxious,
at once to assume the unquestioned supremacy. For, otherwise, Jarl
and I might better quit the vessel forthwith, than remain on board
subject to the outlandish caprices of Annatoo, who through Samoa
would then have the sway. But I was sure of my Viking; and if Samoa
proved docile, had no fear of his dame.

And therefore during my address, I steadfastly eyed him; thereby
learning enough to persuade me, that though he deferred to me at
present, he was, notwithstanding, a man who, without precisely
meditating mischief, could upon occasion act an ugly part. But of his
courage, and savage honor, such as it was, I had little doubt.
Then, wild buffalo that he was, tamed down in the yoke matrimonial, I
could not but fancy, that if upon no other account, our society must
please him, as rendering less afflictive the tyranny of his spouse.

For a hen-pecked husband, by the way, Samoa was a most terrible
fellow to behold. And though, after all, I liked him; it was as you
fancy a fiery steed with mane disheveled, as young Alexander fancied
Bucephalus; which wild horse, when he patted, he preferred holding by
the bridle. But more of Samoa anon.

Our course determined, and the command of the vessel tacitly yielded
up to myself, the next thing done was to put every thing in order.
The tattered sails were replaced by others, dragged up from the sail-
room below; in several places, new running-rigging was rove; blocks
restrapped; and the slackened stays and shrouds set taught. For all
of which, we were mostly indebted to my Viking's unwearied and
skillful marling-spike, which he swayed like a scepter.

The little Parki's toilet being thus thoroughly made for the first
time since the massacre, we gave her new raiment to the breeze, and
daintily squaring her yards, she gracefully glided away; honest old
Jarl at the helm, watchfully guiding her path, like some devoted old
foster-father.

As I stood by his side like a captain, or walked up and down on the
quarter-deck, I felt no little importance upon thus assuming for the
first time in my life, the command of a vessel at sea. The novel
circumstances of the case only augmented this feeling; the wild and
remote seas where we were; the character of my crew, and the
consideration, that to all purposes, I was owner, as well as
commander of the craft I sailed.



CHAPTER XXX
Hints For A Full Length Of Samoa


My original intention to touch at the Kingsmill Chain, or the
countries adjacent, was greatly strengthened by thus encountering
Samoa; and the more I had to do with my Belisarius, the more I was
pleased with him. Nor could I avoid congratulating myself, upon
having fallen in with a hero, who in various ways, could not fail of
proving exceedingly useful.

Like any man of mark, Samoa best speaks for himself; but we may as
well convey some idea of his person. Though manly enough, nay, an
obelisk in stature, the savage was far from being sentimentally
prepossessing. Be not alarmed; but he wore his knife in the lobe of
his dexter ear, which, by constant elongation almost drooped upon his
shoulder. A mode of sheathing it exceedingly handy, and far less
brigandish than the Highlander's dagger concealed in his leggins.

But it was the mother of Samoa, who at a still earlier day had
punctured him through and through in still another direction. The
middle cartilage of his nose was slightly pendent, peaked, and
Gothic, and perforated with a hole; in which, like a Newfoundland dog
carrying a cane, Samoa sported a trinket: a well polished nail.

In other respects he was equally a coxcomb. In his style of
tattooing, for instance, which seemed rather incomplete; his marks
embracing but a vertical half of his person, from crown to sole; the
other side being free from the slightest stain. Thus clapped
together, as it were, he looked like a union of the unmatched
moieties of two distinct beings; and your fancy was lost in
conjecturing, where roamed the absent ones. When he turned round upon
you suddenly, you thought you saw some one else, not him whom you had
been regarding before.

But there was one feature in Samoa beyond the reach of the
innovations of art:--his eye; which in civilized man or savage, ever
shines in the head, just as it shone at birth. Truly, our eyes are
miraculous things. But alas, that in so many instances, these divine
organs should be mere lenses inserted into the socket, as glasses in
spectacle rims.

But my Islander had a soul in his eye; looking out upon you there,
like somebody in him. What an eye, to be sure! At times, brilliantly
changeful as opal; in anger, glowing like steel at white heat.

Belisarius, be it remembered, had but very recently lost an arm. But
you would have thought he had been born without it; so Lord Nelson-
like and cavalierly did he sport the honorable stump.

But no more of Samoa; only this: that his name had been given him by
a sea-captain; to whom it had been suggested by the native
designation of the islands to which he belonged; the Saviian or
Samoan group, otherwise known as the Navigator Islands. The island of
Upolua, one of that cluster, claiming the special honor of his birth,
as Corsica does Napoleon's, we shall occasionally hereafter speak of
Samoa as the Upoluan; by which title he most loved to be called.

It is ever ungallant to pass over a lady. But what shall be said of
Annatoo? As I live, I can make no pleasing portrait of the dame; for
as in most ugly subjects, flattering would but make the matter worse.
Furthermore, unalleviated ugliness should ever go unpainted, as
something unnecessary to duplicate. But the only ugliness is that of
the heart, seen through the face. And though beauty be obvious, the
only loveliness is invisible.



CHAPTER XXXI
Rovings Alow And Aloft


Every one knows what a fascination there is in wandering up and down
in a deserted old tenement in some warm, dreamy country; where the
vacant halls seem echoing of silence, and the doors creak open like
the footsteps of strangers; and into every window the old garden
trees thrust their dark boughs, like the arms of night-burglars; and
ever and anon the nails start from the wainscot; while behind it the
mice rattle like dice. Up and down in such old specter houses one
loves to wander; and so much the more, if the place be haunted by
some marvelous story.

And during the drowsy stillness of the tropical sea-day, very much
such a fancy had I, for prying about our little brigantine, whose
tragic hull was haunted by the memory of the massacre, of which it
still bore innumerable traces.

And so far as the indulgence of quiet strolling and reverie was
concerned, it was well nigh the same as if I were all by myself. For
Samoa, for a time, was rather reserved, being occupied with thoughts
of his own. And Annatoo seldom troubled me with her presence. She was
taken up with her calicoes and jewelry; which I had permitted her to
retain, to keep her in good humor if possible. And as for My royal
old Viking, he was one of those individuals who seldom speak, unless
personally addressed.

Besides, all that by day was necessary to navigating the Parki was,
that--somebody should stand at the helm; the craft being so small,
and the grating, whereon the steersman stood, so elevated,
that he commanded a view far beyond the bowsprit; thus keeping Argus
eyes on the sea, as he steered us along. In all other respects we
left the brigantine to the guardianship of the gentle winds.

My own turn at the helm--for though commander, I felt constrained to
do duty with the rest--came but once in the twenty-four hours. And
not only did Jarl and Samoa, officiate as helmsmen, but also Dame
Annatoo, who had become quite expert at the business. Though Jarl
always maintained that there was a slight drawback upon her
usefulness in this vocation. Too much taken up by her lovely image
partially reflected in the glass of the binnacle before her, Annatoo
now and then neglected her duty, and led us some devious dances. Nor
was she, I ween, the first woman that ever led men into zigzags.

For the reasons above stated, I had many spare hours to myself At
times, I mounted aloft, and lounging in the slings of the topsail
yard--one of the many snug nooks in a ship's rigging--I gazed broad
off upon the blue boundless sea, and wondered what they were doing in
that unknown land, toward which we were fated to be borne. Or feeling
less meditative, I roved about hither and thither; slipping over, by
the stays, from one mast to the other; climbing up to the truck; or
lounging out to the ends of the yards; exploring wherever there was a
foothold. It was like climbing about in some mighty old oak, and
resting in the crotches.

To a sailor, a ship's ropes are a study. And to me, every rope-yarn
of the Parki's was invested with interest. The outlandish fashion of
her shrouds, the collars of her stays, the stirrups, seizings,
Flemish-horses, gaskets,--all the wilderness of her rigging, bore
unequivocal traces of her origin.

But, perhaps, my pleasantest hours were those which I spent,
stretched out on a pile of old sails, in the fore-top; lazily dozing
to the craft's light roll.

Frequently, I descended to the cabin: for the fiftieth time,
exploring the lockers and state-rooms for some new object of
curiosity. And often, with a glimmering light, I went into the
midnight hold, as into old vaults and catacombs; and creeping between
damp ranges of casks, penetrated into its farthest recesses.

Sometimes, in these under-ground burrowings, I lighted upon sundry
out-of-the-way hiding places of Annatoo's; where were snugly secreted
divers articles, with which she had been smitten. In truth, no small
portion of the hull seemed a mine of stolen goods, stolen out of its
own bowels. I found a jaunty shore-cap of the captain's, hidden away
in the hollow heart of a coil of rigging; covered over in a manner
most touchingly natural, with a heap of old ropes; and near by, in a
breaker, discovered several entire pieces of calico, heroically tied
together with cords almost strong enough to sustain the mainmast.

Near the stray light, which, when the hatch was removed, gleamed down
into this part of the hold, was a huge ground-tier butt, headless as
Charles the First. And herein was a mat nicely spread for repose; a
discovery which accounted for what had often proved an enigma. Not
seldom Annatoo had been among the missing; and though, from stem to
stern, loudly invoked to come forth and relieve the poignant distress
of her anxious friends, the dame remained perdu; silent and invisible
as a spirit. But in her own good time, she would mysteriously emerge;
or be suddenly espied lounging quietly in the forecastle, as if she
had been there from all eternity.

Useless to inquire, "Where hast thou been, sweet Annatoo?" For no
sweet rejoinder would she give.

But now the problem was solved. Here, in this silent cask in the
hold, Annatoo was wont to coil herself away, like a garter-snake
under a stone.

Whether-she-thus stood sentry over her goods secreted round about:
whether she here performed penance like a nun in her cell; or
was moved to this unaccountable freak by the powers of the air; no
one could tell. Can you?

Verily, her ways were as the ways of the inscrutable penguins in
building their inscrutable nests, which baffle all science, and make
a fool of a sage.

Marvelous Annatoo! who shall expound thee?



CHAPTER XXXII
Xiphius Platypterus


About this time, the loneliness of our voyage was relieved by an
event worth relating.

Ever since leaving the Pearl Shell Islands, the Parki had been
followed by shoals of small fish, pleasantly enlivening the sea, and
socially swimming by her side. But in vain did Jarl and I search
among their ranks for the little, steel-blue Pilot fish, so long
outriders of the Chamois. But perhaps since the Chamois was now high
and dry on the Parki's deck, our bright little avant-couriers were
lurking out of eight, far down in the brine; racing along close to
the keel.

But it is not with the Pilot fish that we now have to do.

One morning our attention was attracted to a mighty commotion in the
water. The shoals of fish were darting hither and thither, and
leaping into the air in the utmost affright. Samoa declared, that
their deadly foe the Sword fish must be after them.

And here let me say, that, since of all the bullies, and braggarts,
and bravoes, and free-booters, and Hectors, and fish-at-arms, and
knight-errants, and moss-troopers, and assassins, and foot-pads, and
gallant soldiers, and immortal heroes that swim the seas, the Indian
Sword fish is by far the most remarkable, I propose to dedicate this
chapter to a special description of the warrior. In doing which, I
but follow the example of all chroniclers and historians, my
Peloponnesian friend Thucydides and others, who are ever mindful of
devoting much space to accounts of eminent destroyers; for the
purpose, no doubt, of holding them up as ensamples to the world.

Now, the fish here treated of is a very different creature from the
Sword fish frequenting the Northern Atlantic; being much larger every
way, and a more dashing varlet to boot. Furthermore, he is
denominated the Indian Sword fish, in contradistinction from his
namesake above mentioned. But by seamen in the Pacific, he is more
commonly known as the Bill fish; while for those who love science and
hard names, be it known, that among the erudite naturalists he goeth
by the outlandish appellation of "_Xiphius Platypterus_."

But I waive for my hero all these his cognomens, and substitute a
much better one of my own: namely, the Chevalier. And a Chevalier he
is, by good right and title. A true gentleman of Black Prince
Edward's bright day, when all gentlemen were known by their swords;
whereas, in times present, the Sword fish excepted, they are mostly
known by their high polished boots and rattans.

A right valiant and jaunty Chevalier is our hero; going about with
his long Toledo perpetually drawn. Rely upon it, he will fight you to
the hilt, for his bony blade has never a scabbard. He himself sprang
from it at birth; yea, at the very moment he leaped into the Battle
of Life; as we mortals ourselves spring all naked and scabbardless
into the world. Yet, rather, are we scabbards to our souls. And the
drawn soul of genius is more glittering than the drawn cimeter of
Saladin. But how many let their steel sleep, till it eat up the
scabbard itself, and both corrode to rust-chips. Saw you ever the
hillocks of old Spanish anchors, and anchor-stocks of ancient
galleons, at the bottom of Callao Bay? The world is full of old Tower
armories, and dilapidated Venetian arsenals, and rusty old rapiers.
But true warriors polish their good blades by the bright beams of the
morning; and gird them on to their brave sirloins; and watch for rust
spots as for foes; and by many stout thrusts and stoccadoes
keep their metal lustrous and keen, as the spears of the
Northern Lights charging over Greenland.

Fire from the flint is our Chevalier enraged. He takes umbrage at the
cut of some ship's keel crossing his road; and straightway runs a
tilt at it; with one mad lounge thrusting his Andrea Ferrara clean
through and through; not seldom breaking it short off at the haft,
like a bravo leaving his poignard in the vitals of his foe.

In the case of the English ship Foxhound, the blade penetrated
through the most solid part of her hull, the bow; going completely
through the copper plates and timbers, and showing for several inches
in the hold. On the return of the ship to London, it was carefully
sawn out; and, imbedded in the original wood, like a fossil, is still
preserved. But this was a comparatively harmless onslaught of the
valiant Chevalier. With the Rousseau, of Nantucket, it fared worse.
She was almost mortally stabbed; her assailant withdrawing his blade.
And it was only by keeping the pumps clanging, that she managed to
swim into a Tahitian harbor, "heave down," and have her wound dressed
by a ship-surgeon with tar and oakum. This ship I met with at sea,
shortly after the disaster.

At what armory our Chevalier equips himself after one of his spiteful
tilting-matches, it would not be easy to say. But very hard for him,
if ever after he goes about in the lists, swordless and disarmed, at
the mercy of any caitiff shark he may meet.

Now, seeing that our fellow-voyagers, the little fish along-side,
were sorely tormented and thinned out by the incursions of a
pertinacious Chevalier, bent upon making a hearty breakfast out of
them, I determined to interfere in their behalf, and capture the
enemy.

With shark-hook and line I succeeded, and brought my brave gentleman
to the deck. He made an emphatic landing; lashing the planks with his
sinewy tail; while a yard and a half in advance of his eyes, reached
forth his terrible blade.

As victor, I was entitled to the arms of the vanquished; so, quickly
dispatching him, and sawing off his Toledo, I bore it away for a
trophy. It was three-sided, slightly concave on each, like a bayonet;
and some three inches through at the base, it tapered from thence to
a point.

And though tempered not in Tagus or Guadalquiver, it yet revealed
upon its surface that wavy grain and watery fleckiness peculiar to
tried blades of Spain. It was an aromatic sword; like the ancient
caliph's, giving out a peculiar musky odor by friction. But far
different from steel of Tagus or Damascus, it was inflexible as
Crocket's rifle tube; no doubt, as deadly.

Long hung that rapier over the head of my hammock. Was it not storied
as the good trenchant blade of brave Bayard, that other chevalier?
The knight's may have slain its scores, or fifties; but the weapon I
preserved had, doubtless, run through and riddled its thousands.



CHAPTER XXXIII
Otard


And here is another little incident.

One afternoon while all by myself curiously penetrating into the
hold, I most unexpectedly obtained proof, that the ill-fated captain
of the Parki had been a man of sound judgment and most excellent
taste. In brief, I lighted upon an aromatic cask of prime old Otard.

Now, I mean not to speak lightly of any thing immediately connected
with the unfortunate captain. Nor, on the other hand, would I
resemble the inconsolable mourner, who among other tokens of
affliction, bound in funereal crape his deceased friend's copy of Joe
Miller. Is there not a fitness in things?

But let that pass. I found the Otard, and drank there-of; finding it,
moreover, most pleasant to the palate, and right cheering to the
soul. My next impulse was to share my prize with my shipmates. But
here a judicious reflection obtruded. From the sea-monarchs, his
ancestors, my Viking had inherited one of their cardinal virtues, a
detestation and abhorrence of all vinous and spirituous beverages;
insomuch, that he never could see any, but he instantly quaffed it
out of sight. To be short, like Alexander the Great and other
royalties, Jarl was prone to overmuch bibing. And though at sea more
sober than a Fifth Monarchy Elder, it was only because he was then
removed from temptation. But having thus divulged my Viking's weak;
side, I earnestly entreat, that it may not disparage him in any
charitable man's estimation. Only think, how many more there are like
him to say nothing further of Alexander the Great--especially
among his own class; and consider, I beseech, that the most
capacious-souled fellows, for that very reason, are the most apt to
be too liberal in their libations; since, being so large-hearted,
they hold so much more good cheer than others.

For Samoa, from his utter silence hitherto as to aught inebriating on
board, I concluded, that, along with his other secrets, the departed
captain had very wisely kept his Otard to himself.

Nor did I doubt, but that the Upoluan, like all Polynesians, much
loved getting high of head; and in that state, would be more
intractable than a Black Forest boar. And concerning Annatoo, I
shuddered to think, how that Otard might inflame her into a Fury more
fierce than the foremost of those that pursued Orestes.

In good time, then, bethinking me of the peril of publishing my
discovery;--bethinking me of the quiet, lazy, ever-present perils of
the voyage, of all circumstances, the very worst under which to
introduce an intoxicating beverage to my companions, I resolved to
withhold it from them altogether.

So impressed was I with all this, that for a moment, I was almost
tempted to roll over the cask on its bilge, remove the stopper, and
suffer its contents to mix with the foul water at the bottom of the
hold.

But no, no: What: dilute the brine with the double distilled soul of
the precious grape? Haft himself would have haunted me!

Then again, it might come into play medicinally; and Paracelsus
himself stands sponsor for every cup drunk for the good of the
abdomen. So at last, I determined to let it remain where it was:
visiting it occasionally, by myself, for inspection.

But by way of advice to all ship-masters, let me say, that if your
Otard magazine be exposed to view--then, in the evil hour of wreck,
stave in your spirit-casks, ere rigging the life-boat.



CHAPTER XXXIV
How They Steered On Their Way


When we quitted the Chamois for the brigantine, we must have been at
least two hundred leagues to the westward of the spot, where we had
abandoned the Arcturion. Though how far we might then have been,
North or South of the Equator, I could not with any certainty divine.

But that we were not removed any considerable distance from the Line,
seemed obvious. For in the starriest night no sign of the extreme
Polar constellations was visible; though often we scanned the
northern and southern horizon in search of them. So far as regards
the aspect of the skies near the ocean's rim, the difference of
several degrees in one's latitude at sea, is readily perceived by a
person long accustomed to surveying the heavens.

If correct in my supposition, concerning our longitude at the time
here alluded to, and allowing for what little progress we had been
making in the Parki, there now remained some one hundred leagues to
sail, ere the country we sought would be found. But for obvious
reasons, how long precisely we might continue to float out of sight
of land, it was impossible to say. Calms, light breezes, and currents
made every thing uncertain. Nor had we any method of estimating our
due westward progress, except by what is called Dead Reckoning,--the
computation of the knots run hourly; allowances' being made for the
supposed deviations from our course, by reason of the ocean streams;
which at times in this quarter of the Pacific rim with very great
velocity.

Now, in many respects we could not but feel safer aboard the
Parki than in the Chamois. The sense of danger is less vivid, the
greater the number of lives involved. He who is ready to despair in
solitary peril, plucks up a heart in the presence of another. In a
plurality of comrades is much countenance and consolation.

Still, in the brigantine there were  many sources of uneasiness and
anxiety unknown to me in the whale-boat. True, we had now between us
and the deep, five hundred good planks to one lath in our buoyant
little chip. But the Parki required more care and attention;
especially by night, when a vigilant look-out was indispensable. With
impunity, in our whale-boat, we might have run close to shoal or
reef; whereas, similar carelessness or temerity now, might prove
fatal to all concerned.

Though in the joyous sunlight, sailing through the sparkling sea, I
was little troubled with serious misgivings; in the hours of darkness
it was quite another thing. And the apprehensions, nay terrors I
felt, were much augmented by the remissness of both Jarl and Samoa,
in keeping their night-watches. Several times I was seized with a
deadly panic, and earnestly scanned the murky horizon, when rising
from slumber I found the steersman, in whose hands for the time being
were life and death, sleeping upright against the tiller, as much of
a fixture there, as the open-mouthed dragon rudely carved on our prow.

Were it not, that on board of other vessels, I myself had many a time
dozed at the helm, spite of all struggles, I would have been almost
at a loss to account for this heedlessness in my comrades. But it
seemed as if the mere sense of our situation, should have been
sufficient to prevent the like conduct in all on board our craft.

Samoa's aspect, sleeping at the tiller, was almost appalling. His
large opal eyes were half open; and turned toward the light of the
binnacle, gleamed between the lids like bars of flame. And added to
all, was his giant stature and savage lineaments.

It was in vain, that I remonstrated, begged, or threatened: the
occasional drowsiness of my fellow-voyagers proved incurable. To no
purpose, I reminded my Viking that sleeping in the night-watch in a
craft like ours, was far different from similar heedlessness on board
the Arcturion. For there, our place upon the ocean was always known,
and our distance from land; so that when by night the seamen were
permitted to be drowsy, it was mostly, because the captain well knew
that strict watchfulness could be dispensed with.

Though in all else, the Skyeman proved a most faithful ally, in this
one thing he was either perversely obtuse, or infatuated. Or,
perhaps, finding himself once more in a double-decked craft, which
rocked him as of yore, he was lulled into a deceitful security.

For Samoa, his drowsiness was the drowsiness of one beat on sleep,
come dreams or death. He seemed insensible to the peril we ran. Often
I sent the sleepy savage below, sad, steered myself till morning. At
last I made a point of slumbering much by day, the better to stand
watch by night; though I made Samoa and Jarl regularly go through
with their allotted four hours each.

It has been mentioned, that Annatoo took her turn at the helm; but it
was only by day. And in justice to the lady, I must affirm, that upon
the whole she acquitted herself well. For notwithstanding the syren
face in the binnacle, which dimly allured her glances, Annatoo after
all was tolerably heedful of her steering. Indeed she took much pride
therein; always ready for her turn; with marvelous exactitude
calculating the approaching hour, as it came on in regular rotation.
Her time-piece was ours, the sun. By night it must have been her
guardian star; for frequently she gazed up at a particular section of
the heavens, like one regarding the dial in a tower.

By some odd reasoning or other, she had cajoled herself into the
notion, that whoever steered the brigantine, for that period
was captain. Wherefore, she gave herself mighty airs at the tiller;
with extravagant gestures issuing unintelligible orders about
trimming the sails, or pitching overboard something to see how fast
we were going. All this much diverted my Viking, who several times
was delivered of a laugh; a loud and healthy one to boot: a
phenomenon worthy the chronicling.

And thus much for Annatoo, preliminary to what is further to be said.
Seeing the drowsiness of Jarl and Samoa, which so often kept me from
my hammock at night, forcing me to repose by day, when I far
preferred being broad awake, I decided to let Annatoo take her turn
at the night watches; which several times she had solicited me to do;
railing at the sleepiness of her spouse; though abstaining from all
reflections upon Jarl, toward whom she had of late grown exceedingly
friendly.

Now the Calmuc stood her first night watch to admiration; if any
thing, was altogether too wakeful. The mere steering of the craft
employed not sufficiently her active mind. Ever and anon she must
needs rush from the tiller to take a parenthetical pull at the fore-
brace, the end of which led down to the bulwarks near by; then
refreshing herself with a draught or two of water and a biscuit, she
would continue to steer away, full of the importance of her office.
At any unusual flapping` of the sails, a violent stamping on deck
announced the fact to the startled crew. Finding her thus indefatigable,
I readily induced her to stand two watches to Jarl's and Samoa's one;
and when she was at the helm, I permitted myself to doze on a pile of
old sails, spread every evening on the quarter-deck.

It was the Skyeman, who often admonished me to "heave the ship to"
every night, thus stopping her headway till morning; a plan which,
under other circumstances, might have perhaps warranted the slumbers
of all. But as it was, such a course would have been highly
imprudent. For while making no onward progress through the
water, the rapid currents we encountered would continually be
drifting us eastward; since, contrary to our previous experience,
they seemed latterly to have reversed their flow, a phenomenon by no
means unusual in the vicinity of the Line in the Pacific. And this it
was that so prolonged our passage to the westward. Even in a moderate
breeze, I sometimes fancied, that the impulse of the wind little more
than counteracted the glide of the currents; so that with much show
of sailing, we were in reality almost a fixture on the sea.

The equatorial currents of the South Seas may be regarded as among
the most mysterious of the mysteries of the deep. Whence they come,
whither go, who knows? Tell us, what hidden law regulates their flow.
Regardless of the theory which ascribes to them a nearly uniform
course from east to west, induced by the eastwardly winds of the
Line, and the collateral action of the Polar streams; these currents
are forever shifting. Nor can the period of their revolutions be at
all relied upon or predicted.

But however difficult it may be to assign a specific cause for the
ocean streams, in any part of the world, one of the wholesome effects
thereby produced would seem obvious enough. And though the
circumstance here alluded to is perhaps known to every body, it may
be questioned, whether it is generally invested with the importance
it deserves. Reference is here made to the constant commingling and
purification of the sea-water by reason of the currents.

For, that the ocean, according to the popular theory, possesses a
special purifying agent in its salts, is somewhat to be doubted. Nor
can it be explicitly denied, that those very salts might corrupt it,
were it not for the brisk circulation of its particles consequent
upon the flow of the streams. It is well known to seamen, that a
bucket of sea-water, left standing in a tropical climate, very soon
becomes highly offensive; which is not the case with rainwater.

But I build no theories. And by way of obstructing the one, which
might possibly be evolved from the statement above, let me add, that
the offensiveness of sea-water left standing, may arise in no small
degree from the presence of decomposed animal matter.



CHAPTER XXXV
Ah, Annatoo!


In order to a complete revelation, I must needs once again discourse
of Annatoo and her pilferings; and to what those pilferings led. In
the simplicity of my soul, I fancied that the dame, so much flattered
as she needs must have been, by the confidence I began to repose in
her, would now mend her ways, and abstain from her larcenies. But not
so. She was possessed by some scores of devils, perpetually her to
mischief on their own separate behoof, and not less for many of her
pranks were of no earthly advantage to, her, present or prospective.

One day the log-reel was missing. Summon Annatoo. She came; but knew
nothing about it. Jarl spent a whole morning in contriving a
substitute; and a few days after, pop, we came upon the lost: article
hidden away in the main-top.

Another time, discovering the little vessel to "gripe" hard in
steering, as if some one under water were jerking her backward, we
instituted a diligent examination, to see what was the matter. When
lo; what should we find but a rope, cunningly attached to one of the
chain-plates under the starboard main-channel. It towed heavily in
the water. Upon dragging it up--much as you would the cord of a
ponderous bucket far down in a well--a stout wooden box was
discovered at the end; which opened, disclosed sundry knives,
hatchets, and ax-heads.

Called to the stand, the Upoluan deposed, that thrice he had rescued
that identical box from Annatoo's all-appropriating clutches.

Now, here were four human beings shut up in this little oaken craft,
and, for the time being, their interests the same. What sane mortal,
then, would forever be committing thefts, without rhyme or reason. It
was like stealing silver from one pocket and decanting it into the
other. And what might it not lead to in the end?

Why, ere long, in good sooth, it led to the abstraction of the
compass from the binnacle; so that we were fain to substitute for it,
the one brought along in the Chamois.

It was Jarl that first published this last and alarming theft.
Annatoo being at the helm at dawn, he had gone to relieve her; and
looking to see how we headed, was horror-struck at the emptiness of
the binnacle.

I started to my feet; sought out the woman, and ferociously demanded
the compass. But her face was a blank; every word a denial.

Further lenity was madness. I summoned Samoa, told him what had
happened, and affirmed that there was no safety for us except in the
nightly incarceration of his spouse. To this he privily assented; and
that very evening, when Annatoo descended into the forecastle, we
barred over her the scuttle-slide. Long she clamored, but
unavailingly. And every night this was repeated; the dame saying her
vespers most energetically.

It has somewhere been hinted, that Annatoo occasionally cast sheep's
eyes at Jarl. So I was not a little surprised when her manner toward
him decidedly changed. Pulling at the ropes with us, she would give
him sly pinches, and then look another way, innocent as a lamb. Then
again, she would refuse to handle the same piece of rigging with him;
with wry faces, rinsed out the wooden can at the water cask, if it so
chanced that my Viking had previously been drinking therefrom. At
other times, when the honest Skyeman came up from below, she would
set up a shout of derision, and loll out her tongue; accompanying all
this by certain indecorous and exceedingly unladylike gestures,
significant of the profound contempt in which she held him.

Yet, never did Jarl heed her ill-breeding; but patiently overlooked
and forgave it. Inquiring the reason of the dame's singular conduct,
I learned, that with eye averted, she had very lately crept close to
my Viking, and met with no tender reception.

Doubtless, Jarl, who was much of a philosopher, innocently imagined
that ere long the lady would forgive and forget him. But what knows a
philosopher about women?

Ere long, so outrageous became Annatoo's detestation of him, that the
honest old tar could stand it no longer, and like most good-natured
men when once fairly roused, he was swept through and through with a
terrible typhoon of passion. He proposed, that forthwith the woman
should be sacked and committed to the deep; he could stand it no
longer.

Murder is catching. At first I almost jumped at the proposition; but
as quickly rejected it. Ah! Annatoo: Woman unendurable: deliver me,
ye gods, from being shut up in a ship with such a hornet again.

But are we yet through with her? Not yet. Hitherto she had continued
to perform the duties of the office assigned her since the
commencement of the voyage: namely, those of the culinary department.
From this she was now deposed. Her skewer was broken. My Viking
solemnly averring, that he would eat nothing more of her concocting,
for fear of being poisoned. For myself, I almost believed, that there
was malice enough in the minx to give us our henbane broth.

But what said Samoa to all this? Passing over the matter of the
cookery, will it be credited, that living right among us as he did,
he was yet blind to the premeditated though unachieved peccadilloes
of his spouse? Yet so it was. And thus blind was Belisarius himself,
concerning the intrigues of Antonina.

Witness that noble dame's affair with the youth Theodosius; when her
deluded lord charged upon the scandal-mongers with the very horns she
had bestowed upon him.

Upon one occasion, seized with a sudden desire to palliate Annatoo's
thievings, Samoa proudly intimated, that the lady was the most
virtuous of her sex.

But alas, poor Annatoo, why say more? And bethinking me of the hard
fate that so soon overtook thee, I almost repent what has already and
too faithfully been portrayed.



CHAPTER XXXVI
The Parki Gives Up The Ghost


A long calm in the boat, and now, God help us, another in  the
brigantine. It was airless and profound.

In that hot calm, we lay fixed and frozen in like Parry at the Pole.
The sun played upon the glassy sea like the sun upon the glaciers.

At the end of two days we lifted up our eyes and beheld a low,
creeping, hungry cloud expanding like an army, wing and wing, along
the eastern horizon. Instantly Jarl bode me take heed.

Here be it said, that though for weeks and weeks reign over the
equatorial latitudes of the Pacific, the mildest and sunniest of
days; that nevertheless, when storms do come, they come in their
strength: spending in a few, brief blasts their concentrated rage.
They come like the Mamelukes: they charge, and away.

It wanted full an hour to sunset; but the sun was well nigh obscured.
It seemed toiling among bleak Scythian steeps in the hazy background.
Above the storm-cloud flitted ominous patches of scud, rapidly
advancing and receding: Attila's skirmishers, thrown forward in the
van of his Huns. Beneath, a fitful shadow slid along the surface. As
we gazed, the cloud came nearer; accelerating its approach.

With all haste we proceeded to furl the sails, which, owing to the
calm, had been hanging loose in the brails. And by help of a spare
boom, used on the forecastle-deck sit a sweep or great oar, we
endeavored to cast the brigantine's head toward the foe.

The storm seemed about to overtake us; but we felt no breeze. The
noiseless cloud stole on; its advancing shadow lowering over a
distinct and prominent milk-white crest upon the surface of the
ocean. But now this line of surging foam came rolling down upon us
like a white charge of cavalry: mad Hotspur and plumed Murat at its
head; pouring right forward in a continuous frothy cascade, which
curled over, and fell upon the glassy sea before it.

Still, no breath of air. But of a sudden, like a blow from a man's
hand, and before our canvas could be secured, the stunned craft,
giving one lurch to port, was stricken down on her beam-ends; the
roaring tide dashed high up against her windward side, and drops of
brine fell upon the deck, heavy as drops of gore.

It was all a din and a mist; a crashing of spars and of ropes; a
horrible blending of sights and of sounds; as for an instant we
seemed in the hot heart of the gale; our cordage, like harp-strings,
shrieking above the fury of the blast. The masts rose, and swayed,
and dipped their trucks in the sea. And like unto some stricken
buffalo brought low to the plain, the brigantine's black hull, shaggy
with sea-weed, lay panting on its flank in the foam.

Frantically we clung to the uppermost bulwarks. And now, loud above
the roar of the sea, was suddenly heard a sharp, splintering sound,
as of a Norway woodman felling a pine in the forest. It was brave
Jarl, who foremost of all had snatched from its rack against the
mainmast, the ax, always there kept.

"Cut the lanyards to windward!" he cried; and again buried his ax
into the mast. He was quickly obeyed. And upon cutting the third
lanyard of the five, he shouted for us to pause. Dropping his ax, he
climbed up to windward. As he clutched the rail, the wounded mast
snapped in twain with a report like a cannon. A slight smoke was
perceptible where it broke. The remaining lanyards parted. From the
violent strain upon them, the two shrouds flew madly into the
air, and one of the great blocks at their ends, striking Annatoo upon
the forehead, she let go her hold upon a stanchion, and sliding
across the aslant deck, was swallowed up in the whirlpool under our
lea. Samoa shrieked. But there was no time to mourn; no hand could
reach to save.

By the connecting stays, the mainmast carried over with it the
foremast; when we instantly righted, and for the time were saved; my
own royal Viking our saviour.

The first fury of the gale was gone. But far to leeward was seen the
even, white line of its onset, pawing the ocean into foam. All round
us, the sea boiled like ten thousand caldrons; and through eddy,
wave, and surge, our almost water-logged craft waded heavily; every
dead clash ringing hollow against her hull, like blows upon a coffin.

We floated a wreck. With every pitch we lifted our dangling jib-boom
into the air; and beating against the side, were the shattered
fragments of the masts. From these we made all haste to be free, by
cutting the rigging that held them.

Soon, the worst of the gale was blown over. But the sea ran high. Yet
the rack and scud of the tempest, its mad, tearing foam, was subdued
into immense, long-extended, and long-rolling billows; the white
cream on their crests like snow on the Andes. Ever and anon we hung
poised on their brows; when the furrowed ocean all round looked like
a panorama from Chimborazo.

A few hours more, and the surges went down. There was a moderate sea,
a steady breeze, and a clear, starry sky. Such was the storm that
came after our calm.



CHAPTER XXXVII
Once More They Take To The Chamois


Try the pumps. We dropped the sinker, and found the Parki bleeding at
every pore. Up from her well, the water, spring-like, came bubbling,
pure and limpid as the water of Saratoga. Her time had come. But by
keeping two hands at the pumps, we had no doubt she would float till
daylight; previous to which we liked not to abandon her.

The interval was employed in clanging at the pump-breaks, and
preparing the Chamois for our reception. So soon as the sea
permitted, we lowered it over the side; and letting it float under
the stern, stowed it with water and provisions, together with various
other things, including muskets and cutlasses.

Shortly after daylight, a violent jostling and thumping under foot
showed that the water, gaining rapidly in the, hold, spite of all
pumping, had floated the lighter casks up-ward to the deck, against
which they were striking.

Now, owing to the number of empty butts in the hold, there would have
been, perhaps, but small danger of the vessel's sinking outright--all
awash as her decks would soon be--were it not, that many of her
timbers were of a native wood, which, like the Teak of India, is
specifically heavier than water. This, with the pearl shells on
board, counteracted the buoyancy of the casks.

At last, the sun--long waited for--arose; the Parki meantime sinking
lower and lower.

All things being in readiness, we proceeded to embark from the wreck,
as from a wharf.

But not without some show of love for our poor brigantine.

To a seaman, a ship is no piece of mechanism merely; but a creature
of thoughts and fancies, instinct with life. Standing at her
vibrating helm, you feel her beating pulse. I have loved ships, as I
have loved men.

To abandon the poor Parki was like leaving to its fate something that
could feel. It was meet that she should the decently and bravely.

All this thought the Skyeman. Samoa and I were in the boat, calling
upon him to enter quickly, lest the vessel should sink, and carry us
down in the eddies; for already she had gone round twice. But cutting
adrift the last fragments of her broken shrouds, and putting her
decks in order, Jarl buried his ax in the splintered stump of the
mainmast, and not till then did he join us.

We slowly cheered, and sailed away.

Not ten minutes after, the hull rolled convulsively in the sea; went
round once more; lifted its sharp prow as a man with arms pointed for
a dive; gave a long seething plunge; and went down.

Many of her old planks were twice wrecked; once strown upon ocean's
beach; now dropped into its lowermost vaults, with the bones of
drowned ships and drowned men.

Once more afloat in our shell! But not with the intrepid spirit that
shoved off with us from the deck of the Arcturion. A bold deed done
from impulse, for the time carries few or no misgivings along with
it. But forced upon you, its terrors stare you in the face. So now. I
had pushed from the Arcturion with a stout heart; but quitting the
sinking Parki, my heart sunk with her.

With a fair wind, we held on our way westward, hoping to see land
before many days.



CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Sea On Fire


The night following our abandonment of the Parki, was made memorable
by a remarkable spectacle.

Slumbering in the bottom of the boat, Jarl and I were suddenly
awakened by Samoa. Starting, we beheld the ocean of a pallid white
color, corruscating all over with tiny golden sparkles. But the
pervading hue of the water cast a cadaverous gleam upon the boat, so
that we looked to each other like ghosts. For many rods astern our
wake was revealed in a line of rushing illuminated foam; while here
and there beneath the surface, the tracks of sharks were denoted by
vivid, greenish trails, crossing and recrossing each other in every
direction. Farther away, and distributed in clusters, floated on the
sea, like constellations in the heavens, innumerable Medusae, a
species of small, round, refulgent fish, only to be met with in the
South Seas and the Indian Ocean.

Suddenly, as we gazed, there shot high into the air a bushy jet of
flashes, accompanied by the unmistakable deep breathing sound of a
sperm whale. Soon, the sea all round us spouted in fountains of fire;
and vast forms, emitting a glare from their flanks, and ever and anon
raising their heads above water, and shaking off the sparkles, showed
where an immense shoal of Cachalots had risen from below to sport in
these phosphorescent billows.

The vapor jetted forth was far more radiant than any portion of the
sea; ascribable perhaps to the originally luminous fluid contracting
still more brilliancy from its passage through the spouting canal of
the whales.

We were in great fear, lest without any vicious intention the
Leviathans might destroy us, by coming into close contact with our
boat. We would have shunned them; but they were all round and round
us. Nevertheless we were safe; for as we parted the pallid brine, the
peculiar irradiation which shot from about our keel seemed to deter
them. Apparently discovering us of a sudden, many of them plunged
headlong down into the water, tossing their fiery tails high into the
air, and leaving the sea still more sparkling from the violent
surging of their descent.

Their general course seemed the same as our own; to the westward. To
remove from them, we at last out oars, and pulled toward the north.
So doing, we were steadily pursued by a solitary whale, that must
have taken our Chamois for a kindred fish. Spite of all our efforts,
he drew nearer and nearer; at length rubbing his fiery flank against
the Chamois' gunwale, here and there leaving long strips of the
glossy transparent substance which thin as gossamer invests the body
of the Cachalot.

In terror at a sight so new, Samoa shrank. But Jarl and I, more used
to the intimate companionship of the whales, pushed the boat away
from it with our oars: a thing often done in the fishery.

The close vicinity of the whale revived in the so long astute Skyeman
all the enthusiasm of his daring vocation. However quiet by nature, a
thorough-bred whaleman betrays no little excitement in sight of his
game. And it required some persuasion to prevent Jarl from darting
his harpoon: insanity under present circumstances; and of course
without object. But "Oh! for a dart," cried my Viking. And "Where's
now our old ship?" he added reminiscently.

But to my great joy the monster at last departed; rejoining the
shoal, whose lofty spoutings of flame were still visible upon the
distant line of the horizon; showing there, like the fitful starts of
the Aurora Borealis.

The sea retained its luminosity for about three hours; at the
expiration of half that period beginning to fade; and excepting
occasional faint illuminations consequent upon the rapid darting of
fish under water, the phenomenon at last wholly disappeared.

Heretofore, I had beheld several exhibitions of marine
phosphorescence, both in the Atlantic and Pacific. But nothing in
comparison with what was seen that night. In the Atlantic, there is
very seldom any portion of the ocean luminous, except the crests of
the waves; and these mostly appear so during wet, murky weather.
Whereas, in the Pacific, all instances of the sort, previously
corning under my notice, had been marked by patches of greenish
light, unattended with any pallidness of sea. Save twice on the coast
of Peru, where I was summoned from my hammock to the alarming
midnight cry of "All hands ahoy! tack ship!" And rushing on deck,
beheld the sea white as a shroud; for which reason it was feared we
were on soundings.

Now, sailors love marvels, and love to repeat them. And from many an
old shipmate I have heard various sage opinings, concerning the
phenomenon in question. Dismissing, as destitute of sound philosophic
probability, the extravagant notion of one of my nautical friends--no
less a philosopher than my Viking himself--namely: that the
phosphoresence of the sea is caused by a commotion among the
mermaids, whose golden locks, all torn and disheveled, do irradiate
the waters at such times; I proceed to record more reliable theories.

Faraday might, perhaps, impute the phenomenon to a peculiarly
electrical condition of the atmosphere; and to that solely. But
herein, my scientific friend would be stoutly contradicted by many
intelligent seamen, who, in part, impute it to the presence of large
quantities of putrescent animal matter; with which the sea is well
known to abound.

And it would seem not unreasonable to suppose, that it is by
this means that the fluid itself becomes charged with the luminous
principle. Draw a bucket of water from the phosphorescent ocean, and
it still retains traces of fire; but, standing awhile, this soon
subsides. Now pour it along the deck, and it is a stream of flame;
caused by its renewed agitation. Empty the bucket, and for a space
sparkles cling to it tenaciously; and every stave seems ignited.

But after all, this seeming ignition of the sea can not be wholly
produced by dead matter therein. There are many living fish,
phosphorescent; and, under certain conditions, by a rapid throwing
off of luminous particles must largely contribute to the result. Not
to particularize this circumstance as true of divers species of
sharks, cuttle-fish, and many others of the larger varieties of the
finny tribes; the myriads of microscopic mollusca, well known to
swarm off soundings, might alone be deemed almost sufficient to
kindle a fire in the brine.

But these are only surmises; likely, but uncertain.

After science comes sentiment.

A French naturalist maintains, that the nocturnal radiance of the
fire-fly is purposely intended as an attraction to the opposite sex;
that the artful insect illuminates its body for a beacon to love.
Thus: perched upon the edge of a leaf, and waiting the approach of
her Leander, who comes buffeting with his wings the aroma of the
flowers, some insect Hero may show a torch to her gossamer gallant.

But alas, thrice alas, for the poor little fire-fish of the sea,
whose radiance but reveals them to their foes, and lights the way to
their destruction.



CHAPTER XXXIX
They Fall In With Strangers


After quitting the Parki, we had much calm weather, varied by light
breezes. And sailing smoothly over a sea, so recently one sheet of
foam, I could not avoid bethinking me, how fortunate it was, that the
gale had overtaken us in the brigantine, and not in the Chamois. For
deservedly high as the whale-shallop ranks as a sea boat; still, in a
severe storm, the larger your craft the greater your sense of
security. Wherefore, the thousand reckless souls tenanting a line-of-
battle ship scoff at the most awful hurricanes; though, in reality,
they may be less safe in their wooden-walled Troy, than those who
contend with the gale in a clipper.

But not only did I congratulate myself upon salvation from the past,
but upon the prospect for the future. For storms happening so seldom
in these seas, one just blown over is almost a sure guarantee of very
many weeks' calm weather to come.

Now sun followed sun; and no land. And at length it almost seemed as
if we must have sailed past the remotest presumable westerly limit of
the chain of islands we sought; a lurking suspicion which I
sedulously kept to myself However, I could not but nourish a latent
faith that all would yet be well.

On the ninth day my forebodings were over. In the gray of the dawn,
perched upon the peak of our sail, a noddy was seen fast asleep. This
freak was true to the nature of that curious fowl, whose name is
significant of its drowsiness. Its plumage was snow-white, its
bill and legs blood-red; the latter looking like little pantalettes.
In a sly attempt at catching the bird, Samoa captured three tail-
feathers; the alarmed creature flying away with a scream, and leaving
its quills in his hand.

Sailing on, we gradually broke in upon immense low-sailing flights of
other aquatic fowls, mostly of those species which are seldom found
far from land: terns, frigate-birds, mollymeaux, reef-pigeons,
boobies, gulls, and the like. They darkened the air; their wings
making overhead an incessant rustling like the simultaneous turning
over of ten thousand leaves. The smaller sort skimmed the sea like
pebbles sent skipping from the shore. Over these, flew myriads of
birds of broader wing. While high above all, soared in air the daring
"Diver," or sea-kite, the power of whose vision is truly wonderful.
It perceives the little flying-fish in the water, at a height which
can not be less than four hundred feet. Spirally wheeling and
screaming as it goes, the sea-kite, bill foremost, darts downward,
swoops into the water, and for a moment altogether disappearing,
emerges at last; its prey firmly trussed in its claws. But bearing it
aloft, the bold bandit is quickly assailed by other birds of prey,
that strive to wrest from him his booty. And snatched from his
talons, you see the fish falling through the air, till again caught
up in the very act of descent, by the fleetest of its pursuers.

Leaving these sights astern, we presently picked up the slimy husk of
a cocoanut, all over green barnacles. And shortly after, passed two
or three limbs of trees, and the solitary trunk of a palm; which,
upon sailing nearer, seemed but very recently started on its endless
voyage. As noon came on; the dark purple land-haze, which had been
dimly descried resting upon the western horizon, was very nearly
obscured. Nevertheless, behind that dim drapery we doubted not bright
boughs were waving.

We were now in high spirits. Samoa between times humming to
himself some heathenish ditty, and Jarl ten times more intent on his
silence than ever; yet his eye full of expectation and gazing broad
off from our bow. Of a sudden, shading his face with his hand, he
gazed fixedly for an instant, and then springing to his feet, uttered
the long-drawn sound--"Sail ho!"

Just tipping the furthest edge of the sky was a little speck, dancing
into view every time we rose upon the swells. It looked like one of
many birds; for half intercepting our view, fell showers of plumage:
a flight of milk-white noddies flying downward to the sea.

But soon the birds are seen no more. Yet there remains the speck;
plainly a sail; but too small for a ship. Was it a boat after a
whale? The vessel to which it belonged far astern, and shrouded by
the haze? So it seemed.

Quietly, however, we waited the stranger's nearer approach;
confident, that for some time he would not be able to perceive us,
owing to our being in what mariners denominate the "sun-glade," or
that part of the ocean upon which the sun's rays flash with peculiar
intensity.

As the sail drew nigh, its failing to glisten white led us to doubt
whether it was indeed a whale-boat. Presently, it showed yellow; and
Samoa declared, that it must be the sail of some island craft. True.
The stranger proving a large double-canoe, like those used by the
Polynesians in making passages between distant islands.

The Upoluan was now clamorous for a meeting, to which Jarl was
averse. Deliberating a moment, I directed the muskets to be loaded;
then setting the sail the wind on our quarter--we headed away for the
canoe, now sailing at right angles with our previous course.

Here it must be mentioned, that from the various gay cloths and other
things provided for barter by the captain of the Parki, I had very
strikingly improved my costume; making it free, flowing, and eastern.
I looked like an Emir. Nor had my Viking neglected to follow my
example; though with some few modifications of his own. With
his long tangled hair and harpoon, he looked like the sea-god, that
boards ships, for the first time crossing the Equator. For tatooed
Samoa, he yet sported both kilt and turban, reminding one of a tawny
leopard, though his spots were all in one place. Besides this raiment
of ours, against emergencies we had provided our boat with divers
nankeens and silks.

But now into full view comes a yoke of huge clumsy prows, shaggy with
carving, and driving through the water with considerable velocity;
the immense sprawling sail holding the wind like a bag. She seemed
full of men; and from the dissonant cries borne over to us, and the
canoe's widely yawing, it was plain that we had  occasioned no small
sensation. They seemed undetermined what course to pursue: whether to
court a meeting, or avoid it; whether to regard us as friends or foes.

As we came still nearer, distinctly beholding their faces, we loudly
hailed them, inviting them to furl their sails, and allow us to board
them. But no answer was returned; their confusion increasing. And
now, within less than two ships'-lengths, they swept right across our
bow, gazing at us with blended curiosity and fear.

Their craft was about thirty feet long, consisting of a pair of
parallel canoes, very narrow, and at the distance of a yard or so,
lengthwise, united by stout cross-timbers, lashed across the four
gunwales. Upon these timbers was a raised plat-form or dais, quite
dry; and astern an arched cabin or tent; behind which, were two
broad-bladed paddles terminating in rude shark-tails, by which the
craft was steered.

The yard, spreading a yellow sail, was a crooked bough, supported
obliquely in the crotch of a mast, to which the green bark was still
clinging. Here and there were little tufts of moss. The high, beaked
prow of that canoe in which the mast was placed, resembled a rude
altar; and all round it was suspended a great variety of fruits,
including scores of cocoanuts, unhusked. This prow was railed
off, forming a sort of chancel within.

The foremost beam, crossing the gunwales, extended some twelve feet
beyond the side of the dais; and at regular intervals hereupon, stout
cords were fastened, which, leading up to the head of the mast,
answered the purpose of shrouds. The breeze was now streaming fresh;
and, as if to force down into the water the windward side of the
craft, five men stood upon this long beam, grasping five shrouds. Yet
they failed to counterbalance the pressure of the sail; and owing to
the opposite inclination of the twin canoes, these living statues
were elevated high above the water; their appearance rendered still
more striking by their eager attitudes, and the apparent peril of
their position, as the mad spray from the bow dashed over them.
Suddenly, the Islanders threw their craft into the wind; while, for
ourselves, we lay on our oars, fearful of alarming them by now coming
nearer. But hailing them again, we said we were friends; and had
friendly gifts for them, if they would peaceably permit us to
approach. This understood, there ensued a mighty clamor; insomuch,
that I bade Jarl and Samoa out oars, and row very gently toward the
strangers. Whereupon, amid a storm of vociferations, some of them
hurried to the furthest side of their dais; standing with arms arched
over their heads, as if for a dive; others menacing us with clubs and
spears; and one, an old man with a bamboo trellis on his head forming
a sort of arbor for his hair, planted himself full before the tent,
stretching behind him a wide plaited sling.

Upon this hostile display, Samoa dropped his oar, and brought his
piece to bear upon the old man, who, by his attitude, seemed to
menace us with the fate of the great braggart of Gath. But I quickly
knocked down the muzzle of his musket, and forbade the slightest
token of hostility; enjoining it upon my companions, nevertheless, to
keep well on their guard.

We now ceased rowing, and after a few minutes' uproar in the canoe,
they ran to the steering-paddles, and forcing round their craft
before the wind, rapidly ran away from us. With all haste we set our
sail, and pulling also at our oars, soon overtook them, determined
upon coming into closer communion.



CHAPTER XL
Sire And Sons


Seeing flight was useless, the Islanders again stopped their canoe,
and once more we cautiously drew nearer; myself crying out to them
not to be fearful; and Samoa, with the odd humor of his race,
averring that he had known every soul of them from his infancy.

We approached within two or three yards; when we paused, which
somewhat allayed their alarm. Fastening a red China handkerchief to
the blade of our long mid-ship oar, I waved it in the air. A lively
clapping of hands, and many wild exclamations.

While yet waving the flag, I whispered to Jarl to give the boat a
sheer toward the canoe, which being adroitly done, brought the bow,
where I stood, still nearer to the Islanders. I then dropped the silk
among them; and the Islander, who caught it, at once handed it to the
warlike old man with the sling; who, on seating himself, spread it
before him; while the rest crowding round, glanced rapidly from the
wonderful gift, to the more wonderful donors.

This old man was the superior of the party. And Samoa asserted, that
he must be a priest of the country to which the Islanders belonged;
that the craft could be no other than one of their sacred canoes,
bound on some priestly voyage. All this he inferred from the altar-
like prow, and there being no women on board.

Bent upon conciliating the old priest, I dropped into the canoe
another silk handkerchief; while Samoa loudly exclaimed, that we were
only three men, and were peaceably inclined. Meantime, old
Aaron, fastening the two silks crosswise over his shoulders, like a
brace of Highland plaids, crosslegged sat, and eyed us.

It was a curious sight. The old priest, like a scroll of old
parchment, covered all over with hieroglyphical devices, harder to
interpret, I'll warrant, than any old Sanscrit manuscript. And upon
his broad brow, deep-graven in wrinkles, were characters still more
mysterious, which no Champollion nor gipsy could have deciphered. He
looked old as the elderly hills; eyes sunken, though bright; and head
white as the summit of Mont Blanc.

The rest were a youthful and comely set: their complexion that of
Gold Sherry, and all tattooed after this pattern: two broad cross-
stripes on the chest and back; reaching down to the waist, like a
foot-soldier's harness. Their faces were full of expression; and
their mouths were full of fine teeth; so that the parting of their
lips, was as the opening of pearl oysters. Marked, here and there,
after the style of Tahiti, with little round figures in blue, dotted
in the middle with a spot of vermilion, their brawny brown thighs
looked not unlike the gallant hams of Westphalia, spotted with the
red dust of Cayenne.

But what a marvelous resemblance in the features of all. Were they
born at one birth? This resemblance was heightened by their uniform
marks. But it was subsequently ascertained, that they were the
children of one sire; and that sire, old Aaron; who, no doubt,
reposed upon his sons, as an old general upon the trophies of his
youth.

They were the children of as many mothers; and he was training them
up for the priesthood.



CHAPTER XLI
A Fray


So bent were the strangers upon concealing who they were, and the
object of their voyage, that it was some time ere we could obtain the
information we desired.

They pointed toward the tent, as if it contained their Eleusinian
mysteries. And the old priest gave us to know, that it would be
profanation to enter it.

But all this only roused my curiosity to unravel the wonder.

At last I succeeded.

In that mysterious tent was concealed a beautiful maiden. And, in
pursuance of a barbarous custom, by Aleema, the priest, she was being
borne an offering from the island of Amma to the gods of Tedaidee.

Now, hearing of the maiden, I waited for no more. Need I add, how
stirred was my soul toward this invisible victim; and how hotly I
swore, that precious blood of hers should never smoke upon an altar.
If we drowned for it, I was bent upon rescuing the captive. But as
yet, no gentle signal of distress had been waved to us from the tent.
Thence, no sound could be heard, but an occasional rustle of the
matting. Was it possible, that one about to be immolated could
proceed thus tranquilly to her fate?

But desperately as I resolved to accomplish the deliverance of the
maiden, it was best to set heedfully about it. I desired no shedding
of blood; though the odds were against us.

The old priest seemed determined to prevent us from boarding
his craft. But being equally determined the other way, I cautiously
laid the bow of the Chamois against the canoe's quarter, so as to
present the smallest possible chance for a hostile entrance into our
boat. Then, Samoa, knife in ear, and myself with a cutlass, stepped
upon the dais, leaving Jarl in the boat's head, equipped with his
harpoon; three loaded muskets lying by his side. He was strictly
enjoined to resist the slightest demonstration toward our craft.

As we boarded the canoe, the Islanders slowly retreated; meantime
earnestly conferring in whispers; all but the old priest, who, still
seated, presented an undaunted though troubled front. To our
surprise, he motioned us to sit down by him; which we did; taking
care, however, not to cut off our communication with Jarl.

With the hope of inspiring good will, I now unfolded a roll of
printed cotton, and spreading it before the priest, directed his
attention to the pictorial embellishments thereon, representing some
hundreds of sailor boys simultaneously ascending some hundreds of
uniform sections of a ship's rigging. Glancing at them a moment, by a
significant sign, he gave me to know, that long previous he himself
had ascended the shrouds of a ship. Making this allusion, his
countenance was overcast with a ferocious expression, as if something
terrific was connected with the reminiscence. But it soon passed
away, and somewhat abruptly he assumed an air of much merriment.

While we were thus sitting together, and my whole soul full of the
thoughts of the captive, and how best to accomplish my purpose, and
often gazing toward the tent; I all at once noticed a movement among
the strangers. Almost in the same instant, Samoa, right across the
face of Aleema, and in his ordinary tones, bade me take heed to
myself, for mischief was brewing. Hardly was this warning uttered,
when, with carved clubs in their hands, the Islanders completely
surrounded us. Then up rose the old priest, and gave us to know, that
we were wholly in his power, and if we did not swear to depart
in our boat forthwith, and molest him no more, the peril be ours.

"Depart and you live; stay and you die."

Fifteen to three. Madness to gainsay his mandate. Yet a beautiful
maiden was at stake.

The knife before dangling in Samoa's ear was now in his hand. Jarl
cried out for us to regain the boat, several of the Islanders making
a rush for it. No time to think. All passed quicker than it can be
said. They closed in upon us, to push us from the canoe: Rudely the
old priest flung me from his side, menacing me with his dagger, the
sharp spine of a fish. A thrust and a threat! Ere I knew it, my
cutlass made a quick lunge. A curse from the priest's mouth; red
blood from his side; he tottered, stared about him, and fell over
like a brown hemlock into the sea. A yell of maledictions rose on the
air. A wild cry was heard from the tent. Making a dead breach among
the crowd, we now dashed side by side for the boat. Springing into
it, we found Jarl battling with two Islanders; while the rest were
still howling upon the dais. Rage and grief had almost disabled them.

With one stroke of my cutlass, I now parted the line that held us to
the canoe, and with Samoa falling upon the two Islanders, by Jarl's
help, we quickly mastered them; forcing them down into the bottom of
the boat.

The Skyeman and Samoa holding passive the captives, I quickly set our
sail, and snatching the sheet at the cavil, we rapidly shot from the
canoe. The strangers defying us with their spears; several couching
them as if to dart; while others held back their hands, as if to
prevent them from jeopardizing the lives of their countrymen in the
Chamois.

Seemingly untoward events oftentimes lead to successful results: Far
from destroying all chance of rescuing the captive, our temporary
flight, indispensable for the safety of Jarl, only made the success
of our enterprise more probable. For having made prisoners two of the
strangers, I determined to retain them as hostages, through
whom to effect my plans without further bloodshed.

And here it must needs be related, that some of the natives were
wounded in the fray: while all three of their assailants had received
several bruises.



CHAPTER XLII
Remorse


During the skirmish not a single musket had been discharged. The
first snatched by Jarl had missed fire, and ere he could seize
another, it was close quarters with him, and no gestures to spare.
His harpoon was his all. And truly, there is nothing like steel in a
fray. It comes and it goes with a will, and is never a-weary. Your
sword is your life, and that of your foe; to keep or to take as it
happens. Closer home does it go than a rammer; and fighting with
steel is a play without ever an interlude. There are points more
deadly than bullets; and stocks packed full of subtle tubes, whence
comes an impulse more reliable than powder.

Binding our prisoners lengthwise across the boat's seats, we rowed
for the canoe, making signs of amity.

Now, if there be any thing fitted to make a high tide ebb in the
veins, it is the sight of a vanquished foe, inferior to yourself in
powers of destruction; but whom some necessity has forced you to
subdue. All victories are not triumphs, nor all who conquer, heroes.

As we drew near the canoe, it was plain, that the loss of their sire
had again for the instant overcome the survivors. Raising hands, they
cursed us; and at intervals sent forth a low, piercing wail, peculiar
to their race. As before, faint cries were heard from the tent. And
all the while rose and fell on the sea, the ill-fated canoe.

As I gazed at this sight, what iron mace fell on my soul; what curse
rang sharp in my ear! It was I, who was the author of the deed that
caused the shrill wails that I heard. By this hand, the dead
man had died. Remorse smote me hard; and like lightning I asked
myself, whether the death-deed I had done was sprung of a virtuous
motive, the rescuing a captive from thrall; or whether beneath that
pretense, I had engaged in this fatal affray for some other, and
selfish purpose; the companionship of a beautiful maid. But
throttling the thought, I swore to be gay. Am I not rescuing the
maiden? Let them go down who withstand me.

At the dismal spectacle before him, Jarl, hitherto menacing our
prisoners with his weapon, in order to intimidate their countrymen,
honest Jarl dropped his harpoon. But shaking his knife in the air,
Samoa yet defied the strangers; nor could we prevent him. His
heathenish blood was up.

Standing foremost in the boat, I now assured the strangers, that all
we sought at their hands was the maiden in the tent. That captive
surrendered, our own, unharmed, should be restored. If not, they must
die. With a cry, they started to their feet, and brandished their
clubs; but, seeing Jarl's harpoon quivering over the hearts of our
prisoners, they quickly retreated; at last signifying their
acquiescence in my demand. Upon this, I sprang to the dais, and
across it indicating a line near the bow, signed the Islanders to
retire beyond it. Then, calling upon them one by one to deliver their
weapons, they were passed into the boat.

The Chamois was now brought round to the canoe's stern; and leaving
Jarl to defend it as before, the Upoluan rejoined me on the dais. By
these precautions--the hostages still remaining bound hand and foot
in the boat--we deemed ourselves entirely secure.

Attended by Samoa, I stood before the tent, now still as the grave.


CHAPTER XLIII
The Tent Entered


By means of thin spaces between the braids of matting, the place was
open to the air, but not to view. There was also a round opening on
one side, only large enough, however, to admit the arm; but this
aperture was partially closed from within. In front, a deep-dyed rug
of osiers, covering the entrance way, was intricately laced to the
standing part of the tent. As I divided this lacing with my cutlass,
there arose an outburst of voices from the Islanders. And they
covered their faces, as the interior was revealed to my gaze.

Before me crouched a beautiful girl. Her hands were drooping. And,
like a saint from a shrine, she looked sadly out from her long, fair
hair. A low wail issued from her lips, and she trembled like a sound.
There were tears on her cheek, and a rose-colored pearl on her bosom.

Did I dream?--A snow-white skin: blue, firmament eyes: Golconda
locks. For an instant spell-bound I stood; while with a slow,
apprehensive movement, and still gazing fixedly, the captive gathered
more closely about her a gauze-like robe. Taking one step within, and
partially dropping the curtain of the tent, I so stood, as to have
both sight and speech of Samoa, who tarried without; while the
maiden, crouching in the farther corner of the retreat, was wholly
screened from all eyes but mine.

Crossing my hands before me, I now stood without speaking. For the
soul of me, I could not link this mysterious creature with the tawny
strangers. She seemed of another race. So powerful was this
impression, that unconsciously, I addressed her in my own
tongue. She started, and bending over, listened intently, as if to
the first faint echo of something dimly remembered. Again I spoke,
when throwing back her hair, the maiden looked up with a piercing,
bewildered gaze. But her eyes soon fell, and bending over once more,
she resumed her former attitude. At length she slowly chanted to
herself several musical words, unlike those of the Islanders; but
though I knew not what they meant, they vaguely seemed familiar.

Impatient to learn her story, I now questioned her in Polynesian. But
with much earnestness, she signed me to address her as before. Soon
perceiving, however, that without comprehending the meaning of the
words I employed, she seemed merely touched by something pleasing in
their sound, I once more addressed her in Polynesian; saying that I
was all eagerness to hear her history.

After much hesitation she complied; starting with alarm at every
sound from without; yet all the while deeply regarding me.

Broken as these disclosures were at the time, they are here presented
in the form in which they were afterward more fully narrated.

So unearthly was the story, that at first I little comprehended it;
and was almost persuaded that the luckless maiden was some beautiful
maniac.

She declared herself more than mortal, a maiden from Oroolia, the
Island of Delights, somewhere in the paradisiacal archipelago of the
Polynesians. To this isle, while yet an infant, by some mystical
power, she had been spirited from Amma, the place of her nativity.
Her name was Yillah. And hardly had the waters of Oroolia washed
white her olive skin, and tinged her hair with gold, when one day
strolling in the woodlands, she was snared in the tendrils of a vine.
Drawing her into its bowers, it gently transformed her into one of
its blossoms, leaving her conscious soul folded up in the transparent
petals.

Here hung Yillah in a trance, the world without all tinged with the
rosy hue of her prison. At length when her spirit was about to burst
forth in the opening flower, the blossom was snapped from its stem;
and borne by a soft wind to the sea; where it fell into the opening
valve of a shell; which in good time was cast upon the beach of the
Island of Amma.

In a dream, these events were revealed to Aleema the priest; who by a
spell unlocking its pearly casket, took forth the bud, which now
showed signs of opening in the reviving air, and bore faint shadowy
revealings, as of the dawn behind crimson clouds. Suddenly expanding,
the blossom exhaled away in perfumes; floating a rosy mist in the
air. Condensing at last, there emerged from this mist the same
radiant young Yillah as before; her locks all moist, and a rose-
colored pearl on her bosom. Enshrined as a goddess, the wonderful
child now tarried in the sacred temple of Apo, buried in a dell;
never beheld of mortal eyes save Aleema's.

Moon after moon passed away, and at last, only four days gone by,
Aleema came to her with a dream; that the spirits in Oroolia had
recalled her home by the way of Tedaidee, on whose coast gurgled up
in the sea an enchanted spring; which streaming over upon the brine,
flowed on between blue watery banks; and, plunging into a vortex,
went round and round, descending into depths unknown. Into this
whirlpool Yillah was to descend in a canoe, at last to well up in an
inland fountain of Oroolia.



CHAPTER XLIV
Away


Though clothed in language of my own, the maiden's story is in
substance the same as she related. Yet were not these things narrated
as past events; she merely recounted them as impressions of her
childhood, and of her destiny yet unaccomplished. And mystical as the
tale most assuredly was, my knowledge of the strange arts of the
island priesthood, and the rapt fancies indulged in by many of their
victims, deprived it in good part of the effect it otherwise would
have produced.

For ulterior purposes connected with their sacerdotal supremacy, the
priests of these climes oftentimes secrete mere infants in their
temples; and jealously secluding them from all intercourse with the
world, craftily delude them, as they grow up, into the wildest conceits.

Thus wrought upon, their pupils almost lose their humanity in the
constant indulgence of seraphic imaginings. In many cases becoming
inspired as oracles; and as such, they are sometimes resorted to by
devotees; always screened from view, however, in the recesses of the
temples. But in every instance, their end is certain. Beguiled with
some fairy tale about revisiting the islands of Paradise, they are
led to the secret sacrifice, and perish unknown to their kindred.

But, would that all this had been hidden from me at the time. For
Yillah was lovely enough to be really divine; and so I might have
been tranced into a belief of her mystical legends.

But with what passionate exultation did I find myself the
deliverer of this beautiful maiden; who, thinking no harm, and rapt
in a dream, was being borne to her fate on the coast of Tedaidee. Nor
now, for a moment, did the death of Aleema her guardian seem to hang
heavy upon my heart. I rejoiced that I had sent him to his gods; that
in place of the sea moss growing over sweet Yillah drowned in the
sea, the vile priest himself had sunk to the bottom.

But though he had sunk in the deep, his ghost sunk not in the deep
waters of my soul. However in exultations its surface foamed up, at
bottom guilt brooded. Sifted out, my motives to this enterprise
justified not the mad deed, which, in a moment of rage, I had done:
though, those motives had been covered with a gracious pretense;
concealing myself from myself. But I beat down the thought.

In relating her story, the maiden frequently interrupted it with
questions concerning myself:--Whence I came: being white, from
Oroolia? Whither I was going: to Amma? And what had happened to
Aleema? For she had been dismayed at the fray, though knowing not
what it could mean; and she had heard the priest's name called upon
in lamentations. These questions for the time I endeavored to evade;
only inducing her to fancy me some gentle demigod, that had come over
the sea from her own fabulous Oroolia. And all this she must verily
have believed. For whom, like me, ere this could she have beheld?
Still fixed she her eyes upon me strangely, and hung upon the accents
of my voice.

While this scene was passing, the strangers began to show signs of
impatience, and a voice from the Chamois repeatedly hailed us to
accelerate our movements.

My course was quickly decided. The only obstacle to be encountered
was the possibility of Yillah's alarm at being suddenly borne into my
prow. For this event I now sought to prepare her. I informed the
damsel that Aleema had been dispatched on a long errand to Oroolia;
leaving to my care, for the present, the guardianship of the lovely
Yillah; and that therefore, it was necessary to carry her tent
into my own canoe, then waiting to receive it.

This intelligence she received with the utmost concern; and not
knowing to what her perplexity might lead, I thought fit to transport
her into the Chamois, while yet overwhelmed by the announcement of my
intention.

Quitting her retreat, I apprised Jarl of my design; and then, no more
delay!

At bottom, the tent was attached to a light framework of bamboos; and
from its upper corners, four cords, like those of a marquee, confined
it to the dais. These, Samoa's knife soon parted; when lifting the
light tent, we speedily transferred it to the Chamois; a wild yell
going up from the Islanders, which drowned the faint cries of the
maiden. But we heeded not the din. Toss in the fruit, hanging from
the altar-prow! It was done; and then running up our sail, we glided
away;--Chamois, tent, hostages, and all. Rushing to the now vacant
stern of their canoe, the Islanders once more lifted up their hands
and their voices in curses.

A suitable distance gained, we paused to fling overboard the arms we
had taken; and Jarl proceeded to liberate the hostages.

Meanwhile, I entered the tent, and by many tokens, sought to allay
the maiden's alarm. Thus engaged, violent plunges were heard: our
prisoners taking to the sea to regain their canoe. All dripping, they
were received by their brethren with wild caresses.

From something now said by the captives, the rest seemed suddenly
inspirited with hopes of revenge; again wildly shaking their spears,
just before picked up from the sea. With great clamor and confusion
they soon set their mat-sail; and instead of sailing southward for
Tedaidee, or northward for Amma their home, they steered straight
after us, in our wake.

Foremost in the prow stood three; javelins poised for a dart; at
intervals, raising a yell.

Did they mean to pursue me? Full in my rear they came on, baying like
hounds on their game. Yillah trembled at their cries. My own heart
beat hard with undefinable dread. The corpse of Aleema seemed
floating before: its avengers were raging behind.

But soon these phantoms departed. For very soon it appeared that in
vain the pagans pursued. Their craft, our fleet Chamois outleaped.
And farther and farther astern dropped the evil-boding canoe, till at
last but a speck; when a great swell of the sea surged up before it,
and it was seen no more. Samoa swore that it must have swamped, and
gone down. But however it was, my heart lightened apace. I saw none
but ourselves on the sea: I remembered that our keel left no track as
it sailed.

Let the Oregon Indian through brush, bramble, and brier, hunt his
enemy's trail, far over the mountains and down in the vales; comes he
to the water, he snuffs idly in air.



CHAPTER XLV
Reminiscences


In resecuing the gentle Yillah from the hands of the Islanders, a
design seemed accomplished. But what was now to be done? Here, in our
adventurous Chamois, was a damsel more lovely than the flushes of
morning; and for companions, whom had she but me and my comrades?
Besides, her bosom still throbbed with alarms, her fancies all roving
through mazes.

How subdue these dangerous imaginings? How gently dispel them?

But one way there was: to lead her thoughts toward me, as her friend
and preserver; and a better and wiser than Aleema the priest. Yet
could not this be effected but by still maintaining my assumption of
a divine origin in the blessed isle of Oroolia; and thus fostering in
her heart the mysterious interest, with which from the first she had
regarded me. But if punctilious reserve on the part of her deliverer
should teach her to regard him as some frigid stranger from the
Arctic Zone, what sympathy could she have for him? and hence, what
peace of mind, having no one else to cling to?

Now re-entering the tent, she again inquired where tarried Aleema.

"Think not of him, sweet Yillah," I cried. "Look on me. Am I not
white like yourself? Behold, though since quitting Oroolia the sun
has dyed my cheek, am I not even as you? Am I brown like the dusky
Aleema? They snatched you away from your isle in the sea, too early
for you to remember me there. But you have not been forgotten
by me, sweetest Yillah. Ha! ha! shook we not the palm-trees together,
and chased we not the rolling nuts down the glen? Did we not dive
into the grotto on the sea-shore, and come up together in the cool
cavern in the hill? In my home in Oroolia, dear Yillah, I have a lock
of your hair, ere yet it was golden: a little dark tress like a ring.
How your cheeks were then changing from olive to white. And when
shall I forget the hour, that I came upon you sleeping among the
flowers, with roses and lilies for cheeks. Still forgetful? Know you
not my voice? Those little spirits in your eyes have seen me before.
They mimic me now as they sport in their lakes. All the past a dim
blank? Think of the time when we ran up and down in our arbor, where
the green vines grew over the great ribs of the stranded whale. Oh
Yillah, little Yillah, has it all come to this? am I forever
forgotten? Yet over the wide watery world have I sought thee: from
isle to isle, from sea to sea. And now we part not. Aleema is gone.
My prow shall keep kissing the waves, till it kisses the beach at
Oroolia. Yillah, look up."

Sunk the ghost of Aleema: Sweet Yillah was mine!



CHAPTER XLVI
The Chamois With A Roving Commission


Through the assiduity of my Viking, ere nightfall our Chamois was
again in good order. And with many subtle and seamanlike splices the
light tent was lashed in its place; the sail taken up by a reef.

My comrades now questioned me, as to my purposes; whether they had
been modified by the events of the day. I replied that our
destination was still the islands to the westward.

But from these we had steadily been drifting all the morning long; so
that now no loom of the land was visible. But our prow was kept
pointing as before.

As evening came on, my comrades fell fast asleep, leaving me at the
helm.

How soft and how dreamy the light of the hour. The rays of the sun,
setting behind golden-barred clouds, came to me like the gleaming of
a shaded light behind a lattice. And the low breeze, pervaded with
the peculiar balm of the mid-Pacific near land, was fragrant as the
breath of a bride.

Such was the scene; so still and witching that the hand of Yillah in
mine seemed no hand, but a touch. Visions flitted before me and in
me; something hummed in my ear; all the air was a lay.

And now entered a thought into my heart. I reflected how serenely we
might thus glide along, far removed from all care and anxiety. And
then, what different scenes might await us upon any of the shores
roundabout. But there seemed no danger in the balmy sea; the assured
vicinity of land imparting a sense of security. We had ample
supplies for several days more, and thanks to the Pagan canoe, an
abundance of fruit.

Besides, what cared I now for the green groves and bright shore? Was
not Yillah my shore and my grove? my meadow, my mead, my soft shady
vine, and my arbor? Of all things desirable and delightful, the full-
plumed sheaf, and my own right arm the band? Enough: no shore for me
yet. One sweep of the helm, and our light prow headed round toward
the vague land of song, sun, and vine: the fabled South.

As we glided along, strange Yillah gazed down in the sea, and would
fain have had me plunge into it with her, to rove through its depths.
But I started dismayed; in fancy, I saw the stark body of the priest
drifting by. Again that phantom obtruded; again guilt laid his red
hand on my soul. But I laughed. Was not Yillah my own? by my arm
rescued from ill? To do her a good, I had periled myself. So down,
down, Aleema.

When next morning, starting from slumber, my comrades beheld the sun
on our beam, instead of astern as before at that hour, they eagerly
inquired, "Whither now?" But very briefly I gave them to know, that
after devoting the night to the due consideration of a matter so
important, I had determined upon voyaging for the island Tedaidee, in
place of the land to the westward.

At this, they were not displeased. But to tell the plain truth, I
harbored some shadowy purpose of merely hovering about for a while,
till I felt more landwardly inclined.

But had I not declared to Yillah, that our destination was the fairy
isle she spoke of, even Oroolia? Yet that shore was so exceedingly
remote, and the folly of endeavoring to reach it in a craft built
with hands, so very apparent, that what wonder I really nourished no
thought of it?

So away floated the Chamois, like a vagrant cloud in the heavens:
bound, no one knew whither.



CHAPTER XLVII
Yillah, Jarl, And Samoa


But time to tell, how Samoa and Jarl regarded this mystical Yillah;
and how Yillah regarded them.

As Beauty from the Beast, so at first shrank the damsel from my one-
armed companion. But seeing my confidence in the savage, a reaction
soon followed. And in accordance with that curious law, by which,
under certain conditions, the ugliest mortals become only amiably
hideous, Yillah at length came to look upon Samoa as a sort of
harmless and good-natured goblin. Whence came he, she cared not; or
what was his history; or in what manner his fortunes were united to
mine.

May be, she held him a being of spontaneous origin.

Now, as every where women are the tamers of the menageries of men; so
Yillah in good time tamed down Samoa to the relinquishment of that
horrible thing in his ear, and persuaded him to substitute a vacancy
for the bauble in his nose. On his part, however, all this was
conditional. He stipulated for the privilege of restoring both
trinkets upon suitable occasions.

But if thus gayly the damsel sported with Samoa; how different his
emotions toward her? The fate to which she had been destined, and
every nameless thing about her, appealed to all his native
superstitions, which ascribed to beings of her complexion a more than
terrestrial origin. When permitted to approach her, he looked timid
and awkwardly strange; suggesting the likeness of some clumsy satyr,
drawing in his horns; slowly wagging his tail; crouching abashed
before some radiant spirit.

And this reverence of his was most pleasing to me, Bravo! thought I;
be a pagan forever. No more than myself; for, after a different
fashion, Yillah was an idol to both.

But what of my Viking? Why, of good Jarl I grieve to say, that the
old-fashioned interest he took in my affairs led him to look upon
Yillah as a sort of intruder, an Ammonite syren, who might lead me
astray. This would now and then provoke a phillipic; but he would
only turn toward my resentment his devotion; and then I was silent.

Unsophisticated as a wild flower in the germ, Yillah seemed incapable
of perceiving the contrasted lights in which she was regarded by our
companions. And like a true beauty seemed to cherish the presumption,
that it was quite impossible for such a person as hers to prove
otherwise than irresistible to all.

She betrayed much surprise at my Vikings appearance. But most of all
was she struck by a characteristic device upon the arm of the
wonderful mariner--our Saviour on the cross, in blue; with the crown
of thorns, and three drops of blood in vermilion, falling one by one
from each hand and foot.

Now, honest Jarl did vastly pride himself upon this ornament. It was
the only piece of vanity about him. And like a lady keeping gloveless
her hand to show off a fine Turquoise ring, he invariably wore that
sleeve of his frock rolled up, the better to display the
embellishment.

And round and round would Yillah turn Jarl's arm, till Jarl was fain
to stand firm, for fear of revolving all over. How such untutored
homage would have thrilled the heart of the ingenious artist!

Eventually, through the Upoluan, she made overtures to the Skyeman,
concerning the possession of his picture in her own proper right. In
her very simplicity, little heeding, that like a landscape in fresco,
it could not be removed.



CHAPTER XLVIII
Something Under The Surface


Not to omit an occurrence of considerable interest, we must needs
here present some account of a curious retinue of fish which overtook
our Chamois, a day or two after parting with the canoe.

A violent creaming and frothing in our rear announced their approach.
Soon we found ourselves the nucleus of an incredible multitude of
finny creatures, mostly anonymous.

First, far in advance of our prow, swam the helmeted Silver-heads;
side by side, in uniform ranks, like an army. Then came the Boneetas,
with their flashing blue flanks. Then, like a third distinct
regiment, wormed and twisted through the water like Archimedean
screws, the quivering Wriggle-tails; followed in turn by the rank and
file of the Trigger-fish--so called from their quaint dorsal fins
being set in their backs with a comical curve, as if at half-cock.
Far astern the rear was brought up by endless battalions of Yellow-
backs, right martially vested in buff.

And slow sailing overhead were flights of birds; a wing in the air
for every fin in the sea.

But let the sea-fowls fly on: turn we to the fish.

Their numbers were amazing; countless as the tears shed for
perfidious lovers. Far abroad on both flanks, they swam in long
lines, tier above tier; the water alive with their hosts. Locusts of
the sea, peradventure, going to fall with a blight upon some green,
mossy province of Neptune. And tame and fearless they were, as the
first fish that swam in Euphrates; hardly evading the hand; insomuch
that Samoa caught many without lure or line.

They formed a decorous escort; paddling along by our barnacled sides,
as if they had been with us from the very beginning; neither scared
by our craft's surging in the water; nor in the least sympathetic at
losing a comrade by the hand of Samoa. They closed in their ranks and
swam on.

How innocent, yet heartless they looked! Had a plank dropped out of
our boat, we had sunk to the bottom; and belike, our cheerful retinue
would have paid the last rites to our remains.

But still we kept company; as sociably as you please; Samoa helping
himself when he listed, and Yillah clapping her hands as the radiant
creatures, by a simultaneous turning round on their silvery bellies,
caused the whole sea to glow like a burnished shield.

But what has befallen this poor little Boneeta astern, that he swims
so toilingly on, with gills showing purple? What has he there, towing
behind? It is tangled sea-kelp clinging to its fins. But the clogged
thing strains to keep up with its fellows. Yet little they heed. Away
they go; every fish for itself, and any fish for Samoa.

At last the poor Boneeta is seen no more. The myriad fins swim on; a
lonely waste, where the lost one drops behind.

Strange fish! All the live-long day, they were there by our side; and
at night still tarried and shone; more crystal and scaly in the pale
moonbeams, than in the golden glare of the sun.

How prettily they swim; all silver life; darting hither and thither
between their long ranks, and touching their noses, and scraping
acquaintance. No mourning they wear for the Boneeta left far astern;
nor for those so cruelly killed by Samoa. No, no; all is glee, fishy
glee, and frolicking fun; light hearts and light fins; gay backs and
gay spirits.--Swim away, swim away! my merry fins all. Let us roam
the flood; let us follow this monster fish with the barnacled sides;
this strange-looking fish, so high out of water; that goes without
fins. What fish can it be? What rippling is that? Dost hear
the great monster breathe? Why, 'tis sharp at both ends; a tail
either way; nor eyes has it any, nor mouth. What a curious fish! what
a comical fish! But more comical far, those creatures above, on its
hollow back, clinging thereto like the snaky eels, that cling and
slide on the back of the Sword fish, our terrible foe. But what
curious eels these are! Do they deem themselves pretty as we? No, no;
for sure, they behold our limber fins, our speckled and beautiful
scales. Poor, powerless things! How they must wish they were we, that
roam the flood, and scour the seas with a wish. Swim away; merry
fins, swim away! Let him drop, that fellow that halts; make a lane;
close in, and fill up. Let him drown, if he can not keep pace. No
laggards for us:--

    We fish, we fish, we merrily swim,
    We care not for friend nor for foe:
      Our fins are stout,
      Our tails are out,
    As through the seas we go.

    Fish, Fish, we are fish with red gills;
      Naught disturbs us, our blood is at zero:
    We are buoyant because of our bags,
      Being many, each fish is a hero.
    We care not what is it, this life
      That we follow, this phantom unknown:
    To swim, it's exceedingly pleasant,--
      So swim away, making a foam.
    This strange looking thing by our side,
      Not for safety, around it we flee:--
    Its shadow's so shady, that's all,--
      We only swim under its lee.
    And as for the eels there above,
      And as for the fowls in the air,
    We care not for them nor their ways,
      As we cheerily glide afar!

    We fish, we fish, we merrily swim,
    We care not for friend nor for foe:
      Our fins are stout,
      Our tails are out,
    As through the seas we go.

But how now, my fine fish! what alarms your long ranks, and tosses
them all into a hubbub of scales and of foam? Never mind that long
knave with the spear there, astern. Pipe away, merry fish, and give
us a stave or two more, keeping time with your doggerel tails. But
no, no! their singing was over. Grim death, in the shape of a
Chevalier, was after them.

How they changed their boastful tune! How they hugged the vilified
boat! How they wished they were in it, the braggarts! And how they
all tingled with fear!

For, now here, now there, is heard a terrific rushing sound under
water, betokening the onslaught of the dread fish of prey, that with
spear ever in rest, charges in upon the out-skirts of the shoal,
transfixing the fish on his weapon. Re-treating and shaking them off,
the Chevalier devours them; then returns to the charge.

Hugging the boat to desperation, the poor fish fairly crowded
themselves up to the surface, and floundered upon each other, as men
are lifted off their feet in a mob. They clung to us thus, out of a
fancied security in our presence. Knowing this, we felt no little
alarm for ourselves, dreading lest the Chevalier might despise our
boat, full as much as his prey; and in pursuing the fish, run through
the poor Chamois with a lunge. A jacket, rolled up, was kept in
readiness to be thrust into the first opening made; while as the
thousand fins audibly patted against our slender planks, we felt
nervously enough; as if treading upon thin, crackling ice.

At length, to our no small delight, the enemy swam away; and again by
our side merrily paddled our escort; ten times merrier than ever.


CHAPTER XLIX
Yillah


While for a few days, now this way, now that, as our craft glides
along, surrounded by these locusts of the deep, let the story of
Yillah flow on.

Of her beauty say I nothing. It was that of a crystal lake in a
fathomless wood: all light and shade; full of fleeting revealings;
now shadowed in depths; now sunny in dimples; but all sparkling and
shifting, and blending together.

But her wild beauty was a vail to things still more strange. As often
she gazed so earnestly into my eyes, like some pure spirit looking
far down into my soul, and seeing therein some upturned faces, I
started in amaze, and asked what spell was on me, that thus she gazed.

Often she entreated me to repeat over and over again certain
syllables of my language. These she would chant to herself, pausing
now and then, as if striving to discover wherein lay their charm.

In her accent, there was something very different from that of the
people of the canoe. Wherein lay the difference. I knew not; but it
enabled her to pronounce with readiness all the words which I taught
her; even as if recalling sounds long forgotten.

If all this filled me with wonder, how much was that wonder
increased, and yet baffled again, by considering her complexion, and
the cast of her features.

After endeavoring in various ways to account for these things, I was
led to imagine, that the damsel must be an Albino (Tulla)
occasionally to be met with among the people of the Pacific. These
persons are of an exceedingly delicate white skin, tinted with a
faint rose hue, like the lips of a shell. Their hair is golden. But,
unlike the Albinos of other climes, their eyes are invariably blue,
and no way intolerant of light.

As a race, the Tullas die early. And hence the belief, that they
pertain to some distant sphere, and only through irregularities in
the providence of the gods, come to make their appearance upon earth:
whence, the oversight discovered, they are hastily snatched. And it
is chiefly on this account, that in those islands where human
sacrifices are offered, the Tullas are deemed the most suitable
oblations for the altar, to which from their birth many are
prospectively devoted. It was these considerations, united to others,
which at times induced me to fancy, that by the priest, Yillah was
regarded as one of these beings. So mystical, however, her
revelations concerning her past history, that often I knew not what
to divine. But plainly they showed that she had not the remotest
conception of her real origin.

But these conceits of a state of being anterior to an earthly
existence may have originated in one of those celestial visions seen
transparently stealing over the face of a slumbering child. And
craftily drawn forth and re-echoed by another, and at times repeated
over to her with many additions, these imaginings must at length have
assumed in her mind a hue of reality, heightened into conviction by
the dreamy seclusion of her life.

But now, let her subsequent and more credible history be related, as
from time to time she rehearsed it.


CHAPTER L
Yillah In Ardair


In the verdant glen of Ardair, far in the silent interior of Amma,
shut in by hoar old cliffs, Yillah the maiden abode.

So small and so deep was this glen, so surrounded on all sides by
steep acclivities, and so vividly green its verdure, and deceptive
the shadows that played there; that, from above, it seemed more like
a lake of cool, balmy air, than a glen: its woodlands and grasses
gleaming shadowy all, like sea groves and mosses beneath the calm sea.

Here, none came but Aleema the priest, who at times was absent for
days together. But at certain seasons, an unseen multitude with loud
chants stood upon the verge of the neighboring precipices, and
traversing those shaded wilds, slowly retreated; their voices
lessening and lessening, as they wended their way through the more
distant groves.

At other times, Yillah being immured in the temple of Apo, a band of
men entering the vale, surrounded her retreat, dancing there till
evening came. Meanwhile, heaps of fruit, garlands of flowers, and
baskets of fish, were laid upon an altar without, where stood Aleema,
arrayed in white tappa, and muttering to himself, as the offerings
were laid at his feet.

When Aleema was gone, Yillah went forth into the glen, and wandered
among the trees, and reposed by the banks of the stream. And ever as
she strolled, looked down upon her the grim old cliffs, bearded with
trailing moss.

Toward the lower end of the vale, its lofty walls advancing
and overhanging their base, almost met in mid air. And a great rock,
hurled from an adjacent height, and falling into the space
intercepted, there remained fixed. Aerial trees shot up from its
surface; birds nested in its clefts; and strange vines roved abroad,
overrunning the tops of the trees, lying thereon in coils and
undulations, like anacondas basking in the light. Beneath this rock,
was a lofty wall of ponderous stones. Between its crevices, peeps
were had of a long and leafy arcade, quivering far away to where the
sea rolled in the sun. Lower down, these crevices gave an outlet to
the waters of the brook, which, in a long cascade, poured over
sloping green ledges near the foot of the wall, into a deep shady
pool; whose rocky sides, by the perpetual eddying of the water, had
been worn into a grotesque resemblance to a group of giants, with
heads submerged, indolently reclining about the basin.

In this pool, Yillah would bathe. And once, emerging, she heard the
echoes of a voice, and called aloud. But the only reply, was the
rustling of branches, as some one, invisible, fled down the valley
beyond. Soon after, a stone rolled inward, and Aleema the priest
stood before her; saying that the voice she had heard was his. But it
was not.

At last the weary days grew, longer and longer, and the maiden pined
for companionship. When the breeze blew not, but slept in the caves
of the mountains, and all the leaves of the trees stood motionless as
tears in the eye, Yillah would sadden, and call upon the spirits in
her soul to awaken. She sang low airs, she thought she had heard in
Oroolia; but started affrighted, as from dingles and dells, came back
to her strains more wild than hers. And ever, when sad, Aleema would
seek to cheer her soil, by calling to mind the bright scenes of
Oroolia the Blest, to which place, he averred, she was shortly to
return, never more to depart.

Now, at the head of the vale of Ardair, rose a tall, dark peak,
presenting at the top the grim profile of a human face; whose
shadow, every afternoon, crept down the verdant side of the mountain:
a silent phantom, stealing all over the bosom of the glen.

At times, when the phantom drew near, Aleema would take Yillah forth,
and waiting its approach, lay her down by the shadow, disposing her
arms in a caress; saying, "Oh, Apo! dost accept thy bride?" And at
last, when it crept beyond the place where he stood, and buried the
whole valley in gloom; Aleema would say, "Arise Yillah; Apo hath
stretched himself to sleep in Ardair. Go, slumber where thou wilt;
for thou wilt slumber in his arms."

And so, every night, slept the maiden in the arms of grim Apo.

One day when Yillah had come to love the wild shadow, as something
that every day moved before her eyes, where all was so deathfully
still; she went forth alone to watch it, as softly it slid down from
the peak. Of a sudden, when its face was just edging a chasm, that
made it to look as if parting its lips, she heard a loud voice, and
thought it was Apo calling "Yillah! Yillah!" But now it seemed like
the voice she had heard while bathing in the pool. Glancing upward,
she beheld a beautiful open-armed youth, gazing down upon her from an
inaccessible crag. But presently, there was a rustling in the groves
behind, and swift as thought, something darted through the air. The
youth bounded forward. Yillah opened her arms to receive him; but he
fell upon the cliff, and was seen no more. As alarmed, and in tears,
she fled from the scene, some one out of sight ran before her through
the wood.

Upon recounting this adventure to Aleema, he said, that the being she
had seen, must have been a bad spirit come to molest her; and that
Apo had slain him.

The sight of this youth, filled Yillah with wild yearnings to escape
from her lonely retreat; for a glimpse of some one beside the priest
and the phantom, suggested vague thoughts of worlds of fair beings,
in regions beyond Ardair. But Aleema sought to put away these
conceits; saying, that ere long she would be journeying to Oroolia,
there to rejoin the spirits she dimly remembered.

Soon after, he came to her with a shell--one of those ever moaning of
ocean--and placing it to her ear, bade her list to the being within,
which in that little shell had voyaged from Oroolia to bear her
company in Amma.

Now, the maiden oft held it to her ear, and closing her eyes,
listened and listened to its soft inner breathings, till visions were
born of the sound, and her soul lay for hours in a trance of delight.

And again the priest came, and brought her a milk-white bird, with a
bill jet-black, and eyes like stars. "In this, lurks the soul of a
maiden; it hath flown from Oroolia to greet you." The soft stranger
willingly nestled in her bosom; turning its bright eyes upon hers,
and softly warbling.

Many days passed; and Yillah, the bird, and the shell were
inseparable. The bird grew familiar; pecked seeds from her mouth;
perched upon her shoulder, and sang in her ear; and at night, folded
its wings in her bosom, and, like a sea-fowl, went softly to sleep:
rising and falling upon the maiden's heart. And every morning it flew
from its nest, and fluttered and chirped; and sailed to and fro; and
blithely sang; and brushed Yillah's cheek till she woke. Then came to
her hand: and Yillah, looking earnestly in its eyes, saw strange
faces there; and said to herself as she gazed--"These are two souls,
not one."

But at last, going forth into the groves with the bird, it suddenly
flew from her side, and perched in a bough; and throwing back its
white downy throat, there gushed from its bill a clear warbling jet,
like a little fountain in air. Now the song ceased; when up and away
toward the head of the vale, flew the bird. "Lil! Lil! come back,
leave me not, blest souls of the maidens." But on flew the bird, far
up a defile, winging its way till a speck.

It was shortly after this, and upon the evening of a day which had
been tumultuous with sounds of warfare beyond the lower wall of the
glen; that Aleema came to Yillah in alarm; saying--"Yillah, the time
has come to follow thy bird; come, return to thy home in Oroolia."
And he told her the way she would voyage there: by the vortex on the
coast of Tedaidee. That night, being veiled and placed in the tent,
the maiden was borne to the sea-side, where the canoe was in waiting.
And setting sail quickly, by next morning the island of Amma was no
longer in sight.

And this was the voyage, whose sequel has already been recounted.


CHAPTER LI
The Dream Begins To Fade


Stripped of the strange associations, with which a mind like Yillah's
must have invested every incident of her life, the story of her abode
in Ardair seemed not incredible.

But so etherealized had she become from the wild conceits she
nourished, that she verily believed herself a being of the lands of
dreams. Her fabulous past was her present.

Yet as our intimacy grew closer and closer, these fancies seemed to
be losing their hold. And often she questioned me concerning my own
reminiscences of her shadowy isle. And cautiously I sought to produce
the impression, that whatever I had said of that clime, had been
revealed to me in dreams; but that in these dreams, her own
lineaments had smiled upon me; and hence the impulse which had sent
me roving after the substance of this spiritual image.

And true it was to say so; and right it was to swear it, upon her
white arms crossed. For oh, Yillah; were you not the earthly
semblance of that sweet vision, that haunted my earliest thoughts?

At first she had wildly believed, that the nameless affinities
between us, were owing to our having in times gone by dwelt together
in the same ethereal region. But thoughts like these were fast dying
out. Yet not without many strange scrutinies. More intently than ever
she gazed into my eyes; rested her ear against my heart, and listened
to its beatings. And love, which in the eye of its object ever seeks
to invest itself with some rare superiority, love, sometimes induced
me to prop my failing divinity; though it was I myself who had
undermined it.

But if it was with many regrets, that in the sight of Yillah, I
perceived myself thus dwarfing down to a mortal; it was with quite
contrary emotions, that I contemplated the extinguishment in her
heart of the notion of her own spirituality. For as such thoughts
were chased away, she clung the more closely to me, as unto one
without whom she would be desolate indeed.

And now, at intervals, she was sad, and often gazed long and fixedly
into the sea. Nor would she say why it was, that she did so; until at
length she yielded; and replied, that whatever false things Aleema
might have instilled into her mind; of this much she was certain:
that the whirlpool on the coast of Tedaidee prefigured her fate; that
in the waters she saw lustrous eyes, and beckoning phantoms, and
strange shapes smoothing her a couch among the mosses.

Her dreams seemed mine. Many visions I had of the green corse of the
priest, outstretching its arms in the water, to receive pale Yillah,
as she sunk in the sea.

But these forebodings departed, no happiness in the universe like
ours. We lived and we loved; life and love were united; in gladness
glided our days.



CHAPTER LII
World Ho!


Five suns rose and set. And Yillah pining for the shore, we turned
our prow due west, and next morning came in sight of land.

It was innumerable islands; lifting themselves bluely through the
azure air, and looking upon the distant sea, like haycocks in a hazy
field. Towering above all, and mid-most, rose a mighty peak; one
fleecy cloud sloping against its summit; a column wreathed. Beyond,
like purple steeps in heaven at set of sun, stretched far away, what
seemed lands on lands, in infinite perspective.

Gliding on, the islands grew more distinct; rising up from the
billows to greet us; revealing hills, vales, and peaks, grouped
within a milk-white zone of reef, so vast, that in the distance all
was dim. The jeweled vapors, ere-while hovering over these violet
shores, now seemed to be shedding their gems; and as the almost level
rays of the sun, shooting through the air like a variegated prism,
touched the verdant land, it trembled all over with dewy sparkles.

Still nearer we came: our sail faintly distended as the breeze died
away from our vicinity to the isles. The billows rolled listlessly
by, as if conscious that their long task was nigh done; while gleamed
the white reef, like the trail of a great fish in a calm. But as yet,
no sign of paddle or canoe; no distant smoke; no shining thatch.
Bravo! good comrades, we've discovered some new constellation in the
sea.

Sweet Yillah, no more of Oroolia; see you not this flowery land?
Nevermore shall we desire to roam.

Voyaging along the zone, we came to an opening; and quitting the
firmament blue of the open sea, we glided in upon the still, green
waters of the wide lagoon. Mapped out in the broad shadows of the
isles, and tinted here and there with the reflected hues of the sun
clouds, the mild waters stretched all around us like another sky.
Near by the break in the reef, was a little island, with palm trees
harping in the breeze; an aviary of alluring sounds, that seemed
calling upon us to land. And here, Yillah, whom the sight of the
verdure had made glad, threw out a merry suggestion. Nothing less,
than to plant our mast, sail-set, upon the highest hill; and fly
away, island and all; trees rocking, birds caroling, flowers
springing; away, away, across the wide waters, to Oroolia! But alas!
how weigh the isle's coral anchor, leagues down in the fathomless
sea?

We glanced around; but all the islands seemed slumbering in the
flooding light.

"A canoe! a canoe!" cried Samoa, as three proas showed themselves
rounding a neighboring shore. Instantly we sailed for them; but after
shooting to and fro for a time, and standing up and gazing at us, the
Islanders retreated behind the headland. Hardly were they out of
sight, when from many a shore roundabout, other proas pushed off.
Soon the water all round us was enlivened by fleets of canoes,
darting hither and thither like frighted water-fowls. Presently they
all made for one island.

From their actions we argued that these people could have had but
little or no intercourse with whites; and most probably knew not how
to account for our appearance among them. Desirous, therefore, of a
friendly meeting, ere any hostile suspicions might arise, we pointed
our craft for the island, whither all the canoes were now hastening.
Whereupon, those which had not yet reached their destination, turned
and fled; while the occupants of the proas that had landed, ran into
the groves, and were lost to view.

Crossing the distinct outer line of the isle's shadow on the water,
we gained the shore; and gliding along its margin, passing canoe
after canoe, hauled up on the silent beach, which otherwise seemed
entirely innocent of man.

A dilemma. But I decided at last upon disembarking Jarl and Samoa, to
seek out and conciliate the natives. So, landing them upon a jutting
buttress of coral, whence they waded to the shore; I pushed off with
Yillah into the water beyond, to await the event.

Full an hour must have elapsed; when, to our great joy, loud shouts
were heard; and there burst into view a tumultuous crowd, in the
midst of which my Viking was descried, mounted upon the shoulders of
two brawny natives; while the Upoluan, striding on in advance, seemed
resisting a similar attempt to elevate him in the world.

Good omens both.

"Come ashore!" cried Jarl. "Aramai!" cried Samoa; while storms of
interjections went up from the Islanders who with extravagant
gestures danced about the beach.

Further caution seemed needless: I pointed our prow for the shore. No
sooner was this perceived, than, raising an applauding shout, the
Islanders ran up to their waists in the sea. And skimming like a gull
over the smooth lagoon, the light shallop darted in among them. Quick
as thought, fifty hands were on the gunwale: and, with all its
contents, lifted bodily into the air, the little Chamois, upon many a
dripping shoulder, was borne deep into the groves. Yillah shrieked at
the rocking motion, and when the boughs of the trees brushed against
the tent.

With his staff, an old man now pointed to a couple of twin-like
trees, some four paces apart; and a little way from the ground
conveniently crotched.

And here, eftsoons, they deposited their burden; lowering the Chamois
gently between the forks of the trees, whose willow-like foliage
fringed the tent and its inmate.



CHAPTER LIII
The Chamois Ashore


Until now, enveloped in her robe, and crouching like a fawn, Yillah
had been well nigh hidden from view. But presently she withdrew her
hood.

What saw the Islanders, that they so gazed and adored in silence:
some retreating, some creeping nearer, and the women all in a
flutter? Long they gazed; and following Samoa's example, stretched
forth their arms in reverence.

The adoration of the maiden was extended to myself. Indeed, from the
singular gestures employed, I had all along suspected, that we were
being received with unwonted honors.

I now sought to get speech of my comrades. But so obstreperous was
the crowd, that it was next to impossible. Jarl was still in his
perch in the air; his enthusiastic bearers not yet suffering him to
alight. Samoa, however, who had managed to keep out of the saddle,
by-and-by contrived to draw nearer to the Chamois.

He advised me, by no means to descend for the present; since in any
event we were sure of remaining unmolested therein; the Islanders
regarding it as sacred.

The Upoluan attracted a great deal of attention; chiefly from his
style of tattooing, which, together with other peculiarities, so
interested the natives, that they were perpetually hanging about him,
putting eager questions, and all the time keeping up a violent clamor.

But despite the large demand upon his lungs, Samoa made out to inform
me, that notwithstanding the multitude assembled, there was no
high chief, or person of consequence present; the king of the place,
also those of the islands adjacent, being absent at a festival in
another quarter of the Archipelago. But upon the first distant
glimpse of the Chamois, fleet canoes had been dispatched to announce
the surprising event that had happened.

In good time, the crowd becoming less tumultuous, and abandoning the
siege of Samoa, I availed myself of this welcome lull, and called
upon him and my Viking to enter the Chamois; desirous of condensing
our forces against all emergencies.

Samoa now gave me to understand, that from all he could learn, the
Islanders regarded me as a superior being. They had inquired of him,
whether I was not white Taji, a sort of half-and-half deity, now and
then an Avatar among them, and ranking among their inferior ex-
officio demi-gods. To this, Samoa had said ay; adding, moreover, all
he could to encourage the idea.

He now entreated me, at the first opportunity, to announce myself as
Taji: declaring that if once received under that title, the unbounded
hospitality of our final reception would be certain; and our persons
fenced about from all harm.

Encouraging this. But it was best to be wary. For although among some
barbarians the first strangers landing upon their shores, are
frequently hailed as divine; and in more than one wild land have been
actually styled gods, as a familiar designation; yet this has not
exempted the celestial visitants from peril, when too much presuming
upon the reception extended to them. In sudden tumults they have been
slain outright, and while full faith in their divinity had in no wise
abated. The sad fate of an eminent navigator is a well-known
illustration of this unaccountable waywardness.

With no small anxiety, therefore, we awaited the approach of some of
the dignitaries of Mardi; for by this collective appellation,
the people informed us, their islands were known.

We waited not long. Of a sudden, from the sea-side, a single shrill
cry was heard. A moment more, and the blast of numerous conch shells
startled the air; a confused clamor drew nearer and nearer; and
flying our eyes in the direction of these sounds, we impatiently
awaited what was to follow.



CHAPTER LIV
A Gentleman From The Sun


Never before had I seen the deep foliage of woodlands navigated by
canoes. But on they came sailing through the leaves; two abreast;
borne on men's shoulders; in each a chief, carried along to the
measured march of his bearers; paddle blades reversed under arms. As
they emerged, the multitude made gestures of homage. At the distance
of some eight or ten paces the procession halted; when the kings
alighted to the ground.

They were fine-looking men, arrayed in various garbs. Rare the show
of stained feathers, and jewels, and other adornments. Brave the
floating of dyed mantles.

The regal bearing of these personages, the deference paid them, and
their entire self-possession, not a little surprised me. And it
seemed preposterous, to assume a divine dignity in the presence of
these undoubted potentates of _terra firma_. Taji seemed oozing from
my fingers' ends. But courage! and erecting my crest, I strove to
look every inch the character I had determined to assume.

For a time, it was almost impossible to tell with what emotions
precisely the chiefs were regarding me. They said not a word.

But plucking up heart of grace, I crossed my cutlass on my chest, and
reposing my hand on the hilt, addressed their High Mightinesses thus.
"Men of Mardi, I come from the sun. When this morning it rose and
touched the wave, I pushed my shallop from its golden beach, and
hither sailed before its level rays. I am Taji."

More would have been added, but I paused for the effect of my
exordium.

Stepping back a pace or two, the chiefs eagerly conversed.

Emboldened, I returned to the charge, and labored hard to impress
them with just such impressions of me and mine, as I deemed
desirable. The gentle Yillah was a seraph from the sun; Samoa I had
picked off a reef in my route from that orb; and as for the Skyeman,
why, as his name imported, he came from above. In a word, we were all
strolling divinities.

Advancing toward the Chamois, one of the kings, a calm old man, now
addressed me as follows:--"Is this indeed Taji? he, who according to
a tradition, was to return to us after five thousand moons? But that
period is yet unexpired. What bring'st thou hither then, Taji, before
thy time? Thou wast but a quarrelsome demi-god, say the legends, when
thou dwelt among our sires. But wherefore comest thou, Taji? Truly,
thou wilt interfere with the worship of thy images, and we have
plenty of gods besides thee. But comest thou to fight?--We have
plenty of spears, and desire not thine. Comest thou to dwell?--Small
are the houses of Mardi. Or comest thou to fish in the sea? Tell us,
Taji."

Now, all this was a series of posers hard to be answered; furnishing
a curious example, moreover, of the reception given to strange demi-
gods when they travel without their portmanteaus; and also of the
familiar manner in which these kings address the immortals. Much I
mourned that I had not previously studied better my part, and learned
the precise nature of my previous existence in the land.

But nothing like carrying it bravely.

"Attend. Taji comes, old man, because it pleases him to come. And
Taji will depart when it suits him. Ask the shades of your sires
whether Taji thus scurvily greeted them, when they came stalking into
his presence in the land of spirits. No. Taji spread the banquet. He
removed their mantles. He kindled a fire to drive away the damp. He
said not, 'Come you to fight, you fogs and vapors? come you to dwell?
or come you to fish in the sea?' Go to, then, kings of Mardi!"

Upon this, the old king fell back; and his place was supplied by a
noble chief, of a free, frank bearing. Advancing quickly toward the
boat, he exclaimed--"I am Media, the son of Media. Thrice welcome,
Taji. On my island of Odo hast thou an altar. I claim thee for my
guest." He then reminded the rest, that the strangers had voyaged
far, and needed repose. And, furthermore, that he proposed escorting
them forthwith to his own dominions; where, next day, he would be
happy to welcome all visitants.

And good as his word, he commanded his followers to range themselves
under the Chamois. Springing out of our prow, the Upoluan was
followed by Jarl; leaving Yillah and Taji to be borne therein toward
the sea.

Soon, we were once more afloat; by our side, Media sociably seated;
six of his paddlers, perched upon the gunwale, swiftly urging us over
the lagoon.

The transition from the grove to the sea was instantaneous. All
seemed a dream.

The place to which we were hastening, being some distance away, as we
rounded isle after isle, the extent of the Archipelago grew upon us
greatly.



CHAPTER LV
Tiffin In A Temple


Upon at last drawing nigh to Odo, its appearance somewhat
disappointed me. A small island, of moderate elevation.

But plumb not the height of the house that feasts you. The beach was
lined with expectant natives, who, lifting the Chamois, carried us up
the beach.

Alighting, as they were bearing us along, King Media, designating a
canoe-house hard by, ordered our craft to be deposited therein. This
being done, we stepped upon the soil. It was the first we had pressed
in very many days. It sent a sympathetic thrill through our frames.

Turning his steps inland, Media signed us to follow.

Soon we came to a rude sort of inclosure, fenced in by an imposing
wall. Here a halt was sounded, and in great haste the natives
proceeded to throw down a portion of the stones. This accomplished,
we were signed to enter the fortress thus carried by storm. Upon an
artificial mound, opposite the breach, stood a small structure of
bamboo, open in front. Within, was a long pedestal, like a settee,
supporting three images, also of wood, and about the size of men;
bearing, likewise, a remote resemblance to that species of animated
nature. Before these idols was an altar, and at its base many fine
mats.

Entering the temple, as if he felt very much at home, Media disposed
these mats so as to form a very pleasant lounge; where he
deferentially entreated Yillah to recline. Then deliberately removing
the first idol, he motioned me to seat myself in its place.
Setting aside the middle one, he quietly established himself in its
stead. The displaced ciphers, meanwhile, standing upright before us,
and their blank faces looking upon this occasion unusually
expressive. As yet, not a syllable as to the meaning of this cavalier
treatment of their wooden godships.

We now tranquilly awaited what next might happen, and I earnestly
prayed, that if sacrilege was being committed, the vengeance of the
gods might be averted from an ignoramus like me; notwithstanding the
petitioner himself hailed from the other world. Perfect silence was
preserved: Jarl and Samoa standing a little without the temple; the
first looking quite composed, but his comrade casting wondering
glances at my sociable apotheosis with Media.

Now happening to glance upon the image last removed, I was not long
in detecting a certain resemblance between it and our host. Both were
decorated in the same manner; the carving on the idol exactly
corresponding with the tattooing of the king.

Presently, the silence was relieved by a commotion without: and a
butler approached, staggering under an immense wooden trencher;
which, with profound genuflexions, he deposited upon the altar before
us. The tray was loaded like any harvest wain; heaped up with good
things sundry and divers: Bread-fruit, and cocoanuts, and plantains,
and guavas; all pleasant to the eye, and furnishing good earnest of
something equally pleasant to the palate.

Transported at the sight of these viands, after so long an
estrangement from full indulgence in things green, I was forthwith
proceeding to help Yillah and myself, when, like lightning, a most
unwelcome query obtruded. Did deities dine? Then also recurred what
Media had declared about my shrine in Odo. Was this it? Self-
sacrilegious demigod that I was, was I going to gluttonize on the
very offerings, laid before me in my own sacred fane? Give heed to
thy ways, oh Taji, lest thou stumble and be lost.

But hereupon, what saw we, but his cool majesty of Odo tranquilly
proceeding to lunch in the temple?

How now? Was Media too a god? Egad, it must be so. Else, why his
image here in the fane, and the original so entirely at his ease,
with legs full cosily tucked away under the very altar itself. This
put to flight all appalling apprehensions of the necessity of
starving to keep up the assumption of my divinity. So without more
ado I helped myself right and left; taking the best care of Yillah;
who over fed her flushed beauty with juicy fruits, thereby
transferring to her cheek the sweet glow of the guava.

Our hunger appeased, and Media in token thereof celestially laying
his hand upon the appropriate region, we proceeded to quit the
inclosure. But coming to the wall where the breach had been made, lo,
and behold, no breach was to be seen. But down it came tumbling
again, and forth we issued.

This overthrowing of walls, be it known, is an incidental compliment
paid distinguished personages in this part of Mardi. It would seem to
signify, that such gentry can go nowhere without creating an
impression; even upon the most obdurate substances.

But to return to our ambrosial lunch.

Sublimate, as you will, the idea of our ethereality as intellectual
beings; no sensible man can harbor a doubt, but that there is a vast
deal of satisfaction in dining. More: there is a savor of life and
immortality in substantial fare. Like balloons, we are nothing till
filled.

And well knowing this, nature has provided this jolly round board,
our globe, which in an endless sequence of courses and crops, spreads
a perpetual feast. Though, as with most public banquets, there is no
small crowding, and many go away famished from plenty.



CHAPTER LVI
King Media A Host


Striking into a grove, about sunset we emerged upon a fine, clear
space, and spied a city in the woods.

In the middle of all, like a generalissimo's marquee among tents, was
a structure more imposing than the rest. Here, abode King Media.

Disposed round a space some fifty yards square, were many palm posts
staked firmly in the earth. A man's height from the ground, these
supported numerous horizontal trunks, upon which lay a flooring of
habiscus. High over this dais, but resting upon independent supports
beyond, a gable-ended roof sloped away to within a short distance of
the ground.

Such was the palace.

We entered it by an arched, arbored entrance, at one of its palmetto-
thatched ends. But not through this exclusive portal entered the
Islanders. Humbly stooping, they found ingress under the drooping
eaves. A custom immemorial, and well calculated to remind all
contumacious subjects of the dignity of the habitation thus entered.

Three steps led to the summit of the dais, where piles of soft mats,
and light pillows of woven grass, stuffed with the golden down of a
wild thistle, invited all loiterers to lounge.

How pleasant the twilight that welled up from under the low eaves,
above which we were seated. And how obvious now the design of the
roof. No shade more grateful and complete; the garish sun lingering
without like some lackey in waiting.

But who is this in the corner, gaping at us like a butler in a
quandary? Media's household deity, in the guise of a plethoric
monster, his enormous head lolling back, and wide, gaping mouth
stuffed full of fresh fruits and green leaves. Truly, had the idol
possessed a soul under his knotty ribs, how tantalizing to hold so
glorious a mouthful without the power of deglutition. Far worse than
the inexorable lock-jaw, which will not admit of the step preliminary
to a swallow.

This jolly Josh image was that of an inferior deity, the god of Good
Cheer, and often after, we met with his merry round mouth in many
other abodes in Mardi. Daily, his jaws are replenished, as a flower
vase in summer.

But did the demi-divine Media thus brook the perpetual presence of a
subaltern divinity? Still more; did he render it homage? But ere long
the Mardian mythology will be discussed, thereby making plain what
may now seem anomalous.

Politely escorting us into his palace, Media did the honors by
inviting his guests to recline. He then seemed very anxious to
impress us with the fact, that, by bringing us to his home, and
thereby charging the royal larder with our maintenance, he had taken
no hasty or imprudent step. His merry butlers kept piling round us
viands, till we were well nigh walled in. At every fresh deposit,
Media directing our attention to the same, as yet additional evidence
of his ample resources as a host. The evidence was finally closed by
dragging under the eaves a felled plantain tree, the spike of red
ripe fruit, sprouting therefrom, blushing all over, at so rude an
introduction to the notice of strangers.

During this scene, Jarl was privily nudging Samoa, in wonderment, to
know what upon earth it all meant. But Samoa, scarcely deigning to
notice interrogatories propounded through the elbow, only let drop a
vague hint or two.

It was quite amusing, what airs Samoa now gave himself, at least
toward my Viking. Among the Mardians he was at home. And who,
when there, stretches not out his legs, and says unto himself, "Who
is greater than I?"

To be plain: concerning himself and the Skyeman, the tables were
turned. At sea, Jarl had been the oracle: an old sea-sage, learned in
hemp and helm. But our craft high and dry, the Upoluan lifted his
crest as the erudite pagan; master of Gog and Magog, expounder of all
things heathenish and obscure.

An hour or two was now laughed away in very charming conversation
with Media; when I hinted, that a couch and solitude would be
acceptable. Whereupon, seizing a taper, our host escorted us without
the palace. And ushering us into a handsome unoccupied mansion, gave
me to understand that the same was mine. Mounting to the dais, he
then instituted a vigorous investigation, to discern whether every
thing was in order. Not fancying something about the mats, he rolled
them up into bundles, and one by one sent them flying at the heads of
his servitors; who, upon that gentle hint made off with them, soon
after returning with fresh ones. These, with mathematical precision,
Media in person now spread on the dais; looking carefully to the
fringes or ruffles with which they were bordered, as if striving to
impart to them a sentimental expression.

This done, he withdrew.



CHAPTER LVII
Taji Takes Counsel With Himself


My brief intercourse with our host, had by this time enabled me to
form a pretty good notion of the light, in which I was held by him
and his more intelligent subjects.

His free and easy carriage evinced, that though acknowledging my
assumptions, he was no way overawed by them; treating me as
familiarly, indeed, as if I were a mere mortal, one of the abject
generation of mushrooms.

The scene in the temple, however, had done much toward explaining
this demeanor of his. A demi-god in his own proper person, my claims
to a similar dignity neither struck him with wonder, nor lessened his
good opinion of himself.

As for any thing foreign in my aspect, and my ignorance of Mardian
customs---all this, instead of begetting a doubt unfavorable to my
pretensions, but strengthened the conviction of them as verities.
Thus has it been in similar instances; but to a much greater extent.
The celebrated navigator referred to in a preceding chapter, was
hailed by the Hawaiians as one of their demi-gods, returned to earth,
after a wide tour of the universe. And they worshiped him as such,
though incessantly he was interrogating them, as to who under the sun
his worshipers were; how their ancestors came on the island; and
whether they would have the kindness to provide his followers with
plenty of pork during his stay.

But a word or two concerning the idols in the shrine at Odo. Superadded
to the homage rendered him as a temporal prince, Media was there
worshiped as a spiritual being. In his corporeal absence, his effigy
receiving all oblations intended for him. And in the days of his
boyhood, listening to the old legends of the Mardian mythology,
Media had conceived a strong liking for the fabulous Taji; a deity
whom he had often declared was worthy a niche in any temple extant.
Hence he had honored my image with a place in his own special shrine;
placing it side by side with his worshipful likeness.

I appreciated the compliment. But of the close companionship of the
other image there, I was heartily ashamed. And with reason. The
nuisance in question being the image of a deified maker of plantain-
pudding, lately deceased; who had been famed far and wide as the most
notable fellow of his profession in the whole Archipelago. During his
sublunary career, having been attached to the household of Media, his
grateful master had afterward seen fit to crown his celebrity by this
posthumous distinction: a circumstance sadly subtracting from the
dignity of an apotheosis. Nor must it here be omitted, that in this
part of Mardi culinary artists are accounted worthy of high
consideration. For among these people of Odo, the matter of eating
and drinking is held a matter of life and of death. "Drag away my
queen from my arms," said old Tyty when overcome of Adommo, "but
leave me my cook."

Now, among the Mardians there were plenty of incarnated deities to
keep me in countenance. Most of the kings of the Archipelago, besides
Media, claiming homage as demi-gods; and that, too, by virtue of
hereditary descent, the divine spark being transmissable from father
to son. In illustration of this, was the fact, that in several
instances the people of the land addressed the supreme god Oro, in
the very same terms employed in the political adoration of their
sublunary rulers.

Ay: there were deities in Mardi far greater and taller than I:
right royal monarchs to boot, living in jolly round tabernacles of
jolly brown clay; and feasting, and roystering, and lording it in
yellow tabernacles of bamboo. These demi-gods had wherewithal to
sustain their lofty pretensions. If need were, could crush out of him
the infidelity of a non-conformist. And by this immaculate union of
church and state, god and king, in their own proper persons reigned
supreme Caesars over the souls and bodies of their subjects.

Beside these mighty magnates, I and my divinity shrank into nothing.
In their woodland ante-chambers plebeian deities were kept lingering.
For be it known, that in due time we met with several decayed, broken
down demi-gods: magnificos of no mark in Mardi; having no temples
wherein to feast personal admirers, or spiritual devotees. They
wandered about forlorn and friendless. And oftentimes in their
dinnerless despair hugely gluttonized, and would fain have grown fat,
by reflecting upon the magnificence of their genealogies. But poor
fellows! like shabby Scotch lords in London in King James's time, the
very multitude of them confounded distinction. And since they could
show no rent-roll, they were permitted to fume unheeded.

Upon the whole, so numerous were living and breathing gods in Mardi,
that I held my divinity but cheaply. And seeing such a host of
immortals, and hearing of multitudes more, purely spiritual in their
nature, haunting woodlands and streams; my views of theology grew
strangely confused; I began to bethink me of the Jew that rejected
the Talmud, and his all-permeating principle, to which Goethe and
others have subscribed.

Instead, then, of being struck with the audacity of endeavoring to
palm myself off as a god--the way in which the thing first impressed
me--I now perceived that I might be a god as much as I pleased, and
yet not whisk a lion's tail after all at least on that special
account.

As for Media's reception, its graciousness was not wholly
owing to the divine character imputed to me. His, he believed to be
the same. But to a whim, a freakishness in his soul, which led him to
fancy me as one among many, not as one with no peer.

But the apparent unconcern of King Media with respect to my godship,
by no means so much surprised me, as his unaffected indifference to
my amazing voyage from the sun; his indifference to the sun itself;
and all the wonderful circumstances that must have attended my
departure. Whether he had ever been there himself, that he regarded a
solar trip with so much unconcern, almost became a question in my
mind. Certain it is, that as a mere traveler he must have deemed me
no very great prodigy.

My surprise at these things was enhanced by reflecting, that to the
people of the Archipelago the map of Mardi was the map of the world.
With the exception of certain islands out of sight and at an
indefinite distance, they had no certain knowledge of any isles but
their own.

And, no long time elapsed ere I had still additional reasons to cease
wondering at the easy faith accorded to the story which I had given
of myself. For these Mardians were familiar with still greater
marvels than mine; verily believing in prodigies of all sorts. Any
one of them put my exploits to the blush.

Look to thy ways then, Taji, thought I, and carry not thy crest too
high. Of a surety, thou hast more peers than inferiors. Thou art
overtopped all round. Bear thyself discreetly and not haughtily,
Taji. It will not answer to give thyself airs. Abstain from all
consequential allusions to the other world, and the genteel deities
among whom thou hast circled. Sport not too jauntily thy raiment,
because it is novel in Mardi; nor boast of the fleetness of thy
Chamois, because it is unlike a canoe. Vaunt not of thy pedigree,
Taji; for Media himself will measure it with thee there by the
furlong. Be not a "snob," Taji.

So then, weighing all things well, and myself severely, I
resolved to follow my Mentor's wise counsel; neither arrogating
aught, nor abating of just dues; but circulating freely, sociably,
and frankly, among the gods, heroes, high_ priests, kings, and
gentlemen, that made up the principalities of Mardi.



CHAPTER LVIII
Mardi By Night And Yillah By Day


During the night following our arrival, many dreams were no doubt
dreamt in Odo. But my thoughts were wakeful. And while all others
slept, obeying a restless impulse, I stole without into the magical
starlight. There are those who in a strange land ever love to view it
by night.

It has been said, that the opening in the groves where was situated
Media's city, was elevated above the surrounding plains. Hence was
commanded a broad reach of prospect.

Far and wide was deep low-sobbing repose of man and nature. The
groves were motionless; and in the meadows, like goblins, the shadows
advanced and retreated. Full before me, lay the Mardian fleet of
isles, profoundly at anchor  within their coral harbor. Near by was
one belted round by a frothy luminous reef, wherein it lay, like
Saturn in its ring.

From all their summits, went up a milk-white smoke, as from Indian
wigwams in the hazy harvest-moon.  And floating away, these vapors
blended with the faint mist, as of a cataract, hovering over the
circumvallating reef. Far beyond all, and far into the infinite
night, surged the jet-black ocean.

But how tranquil the wide lagoon, which mirrored the burning spots in
heaven! Deep down into its innermost heart penetrated the slanting
rays of Hesperus like a shaft of light, sunk far into mysterious
Golcondas, where myriad gnomes seemed toiling. Soon a light
breeze rippled the water, and the shaft was seen no more. But the
moon's bright wake was still revealed: a silver track, tipping every
wave-crest in its course, till each seemed a pearly, scroll-prowed
nautilus, buoyant with some elfin crew.

From earth to heaven! High above me was Night's shadowy bower,
traversed, vine-like, by the Milky Way, and heavy with golden
clusterings. Oh stars! oh eyes, that see me, wheresoe'er I roam:
serene, intent, inscrutable for aye, tell me Sybils, what I am.--
Wondrous worlds on worlds! Lo, round and round me, shining, awful
spells: all glorious, vivid constellations, God's diadem ye are! To
you, ye stars, man owes his subtlest raptures, thoughts unspeakable,
yet full of faith.

But how your mild effulgence stings the boding heart. Am I a
murderer, stars?

Hours pass. The starry trance is departed. Long waited for, the dawn
now comes.

First, breaking along the waking face; peeping from out the languid
lids; then shining forth in longer glances; till, like the sun, up
comes the soul, and sheds its rays abroad.

When thus my Yillah did daily dawn, how she lit up my world; tinging
more rosily the roseate clouds, that in her summer cheek played to
and fro, like clouds in Italian air.



CHAPTER LIX
Their Morning Meal


Not wholly is our world made up of bright stars and bright eyes: so
now to our story.

A conscientious host should ever be up betimes, to look after the
welfare of his guests, and see to it that their day begin
auspiciously. King Media announced the advent of the sun, by rustling
at my bower's eaves in person.

A repast was spread in an adjoining arbor, which Media's pages had
smoothed for our reception, and where his subordinate chiefs were in
attendance. Here we reclined upon mats. Balmy and fresh blew the
breath of the morning; golden vapors were upon the mountains, silver
sheen upon the grass; and the birds were at matins in the groves;
their bright plumage flashing into view, here and there, as if some
rainbow were crouching in the foliage.

Spread before us were viands, served in quaint-shaped, curiously-dyed
gourds, not Sevres, but almost as tasteful; and like true porcelain,
fire had tempered them. Green and yielding, they are plucked from the
tree; and emptied of their pulp, are scratched over with minute
marks, like those of a line engraving. The ground prepared, the
various figures are carefully etched. And the outlines filled up with
delicate punctures, certain vegetable oils are poured over them, for
coloring. Filled with a peculiar species of earth, the gourd is now
placed in an oven in the ground. And in due time exhumed, emptied of
its contents, and washed in the stream, it presents a deep-dyed
exterior; every figure distinctly traced and opaque, but the
ground semi-transparent. In some cases, owing to the variety of dyes
employed, each figure is of a different hue.

More glorious goblets than these for the drinking of wine, went never
from hand to mouth. Capacious as pitchers, they almost superseded
decanters.

Now, in a tropical climate, fruit, with light wines, forms the only
fit meal of a morning. And with orchards and vineyards forever in
sight, who but the Hetman of the Cossacs would desire more? We had
plenty of the juice of the grape. But of this hereafter; there are
some fine old cellars, and plenty of good cheer in store.

During the repast, Media, for a time, was much taken up with our
raiment. He begged me to examine for a moment the texture of his
right royal robe, and observe how much superior it was to my own. It
put my mantle to the blush; being tastefully stained with rare
devices in red and black; and bordered with dyed fringes of feathers,
and tassels of red birds' claws.

Next came under observation the Skyeman's Guayaquil hat; at whose
preposterous shape, our host laughed in derision; clapping a great
conical calabash upon the head of an attendant, and saying that now
he was Jarl. At this, and all similar sallies, Samoa was sure to roar
louder than any; though mirth was no constitutional thing with him.
But he seemed rejoiced at the opportunity of turning upon us the
ridicule, which as a barbarian among whites, he himself had so often
experienced.

These pleasantries over, King Media very slightly drew himself up, as
if to make amends for his previous unbending. He discoursed
imperially with his chiefs; nodded his sovereign will to his pages;
called for another gourd of wine; in all respects carrying his
royalty bravely.

The repast concluded, we journeyed to the canoe-house, where we found
the little Chamois stabled like a steed. One solitary depredation had
been committed. Its sides and bottom had been completely
denuded of the minute green barnacles, and short sea-grass, which,
like so many leeches, had fastened to our planks during our long,
lazy voyage.

By the people they had been devoured as dainties.



CHAPTER LX
Belshazzar On The Bench


Now, Media was king of Odo. And from the simplicity of his manners
hitherto, and his easy, frank demeanor toward ourselves, had we
foolishly doubted that fact, no skepticism could have survived an
illustration of it, which this very day we witnessed at noon.

For at high noon, Media was wont to don his dignity with his symbols
of state; and sit on his judgment divan or throne, to hear and try
all causes brought before him, and fulminate his royal decrees.

This divan was elevated at one end of a spacious arbor, formed by an
avenue of regal palms, which in brave state, held aloft their
majestical canopy.

The crown of the island prince was of the primitive old Eastern
style; in shape, similar, perhaps, to that jauntily sported as a
foraging cap by his sacred majesty King Nimrod, who so lustily
followed the hounds. It was a plaited turban of red tappa, radiated
by the pointed and polished white bones of the Ray-fish. These
diverged from a bandeau or fillet of the most precious pearls;
brought up from the sea by the deepest diving mermen of Mardi. From
the middle of the crown rose a tri-foiled spear-head. And a spear-
headed scepter graced the right hand of the king.

Now, for all the rant of your democrats, a fine king on a throne is a
very fine sight to behold. He looks very much like a god. No wonder
that his more dutiful subjects so swore, that their good lord and
master King Media was demi-divine.

A king on his throne! Ah, believe me, ye Gracchi, ye Acephali, ye
Levelers, it is something worth seeing, be sure; whether beheld at
Babylon the Tremendous, when Nebuchadnezzar was crowned; at old Scone
in the days of Macbeth; at Rheims, among Oriflammes, at the
coronation of Louis le Grand; at Westminster Abbey, when the
gentlemanly George doffed his beaver for a diadem; or under the soft
shade of palm trees on an isle in the sea.

Man lording it over man, man kneeling to man, is a spectacle that
Gabriel might well travel hitherward to behold; for never did he
behold it in heaven. But Darius giving laws to the Medes and the
Persians, or the conqueror of Bactria with king-cattle yoked to his
car, was not a whit more sublime, than Beau Brummel magnificently
ringing for his valet.

A king on his throne! It is Jupiter nodding in the councils of
Olympus; Satan, seen among the coronets in Hell.

A king on his throne! It is the sun over a mountain; the sun over
law-giving Sinai; the sun in our system: planets, duke-like, dancing
attendance, and baronial satellites in waiting.

A king on his throne! After all, but a gentleman seated. And thus sat
the good lord, King Media.

Time passed. And after trying and dismissing several minor affairs,
Media called for certain witnesses to testify concerning one Jiromo,
a foolhardy wight, who had been silly enough to plot against the
majesty now sitting judge and jury upon him.

His guilt was clear. And the witnesses being heard, from a bunch of
palm plumes Media taking a leaf, placed it in the hand of a runner or
pursuivant, saying, "This to Jiromo, where he is prisoned; with his
king's compliments; say we here wait for his head."

It was doffed like a turban before a Dey, and brought back on the
instant.

Now came certain lean-visaged, poverty-stricken, and hence
suspicious-looking varlets, grumbling and growling, and amiable as
Bruin. They came muttering some wild jargon about "bulwarks,"
"bulkheads," "cofferdams," "safeguards," "noble charters," "shields,"
and "paladiums," "great and glorious birthrights," and other
unintelligible gibberish.

Of the pursuivants, these worthies asked audience of Media.

"Go, kneel at the throne," was the answer.

"Our knee-pans are stiff with sciatics," was the rheumatic reply.

"An artifice to keep on your legs," said the pursuivants.

And advancing they salamed, and told Media the excuse of those sour-
looking varlets. Whereupon my lord commanded them to down on their
marrow-bones instanter, either before him or the headsman,
whichsoever they pleased.

They preferred the former. And as they there kneeled, in vain did men
with sharp ears (who abound in all courts) prick their auriculars, to
list to that strange crackling and firing off of bone balls and
sockets, ever incident to the genuflections of rheumatic courtiers.

In a row, then, these selfsame knee-pans did kneel before the king;
who eyed them as eagles in air do goslings on dunghills; or hunters,
hounds crouching round their calves.

"Your prayer?" said Media.

It was a petition, that thereafter all differences between man and
man in Ode, together with all alleged offenses against the state,
might be tried by twelve good men and true. These twelve to be
unobnoxious to the party or parties concerned; their peers; and
previously unbiased touching the matter at issue. Furthermore, that
unanimity in these twelve should be indispensable to a verdict; and
no dinner be vouchsafed till unanimity came.

Loud and long laughed King Media in scorn.

"This be your judge," he cried, swaying his scepter. "What! are
twelve wise men more wise than one? or will twelve fools, put
together, make one sage? Are twelve honest men more honest than one?
or twelve knaves less knavish than one? And if, of twelve men, three
be fools, and three wise, three knaves, and three upright, how obtain
real unanimity from such?

"But if twelve judges be better than one, then are twelve hundred
better than twelve. But take the whole populace for a judge, and you
will long wait for a unanimous verdict.

"If upon a thing dubious, there be little unanimity in the
conflicting opinions of one man's mind, how expect it in the uproar
of twelve puzzled brains? though much unanimity be found in twelve
hungry stomachs.

"Judges unobnoxious to the accused! Apply it to a criminal case. Ha!
ha! if peradventure a Cacti be rejected, because he had seen the
accused commit the crime for which he is arraigned. Then, his mind
would be biased: no impartiality from him! Or your testy accused
might object to another, because of his tomahawk nose, or a cruel
squint of the eye.

"Of all follies the most foolish! Know ye from me, that true peers
render not true verdicts. Jiromo was a rebel. Had I tried him by his
peers, I had tried him by rebels; and the rebel had rebelled to some
purpose.

"Away! As unerring justice dwells in a unity, and as one judge will
at last judge the world beyond all appeal; so--though often here
below justice be hard to attain--does man come nearest the mark, when
he imitates that model divine. Hence, one judge is better than
twelve."

"And as Justice, in ideal, is ever painted high lifted above the
crowd; so, from the exaltation of his rank, an honest king is the
best of those unical judges, which individually are better than
twelve. And therefore am I, King Media, the best judge in this land."

"Subjects! so long as I live, I will rule you and judge you alone.
And though you here kneeled before me till you grew into the ground,
and there took root, no yea to your petition will you get from this
throne. I am king: ye are slaves. Mine to command: yours to obey. And
this hour I decree, that henceforth no gibberish of bulwarks and
bulkheads be heard in this land. For a dead bulwark and a bulkhead,
to dam off sedition, will I make of that man, who again but breathes
those bulky words. Ho! spears! see that these knee-pans here kneel
till set of sun."

High noon was now passed; and removing his crown, and placing it on
the dais for the kneelers to look at during their devotions, King
Media departed from that place, and once more played the agreeable
host.



CHAPTER LXI
An Incognito


For the rest of that day, and several that followed, we were
continually receiving visits from the neighboring islands; whose
inhabitants in fleets and flotillas flocked round Odo to behold the
guests of its lord. Among them came many messengers from the
neighboring kings with soft speeches and gifts.

But it were needless to detail our various interviews, or relate in
what manifold ways, the royal strangers gave token of their interest
concerning us.

Upon the third day, however, there was noticed a mysterious figure,
like the inscrutable incognitos sometimes encountered, crossing the
tower-shadowed Plaza of Assignations at Lima. It was enveloped in a
dark robe of tappa, so drawn and plaited about the limbs; and with
one hand, so wimpled about the face, as only to expose a solitary
eye. But that eye was a world. Now it was fixed upon Yillah with a
sinister glance, and now upon me, but with a different expression.
However great the crowd, however tumultuous, that fathomless eye
gazed on; till at last it seemed no eye, but a spirit, forever prying
into my soul. Often I strove to approach it, but it would evade me,
soon reappearing.

Pointing out the apparition to Media, I intreated him to take means
to fix it, that my suspicions might be dispelled, as to its being
incorporeal. He replied that, by courtesy, incognitos were sacred.
Insomuch that the close-plaited robe and the wimple were secure as a
castle. At last, to my relief, the phantom disappeared, and was seen
no more.

Numerous and fervent the invitations received to return the calls
wherewith we were honored. But for the present we declined them;
preferring to establish ourselves firmly in the heart of Media, ere
encountering the vicissitudes of roaming. In a multitude of
acquaintances is less security, than in one faithful friend.

Now, while these civilities were being received, and on the fourth
morning after our arrival, there landed on the beach three black-eyed
damsels, deep brunettes, habited in long variegated robes, and with
gay blossoms on their heads.

With many salams, the strangers were ushered into my presence by an
old white-haired servitor of Media's, who with a parting conge
murmured, "From Queen Hautia," then departed. Surprised, I stood
mute, and welcomed them.

The first, with many smiles and blandishments, waved before me a
many-tinted Iris: the flag-flower streaming with pennons. Advancing,
the second then presented three rose-hued purple-veined Circea
flowers, the dew still clinging to them. The third placed in my hand
a moss-rose bud; then, a Venus-car.

"Thanks for your favors! now your message."

Starting at this reception, graciously intended, they conferred a
moment; when the Iris-bearer said in winning phrase, "We come from
Hautia, whose moss-rose you hold."

"All thanks to Hautia then; the bud is very fragrant."

Then she pointed to the Venus-car.

"This too is sweet; thanks to Hautia for her flowers. Pray, bring me
more."

"He mocks our mistress," and gliding from me, they waved witch-
hazels, leaving me alone and wondering.

Informing Media of this scene, he smiled; threw out queer hints of
Hautia; but knew not what her message meant.

At first this affair occasioned me no little uneasiness, with much
matter for marveling; but in the novel pleasure of our sojourn in
Odo, it soon slipped from my mind; nor for some time, did I again
hear aught of Queen Hautia.



CHAPTER LXII
Taji Retires From The World


After a while, when the strangers came not in shoals as before, I
proposed to our host, a stroll over his dominions; desirous of
beholding the same, and secretly induced by the hope of selecting an
abode, more agreeable to my fastidious taste, than the one already
assigned me.

The ramble over--a pleasant one it was--it resulted in a
determination on my part to quit Odo. Yet not to go very far; only
ten or twelve yards, to a little green tuft of an islet; one of many,
which here and there, all round the island, nestled like birds' nests
in the branching boughs of the coral grove, whose roots laid hold of
the foundations of the deep. Between these islets and the shore,
extended shelving ledges, with shallows above, just sufficient to
float a canoe. One of these islets was wooded and wined; an arbor in
the sea. And here, Media permitting, I decided to dwell.

Not long was Media in complying; nor long, ere my retreat was in
readiness. Laced together, the twisting boughs were closely thatched.
And thatched were the sides also, with deep crimson pandannus leaves;
whose long, forked spears, lifted by the breeze, caused the whole
place to blaze, as with flames. Canes, laid on palm trunks, formed
the floor. How elastic! In vogue all over Odo, among the chiefs, it
imparted such a buoyancy to the person, that to this special cause
may be imputed in good part the famous fine spirits of the nobles.

Hypochondriac! essay the elastic flooring! It shall so
pleasantly and gently jolt thee, as to shake up, and pack off the
stagnant humors mantling thy pool-like soul.

Such was my dwelling. But I make no mention of sundry little
appurtenances of tropical housekeeping: calabashes, cocoanut shells,
and rolls of fine tappa; till with Yillah seated at last in my arbor,
I looked round, and wanted for naught.

But what of Jarl and Samoa? Why Jarl must needs be fanciful, as well
as myself. Like a bachelor in chambers, he settled down right
opposite to me, on the main land, in a little wigwam in the grove.

But Samoa, following not his comrade's example, still tarried in the
camp of the Hittites and Jebusites of Odo. Beguiling men of their
leisure by his marvelous stories: and maidens of their hearts by his
marvelous wiles.

When I chose, I was completely undisturbed in my arbor; an ukase of
Media's forbidding indiscriminate intrusion. But thrice in the day
came a garrulous old man with my viands.

Thus sequestered, however, I could not entirely elude the pryings of
the people of the neighboring islands; who often passed by, slowly
paddling, and earnestly regarding my retreat. But gliding along at a
distance, and never essaying a landing, their occasional vicinity
troubled me but little. But now and then of an evening, when thick
and fleet the shadows were falling, dim glimpses of a canoe would be
spied; hovering about the place like a ghost. And once, in the
stillness of the night, hearing the near ripple of a prow, I sallied
forth, but the phantom quickly departed.

That night, Yillah shuddered as she slept. "The whirl-pool," she
murmured, "sweet mosses." Next day she was lost in reveries, plucking
pensive hyacinths, or gazing intently into the lagoon.



CHAPTER LXIII
Odo And Its Lord


Time now to enter upon some further description of the island and its
lord.

And first for Media: a gallant gentleman and king. From a goodly
stock he came. In his endless pedigree, reckoning deities by
decimals, innumerable kings, and scores of great heroes, chiefs, and
priests. Nor in person, did he belie his origin. No far-descended
dwarf was he, the least of a receding race. He stood like a palm
tree; about whose acanthus capital droops not more gracefully the
silken fringes, than Media's locks upon his noble brow. Strong was
his arm to wield the club, or hurl the javelin; and potent, I ween,
round a maiden's waist.

Thus much here for Media. Now comes his isle.

Our pleasant ramble found it a little round world by itself; full of
beauties as a garden; chequered by charming groves; watered by roving
brooks; and fringed all round by a border of palm trees, whose roots
drew nourishment from the water. But though abounding in other
quarters of the Archipelago, not a solitary bread-fruit grew in Odo.
A noteworthy circumstance, observable in these regions, where islands
close adjoining, so differ in their soil, that certain fruits growing
genially in one, are foreign to another. But Odo was famed for its
guavas, whose flavor was likened to the flavor of new-blown lips; and
for its grapes, whose juices prompted many a laugh and many a groan.

Beside the city where Media dwelt, there were few other
clusters of habitations in Odo. The higher classes living, here and
there, in separate households; but not as eremites. Some buried
themselves in the cool, quivering bosoms of the groves. Others,
fancying a marine vicinity, dwelt hard by the beach in little cages
of bamboo; whence of mornings they sallied out with jocund cries, and
went plunging into the refreshing bath, whose frothy margin was the
threshold of their dwellings. Others still, like birds, built their
nests among the sylvan nooks of the elevated interior; whence all
below, and hazy green, lay steeped in languor the island's throbbing
heart.

Thus dwelt the chiefs and merry men of mark. The common sort,
including serfs, and Helots, war-captives held in bondage, lived in
secret places, hard to find. Whence it came, that, to a stranger, the
whole isle looked care-free and beautiful. Deep among the ravines and
the rocks, these beings lived in noisome caves, lairs for beasts, not
human homes; or built them coops of rotten boughs--living trees were
banned them--whose mouldy hearts hatched vermin. Fearing infection of
some plague, born of this filth, the chiefs of Odo seldom passed that
way and looking round within their green retreats, and pouring out
their wine, and plucking from orchards of the best, marveled how
these swine could grovel in the mire, and wear such sallow cheeks.
But they offered no sweet homes; from that mire they never sought to
drag them out; they open threw no orchard; and intermitted not the
mandates that condemned their drudges to a life of deaths. Sad sight!
to see those round-shouldered Helots, stooping in their trenches:
artificial, three in number, and concentric: the isle well nigh
surrounding. And herein, fed by oozy loam, and kindly dew from
heaven, and bitter sweat from men, grew as in hot-beds the nutritious
Taro.

Toil is man's allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief
that's more than either, the grief and sin of idleness. But when man
toils and slays himself for masters who withhold the life he
gives to them--then, then, the soul screams out, and every sinew
cracks. So with these poor serfs. And few of them could choose but be
the brutes they seemed.

Now needs it to be said, that Odo was no land of pleasure unalloyed,
and plenty without a pause?--Odo, in whose lurking-places infants
turned from breasts, whence flowed no nourishment.--Odo, in whose
inmost haunts, dark groves were brooding, passing which you heard
most dismal cries, and voices cursing Media. There, men were
scourged; their crime, a heresy; the heresy, that Media was no
demigod. For this they shrieked. Their fathers shrieked before; their
fathers, who, tormented, said, "Happy we to groan, that our
children's children may be glad." But their children's children
howled. Yet these, too, echoed previous generations, and loudly
swore, "The pit that's dug for us may prove another's grave."

But let all pass. To look at, and to roam about of holidays, Odo
seemed a happy land. The palm-trees waved--though here and there you
marked one sear and palsy-smitten; the flowers bloomed--though dead
ones moldered in decay; the waves ran up the strand in glee--though,
receding, they sometimes left behind bones mixed with shells.

But else than these, no sign of death was seen throughout the isle.
Did men in Odo live for aye? Was Ponce de Leon's fountain there? For
near and far, you saw no ranks and files of graves, no generations
harvested in winrows. In Odo, no hard-hearted nabob slept beneath a
gentle epitaph; no _requiescat-in-pace_ mocked a sinner damned; no
_memento-mori_ admonished men to live while yet they might. Here
Death hid his skull; and hid it in the sea, the common sepulcher of
Odo. Not dust to dust, but dust to brine; not hearses but canoes. For
all who died upon that isle were carried out beyond the outer reef,
and there were buried with their sires' sires. Hence came the
thought, that of gusty nights, when round the isles, and  high
toward heaven, flew the white reef's rack and foam, that then and
there, kept chattering watch and ward, the myriads that were ocean-
tombed.

But why these watery obsequies?

Odo was but a little isle, and must the living make way for the dead,
and Life's small colony be dislodged by Death's grim hosts; as the
gaunt tribes of Tamerlane o'erspread the tented pastures of the Khan?

And now, what follows, said these Islanders: "Why sow corruption in
the soil which yields us life? We would not pluck our grapes from
over graves. This earth's an urn for flowers, not for ashes."

They said that Oro, the supreme, had made a cemetery of the sea.

And what more glorious grave? Was Mausolus more sublimely urned? Or
do the minster-lamps that burn before the tomb of Charlemagne, show
more of pomp, than all the stars, that blaze above the shipwrecked
mariner?

But no more of the dead; men shrug their shoulders, and love not
their company; though full soon we shall all have them for fellows.



CHAPTER LXIV
Yillah A Phantom


For a time we were happy in Odo: Yillah and I in our islet. Nor did
the pearl on her bosom glow more rosily than the roses in her cheeks;
though at intervals they waned and departed; and deadly pale was her
glance, when she murmured of the whirlpool and mosses. As pale my
soul, bethinking me of Aleema the priest.

But day by day, did her spell weave round me its magic, and all the
hidden things of her being grew more lovely and strange. Did I
commune with a spirit? Often I thought that Paradise had overtaken me
on earth, and that Yillah was verily an angel, and hence the
mysteries that hallowed her.

But how fleeting our joys. Storms follow bright dawnings.--Long
memories of short-lived scenes, sad thoughts of joyous hours--how
common are ye to all mankind. When happy, do we pause and say--"Lo,
thy felicity, my soul?" No: happiness seldom seems happiness, except
when looked back upon from woes. A flowery landscape, you must come
out of, to behold.

Sped the hours, the days, the one brief moment of our joys. Fairy
bower in the fair lagoon, scene of sylvan ease and heart's repose,--
Oh, Yillah, Yillah! All the woods repeat the sound, the wild, wild
woods of my wild soul. Yillah! Yillah! cry the small strange voices
in me, and evermore, and far and deep, they echo on.

Days passed. When one morning I found the arbor vacant. Gone! A
dream. I closed my eyes, and would have dreamed her back. In
vain. Starting, I called upon her name; but none replied. Fleeing
from the islet, I gained the neighboring shore, and searched among
the woods; and my comrades meeting, besought their aid. But idle all.
No glimpse of aught, save trees and flowers. Then Media was sought
out; the event made known; and quickly, bands were summoned to range
the isle.

Noon came; but no Yillah. When Media averred she was no longer in
Odo. Whither she was gone, or how, he knew not; nor could any
imagine.

At this juncture, there chanced to arrive certain messengers from
abroad; who, presuming that all was well with Taji, came with renewed
invitations to visit various pleasant places round about. Among
these, came Queen Hautia's heralds, with their Iris flag, once more
bringing flowers. But they came and went unheeded.

Setting out to return, these envoys were accompanied by numerous
followers of Media, dispatched to the neighboring islands, to seek
out the missing Yillah. But three days passed; and, one by one, they
all returned; and stood before me silently.

For a time I raved. Then, falling into outer repose, lived for a
space in moods and reveries, with eyes that knew no closing, one
glance forever fixed.

They strove to rouse me. Girls danced and sang; and tales of fairy
times were told; of monstrous imps, and youths enchanted; of groves
and gardens in the sea. Yet still I moved not, hearing all, yet
noting naught. Media cried, "For shame, oh Taji; thou, a god?" and
placed a spear in my nerveless hand. And Jarl loud called upon me to
awake. Samoa marveled.

Still sped the days. And at length, my memory was restored. The
thoughts of things broke over me like returning billows on a beach
long bared. A rush, a foam of recollections!--Sweet Yillah gone, and
I bereaved.

Another interval, and that mood was past. Misery became a
memory. The keen pang a deep vibration. The remembrance seemed the
thing remembered; though bowed with sadness. There are thoughts that
lie and glitter deep: tearful pearls beneath life's sea, that surges
still, and rolls sunlit, whatever it may hide. Common woes, like
fluids, mix all round. Not so with that other grief. Some mourners
load the air with lamentations; but the loudest notes are struck from
hollows. Their tears flow fast: but the deep spring only wells.

At last I turned to Media, saying I must hie from Odo, and rove
throughout all Mardi; for Yillah might yet be found.

But hereafter, in words, little more of the maiden, till perchance
her fate be learned.



CHAPTER LXV
Taji Makes Three Acquaintances


Down to this period, I had restrained Samoa from wandering to the
neighboring islands, though he had much desired it, in compliance
with the invitations continually received. But now I informed both
him, and his comrade, of the tour I purposed; desiring their company.

Upon the announcement of my intention to depart, to my no small
surprise Media also proposed to accompany me: a proposition gladly
embraced. It seems, that for some reason, he had not as yet extended
his travels to the more distant islands. Hence the voyage in prospect
was particularly agreeable to him. Nor did he forbear any pains to
insure its prosperity; assuring me, furthermore, that its object must
eventually be crowned with success. "I myself am interested in this
pursuit," said he; "and trust me, Yillah will be found."

For the tour of the lagoon, the docile Chamois was proposed; but
Media dissented; saying, that it befitted not the lord of Odo to
voyage in the equipage of his guest. Therefore, three canoes were
selected from his own royal fleet.

One for ourselves, and a trio of companions whom he purposed
introducing to my notice; the rest were reserved for attendants.

Thanks to Media's taste and heedfulness, the strangers above
mentioned proved truly acceptable.

The first was Mohi, or Braid-Beard, so called from the manner in
which he wore that appendage, exceedingly long and gray. He
was a venerable teller of stories and legends, one of the Keepers of
the Chronicles of the Kings of Mardi.

The second was Babbalanja, a man of a mystical aspect, habited in a
voluminous robe. He was learned in Mardian lore; much given to
quotations from ancient and obsolete authorities: the Ponderings of
Old Bardianna: the Pandects of Alla-Malolla.

Third and last, was Yoomy, or the Warbler. A youthful, long-haired,
blue-eyed minstrel; all fits and starts; at times, absent of mind,
and wan of cheek; but always very neat and pretty in his apparel;
wearing the most becoming of turbans, a Bird of Paradise feather its
plume, and sporting the gayest of sashes. Most given was Yoomy to
amorous melodies, and rondos, and roundelays, very witching to hear.
But at times disdaining the oaten reed, like a clarion he burst forth
with lusty lays of arms and battle; or, in mournful strains, sounded
elegies for departed bards and heroes.

Thus much for Yoomy as a minstrel. In other respects, it would be
hard to depict him. He was so capricious a mortal; so swayed by
contrary moods; so lofty, so humble, so sad, so merry; so made up of
a thousand contradictions, that we must e'en let him depict himself
as our story progresses. And herein it is hoped he will succeed;
since no one in Mardi comprehended him.

Now the trio, thus destined for companions on our voyage, had for
some time been anxious to take the tour of the Archipelago. In
particular, Babbalanja had often expressed the most ardent desire to
visit every one of the isles, in quest of some object, mysteriously
hinted. He murmured deep concern for my loss, the sincerest sympathy;
and pressing my hand more than once, said lowly, "Your pursuit is
mine, noble Taji. Where'er you search, I follow."

So, too, Yoomy addressed me; but with still more feeling. And
something like this, also, Braid-Beard repeated.

But to my sorrow, I marked that both Mohi and Babbalanja, especially
the last, seemed not so buoyant of hope, concerning lost Yillah, as
the youthful Yoomy, and his high-spirited lord, King Media.

As our voyage would embrace no small period of time, it behoved King
Media to appoint some trustworthy regent, to rule during his absence.
This regent was found in Almanni, a stem-eyed, resolute warrior, a
kinsman of the king.

All things at last in readiness, and the ensuing morning appointed
for a start, Media, on the beach, at eventide, when both light and
water waned, drew a rude map of the lagoon, to compensate for the
obstructions in the way of a comprehensive glance at it from Odo.

And thus was sketched the plan of our voyage; which islands first to
visit; and which to touch at, when we should be homeward bound.



CHAPTER LXVI
With A Fair Wind, At Sunrise They Sail


True each to his word, up came the sun, and round to my isle came
Media.


How glorious a morning! The new-born clouds all dappled with gold,
and streaked with violet; the sun in high spirits; and the pleasant
air cooled overnight by the blending circumambient fountains, forever
playing all round the reef; the lagoon within, the coral-rimmed
basin, into which they poured, subsiding, hereabouts, into green
tranquillity.

But what monsters of canoes! Would they devour an innocent voyager?
their great black prows curling aloft, and thrown back like trunks of
elephants; a dark, snaky length behind, like the sea-serpent's train.

The prow of the foremost terminated in a large, open, shark's mouth,
garnished with ten rows of pearly human teeth, curiously inserted
into the sculptured wood. The gunwale was ornamented with rows of
rich spotted Leopard and Tiger-shells; here and there, varied by
others, flat and round, and spirally traced; gay serpents petrified
in coils. These were imbedded in a grooved margin, by means of a
resinous compound, exhaling such spices, that the canoes were
odoriferous as the Indian chests of the Maldives.

The likeness of the foremost canoe to an elephant, was helped by a
sort of canopied Howdah in its stern, of heavy, russet-dyed tappa,
tasselled at the corners with long bunches of cocoanut fibres,
stained red. These swayed to and fro, like the fox-tails on a
Tuscarora robe.

But what is this, in the head of the canoe, just under the
shark's mouth? A grinning little imp of an image; a ring in its nose;
cowrie shells jingling at its ears; with an abominable leer, like
that of Silenus reeling on his ass. It was taking its ease; cosily
smoking a pipe; its bowl, a duodecimo edition of the face of the
smoker. This image looked sternward; everlastingly mocking us.

Of these canoes, it may be well to state, that although during our
stay in Odo, so many barges and shallops had touched there, nothing
similar to Media's had been seen. But inquiring whence his sea-
equipage came, we were thereupon taught to reverence the same as
antiquities and heir-looms; claw-keeled, dragon-prowed crafts of a
bygone generation; at present, superseded in general use by the more
swan-like canoes, significant of the advanced stage of marine
architecture in Mardi. No sooner was this known, than what had seemed
almost hideous in my eyes, became merely grotesque. Nor could I help
being greatly delighted with the good old family pride of our host.

The upper corners of our sails displayed the family crest of Media;
three upright boars' tusks, in an heraldic field argent. A fierce
device: Whom rends he?

All things in readiness, we glided away: the multitude waving adieu;
and our flotilla disposed in the following order.

First went the royal Elephant, carrying Media, myself, Jarl, and
Samoa; Mohi the Teller of Legends, Babbalanja, and Yoomy, and six
vivacious paddlers; their broad paddle-blades carved with the royal
boars' tusks, the same tattooed on their chests for a livery.

And thus, as Media had promised, we voyaged in state. To crown all,
seated sideways in the high, open shark's-mouth of our prow was a
little dwarf of a boy, one of Media's pages, a red conch-shell,
bugle-wise suspended at his side. Among various other offices, it was
the duty of little Vee-Vee to announce the advent of his master, upon
drawing near to the islands in our route. Two short bars,
projecting from one side of the prow, furnished him the means
of ascent to his perch.

As we gained the open lagoon with bellied sails, and paddles playing,
a sheaf of foam borne upright at our prow; Yoomy, standing where the
spicy spray flew over him, stretched forth his hand and cried--"The
dawn of day is passed, and Mardi lies all before us: all her isles,
and all her lakes; all her stores of good and evil. Storms may come,
our barks may drown. But blow before us, all ye winds; give us a
lively blast, good clarion; rally round us all our wits; and be this
voyage full gayly sailed, for Yillah will yet be found."



CHAPTER LXVII
Little King Peepi


Valapee, or the Isle of Yams, being within plain sight of Media's
dominions, we were not very long in drawing nigh to its shores.

Two long parallel elevations, rising some three arrow-flights into
the air, double-ridge the island's entire length, lapping between, a
widening vale, so level withal, that at either extremity, the green
of its groves blends with the green of the lagoon; and the isle seems
divided by a strait.

Within several paces of the beach, our canoes keeled the bottom, and
camel-like mutely hinted that we voyagers must dismount.

Hereupon, the assembled islanders ran into the water, and with bent
shoulders obsequiously desired the honor of transporting us to land.
The beach gained, all present wearing robes instantly stripped them
to the waist; a naked chest being their salute to kings. Very
convenient for the common people, this; their half-clad forms
presenting a perpetual and profound salutation.

Presently, Peepi, the ruler of Valapee drew near: a boy, hardly ten
years old, striding the neck of a burly mute, bearing a long spear
erect before him, to which was attached a canopy of five broad banana
leaves, new plucked. Thus shaded, little Peepi advanced, steadying
himself by the forelock of his bearer.

Besides his bright red robe, the young prince wore nothing but the
symbol of Valapeean royalty; a string of small, close-fitting,
concave shells, coiled and ambushed in his profuse, curly
hair; one end falling over his ear, revealing a serpent's head,
curiously carved from a nutmeg.

Quite proverbial, the unembarrassed air of young slips of royalty.
But there was something so surprisingly precocious in this young
Peepi, that at first one hardly knew what to conclude.

The first compliments over, the company were invited inland to a
shady retreat.

As we pursued the path, walking between old Mohi the keeper of
chronicles and Samoa the Upoluan, Babbalanja besought the former to
enlighten a stranger concerning the history of this curious Peepi.
Whereupon the chronicler gave us the following account; for all of
which he alone is responsible.

Peepi, it seems, had been proclaimed king before he was born; his
sire dying some few weeks previous to that event; and vacating his
divan, declared that he left a monarch behind.

Marvels were told of Peepi. Along with the royal dignity, and
superadded to the soul possessed in his own proper person, the infant
monarch was supposed to have inherited the valiant spirits of some
twenty heroes, sages, simpletons, and demi-gods, previously lodged in
his sire.

Most opulent in spiritual gifts was this lord of Valapee; the
legatee, moreover, of numerous anonymous souls, bequeathed to him by
their late loyal proprietors. By a slavish act of his convocation of
chiefs, he also possessed the reversion of all and singular the
immortal spirits, whose first grantees might die intestate in
Valapee. Servile, yet audacious senators! thus prospectively to
administrate away the inalienable rights of posterity. But while yet
unborn, the people of Valapee had been deprived of more than they now
sought to wrest from their descendants. And former Peepies, infant
and adult, had received homage more profound, than Peepi the Present.
Witness the demeanor of the chieftains of old, upon every new
investiture of the royal serpent. In a fever of loyalty, they
were wont to present themselves before the heir to the isle, to go
through with the court ceremony of the Pupera; a curious proceeding,
so called: inverted endeavors to assume an erect posture: the nasal
organ the base.

It was to the frequent practice of this ceremony, that most
intelligent observers imputed the flattened noses of the elderly
chiefs of the island; who, nevertheless, much gloried therein.

It was these chiefs, also, who still observed the old-fashioned
custom of retiring from the presence of royalty with their heads
between their thighs; so that while advancing in the contrary
direction, their faces might be still deferentially turned toward
their lord and master. A fine view of him did they obtain. All
objects look well through an arch.

But to return to Peepi, the inheritor of souls and subjects. It was
an article of faith with the people of Valapee, that Peepi not only
actually possessed the souls bequeathed to him; but that his own was
enriched by their peculiar qualities: The headlong valor of the late
Tongatona; the pusillanimous discretion of Blandoo; the cunning of
Voyo; the simplicity of Raymonda; the prodigality of Zonoree; the
thrift of Titonti.

But had all these, and similar opposite qualities, simultaneously
acted as motives upon Peepi, certes, he would have been a most
pitiable mortal, in a ceaseless eddy of resolves, incapable of a
solitary act.

But blessed be the gods, it was otherwise. Though it fared little
better for his subjects as it was. His assorted souls were uppermost
and active in him, one by one. Today, valiant Tongatona ruled the
isle, meditating wars and invasions; tomorrow, thrice discreet
Blandoo, who, disbanding the levies, turned his attention to the
terraces of yams. And so on in rotation to the end.

Whence, though capable of action, Peepi, by reason of these
revolving souls in him, was one of the most unreliable of beings.
What the open-handed Zonoree promised freely to-day, the parsimonious
Titonti withheld to-morrow; and forever Raymonda was annulling the
doings of Voyo; and Voyo the doings of Raymonda.

What marvel then, that in Valapee all was legislative uproar and
confusion; advance and retreat;  abrogations and revivals; foundations
without superstructures; nothing permanent but the island itself.

Nor were there those in the neighboring countries, who failed to reap
profit from this everlasting transition state of the affairs of the
kingdom. All boons from Peepi were entreated when the prodigal
Zonoree was lord of the ascendant. And audacious claims were urged
upon the state when the pusillanimous Blandoo shrank from the thought
of resisting them.

Thus subject to contrary impulses, over which he had not the faintest
control, Peepi was plainly denuded of all moral obligation to virtue.
He was no more a free agent, than the heart which beat in his bosom.
Wherefore, his complaisant parliament had passed a law, recognizing
that curious, but alarming fact; solemnly proclaiming, that King
Peepi was minus a conscience. Agreeable to truth. But when they went
further, and vowed by statute, that Peepi could do no wrong, they
assuredly did violence to the truth; besides, making a sad blunder in
their logic. For far from possessing an absolute aversion to evil, by
his very nature it was the hardest thing in the world for Peepi to do
right.

Taking all these things into consideration, then, no wonder that this
wholly irresponsible young prince should be a lad of considerable
assurance, and the easiest manners imaginable.



CHAPTER LXVIII
How Teeth Were Regarded In Valapee


Coiling through the thickets, like the track of a serpent, wound
along the path we pursued. And ere long we came to a spacious grove,
embowering an oval arbor. Here, we reclined at our ease, and
refreshments were served.

Little worthy of mention occurred, save this. Happening to catch a
glimpse of the white even teeth of Hohora one of our attendants, King
Peepi coolly begged of Media the favor, to have those same dentals
drawn on the spot, and presented to him.

Now human teeth, extracted, are reckoned among the most valuable
ornaments in Mardi. So open wide thy strong box, Hohora, and show thy
treasures. What a gallant array! standing shoulder to shoulder,
without a hiatus between. A complete set of jewelry, indeed, thought
Peepi. But, it seems, not destined for him; Media leaving it to the
present proprietor, whether his dentals should change owners or not.

And here, to prepare the way for certain things hereafter to be
narrated, something farther needs be said concerning the light in
which men's molars are regarded in Mardi.

Strung together, they are sported for necklaces, or hung in drops
from the ear; they are wrought into dice; in lieu of silken locks,
are exchanged for love tokens.

As in all lands, men smite their breasts, and tear their hair, when
transported with grief; so, in some countries, teeth are stricken out
under the sway of similar emotions. To a very great extent, this was
once practiced in the Hawaiian Islands, ere idol and altar
went down. Still living in Oahu, are many old chiefs, who were
present at the famous obsequies of their royal old generalissimo,
Tammahammaha, when there is no telling how many pounds of ivory were
cast upon his grave.

Ah! had the regal white elephants of Siam been there, doubtless they
had offered up their long, hooked tusks, whereon they impale the
leopards, their foes; and the unicorn had surrendered that fixed
bayonet in his forehead; and the imperial Cachalot-whale, the long
chain of white towers in his jaw; yea, over that grim warrior's
grave, the mooses, and elks, and stags, and fallow-deer had stacked
their antlers, as soldiers their arms on the field.

Terrific shade of tattooed Tammahammaha! if, from a vile dragon's
molars, rose mailed men, what heroes shall spring from the cannibal
canines once pertaining to warriors themselves!--Am I the witch of
Endor, that I conjure up this ghost? Or, King Saul, that I so quake
at the sight? For, lo! roundabout me Tammahammaha's tattooing
expands, till all the sky seems a tiger's skin. But now, the spotted
phantom sweeps by; as a man-of-war's main-sail, cloud-like, blown far
to leeward in a gale.

Banquo down, we return.

In Valapee, prevails not the barbarous Hindoo custom of offering up
widows to the shades of their lords; for, bereaved, the widows there
marry again. Nor yet prevails the savage Hawaiian custom of offering
up teeth to the manes of the dead; for, at the decease of a friend,
the people rob not their own mouths to testify their woe. On the
contrary, they extract the teeth from the departed, distributing them
among the mourners for memorial legacies; as elsewhere, silver spoons
are bestowed.

From the high value ascribed to dentals throughout the archipelago of
Mardi, and also from their convenient size, they are circulated as
money; strings of teeth being regarded by these people very much as
belts of wampum among the Winnebagoes of the North; or cowries, among
the Bengalese. So, that in Valapee the very beggars are born with a
snug investment in their mouths; too soon, however, to be appropriated
by their lords; leaving them toothless for the rest of their days, and
forcing them to diet on poee-pudding and banana blanc-mange.

As a currency, teeth are far less clumsy than cocoanuts; which, among
certain remote barbarians, circulate for coin; one nut being
equivalent, perhaps, to a penny. The voyager who records the fact,
chuckles over it hugely; as evincing the simplicity of those
heathens; not knowing that he himself was the simpleton; since that
currency of theirs was purposely devised by the men, to check the
extravagance of their women; cocoanuts, for spending money, being
such a burden to carry.

It only remains to be added, that the most solemn oath of a native of
Valapee is that sworn by his tooth. "By this tooth," said Bondo to
Noojoomo, "by this tooth I swear to be avenged upon thee, oh
Noojoomo!"



CHAPTER LXIX
The Company Discourse, And Braid-Beard Rehearses A Legend


Finding in Valapee no trace of her whom we sought, and but little
pleased with the cringing demeanor of the people, and the wayward
follies of Peepi their lord, we early withdrew from the isle.

As we glided away, King Media issued a sociable decree. He declared
it his royal pleasure, that throughout the voyage, all stiffness and
state etiquette should be suspended: nothing must occur to mar the
freedom of the party. To further this charming plan, he doffed his
symbols of royalty, put off his crown, laid aside his scepter, and
assured us that he would not wear them again, except when we landed;
and not invariably, then.

"Are we not all now friends and companions?" he said. "So companions
and friends let us be. I unbend my bow; do ye likewise."

"But are we not to be dignified?" asked Babbalanja.

"If dignity be free and natural, be as dignified as you please; but
away with rigidities."

"Away they go," said Babbalanja; "and, my lord, now that you mind me
of it, I have often thought, that it is all folly and vanity for any
man to attempt a dignified carriage. Why, my lord,"--frankly crossing
his legs where he lay--"the king, who receives his embassadors with a
majestic toss of the head, may have just recovered from the tooth-
ache. That thought should cant over the spine he bears so bravely."

"Have a care, sir! there is a king within hearing."

"Pardon, my lord; I was merely availing myself of the immunity
bestowed upon the company. Hereafter, permit a subject to rebel
against your sociable decrees. I will not be so frank any more."

"Well put, Babbalanja; come nearer; here, cross your legs by mine;
you have risen a cubit in my regard. Vee-Vee, bring us that gourd of
wine; so, pass it round with the cups. Now, Yoomy, a song!"

And a song was sung.

And thus did we sail; pleasantly reclining on the mats stretched out
beneath the canopied howdah.

At length, we drew nigh to a rock, called Pella, or The Theft. A
high, green crag, toppling over its base, and flinging a cavernous
shadow upon the lagoon beneath, bubbling with the moisture that
dropped.

Passing under this cliff was like finding yourself, as some sea-
hunters unexpectedly have, beneath the open, upper jaw of a whale;
which, descending, infallibly entombs you. But familiar with the
rock, our paddlers only threw back their heads, to catch the cool,
pleasant tricklings from the mosses above.

Wiping away several glittering beads from his beard, old Mohi turning
round where he sat, just outside the canopy, solemnly affirmed, that
the drinking of that water had cured many a man of ambition.

"How so, old man?" demanded Media.

"Because of its passing through the ashes of ten kings, of yore
buried in a sepulcher, hewn in the heart of the rock."

"Mighty kings, and famous, doubtless," said Babbalanja, "whose bones
were thought worthy of so noble and enduring as urn. Pray, Mohi,
their names and terrible deeds."

"Alas! their sepulcher only remains."

"And, no doubt, like many others, they made that sepul for
themselves. They sleep sound, my word for it, old man. But I
very much question, if, were the rock rent, any ashes would be found.
Mohi, I deny that those kings ever had any bones to bury."

"Why, Babbalanja," said Media, "since you intimate that they never
had ghosts to give up, you ignore them in toto; denying the very fact
of their being even defunct."

"Ten thousand pardons, my lord, no such discourtesy would I do the
anonymous memory of the illustrious dead. But whether they ever lived
or not, it is all the same with them now. Yet, grant that they lived;
then, if death be a deaf-and-dumb death, a triumphal procession over
their graves would concern them not. If a birth into brightness, then
Mardi must seem to them the most trivial of reminiscences. Or,
perhaps, theirs may be an utter lapse of memory concerning sublunary
things; and they themselves be not themselves, as the butterfly is
not the larva."

Said Yoomy, "Then, Babbalanja, you account that a fit illustration of
the miraculous change to be wrought in man after death?"

"No; for the analogy has an unsatisfactory end. From its chrysalis
state, the silkworm but becomes a moth, that very quickly expires.
Its longest existence is as a worm. All vanity, vanity, Yoomy, to
seek in nature for positive warranty to these aspirations of ours.
Through all her provinces, nature seems to promise immortality to
life, but destruction to beings. Or, as old Bardianna has it, if not
against us, nature is not for us."

Said Media, rising, "Babbalanja, you have indeed put aside the
courtier; talking of worms and caterpillars to me, a king and a demi-
god! To renown, for your theme: a more agreeable topic."

"Pardon, once again, my lord. And since you will, let us discourse of
that subject. First, I lay it down for an indubitable maxim, that in
itself all posthumous renown, which is the only renown, is valueless.
Be not offended, my lord. To the nobly ambitious, renown hereafter
may be something to anticipate. But analyzed, that feverish
typhoid feeling of theirs may be nothing more than a flickering
fancy, that now, while living, they are recognized as those who will
be as famous in their shrouds, as in their girdles."

Said Yoomy, "But those great and good deeds, Babbalanja, of which the
philosophers so often discourse: must it not be sweet to believe that
their memory will long survive us; and we ourselves in them?"

"I speak now," said Babbalanja, "of the ravening for fame which even
appeased, like thirst slaked in the desert, yields no felicity, but
only relief; and which discriminates not in aught that will satisfy
its cravings. But let me resume. Not an hour ago, Braid-Beard was
telling us that story of prince Ottimo, who inodorous while living,
expressed much delight at the prospect of being perfumed and
embalmed, when dead. But was not Ottimo the most eccentric of
mortals? For few men issue orders for their shrouds, to inspect their
quality beforehand. Far more anxious are they about the texture of
the sheets in which their living limbs lie. And, my lord, with some
rare exceptions, does not all Mardi, by its actions, declare, that it
is far better to be notorious now, than famous hereafter?"

"A base sentiment, my lord," said Yoomy. "Did not poor Bonja, the
unappreciated poet, console himself for the neglect of his
contemporaries, by inspiriting thoughts of the future?"

"In plain words by bethinking him of the glorious harvest of bravos
his ghost would reap for him," said Babbalanja; "but Banjo,--Bonjo,--
Binjo,--I never heard of him."

"Nor I," said Mohi.

"Nor I," said Media.

"Poor fellow!" cried Babbalanja; "I fear me his harvest is not yet
ripe."

"Alas!" cried Yoomy; "he died more than a century ago."

"But now that you speak of unappreciated poets, Yoomy," said
Babbalanja, "Shall I give you a piece of my mind?" "Do," said Mohi,
stroking his beard.

"He, who on all hands passes for a cypher to-day, if at all
remembered hereafter, will be sure to pass for the same. For there is
more likelihood of being overrated while living, than of being
underrated when dead. And to insure your fame, you must die."

"A rather discouraging thought for your race. But answer: I assume
that King Media is but a mortal like you; now, how may I best
perpetuate my name?"

Long pondered Babbalanja; then said, "Carve it, my lord, deep into a
ponderous stone, and sink it, face downward, into the sea; for the
unseen foundations of the deep are more enduring than the palpable
tops of the mountains."

Sailing past Pella, we gained a view of its farther side; and seated
in a lofty cleft, beheld a lonely fisherman; solitary as a seal on an
iceberg; his motionless line in the water.

"What recks he of the ten kings," said Babbalanja.

"Mohi," said Media, "methinks there is another tradition concerning
that rock: let us have it."

"In old times of genii and giants, there dwelt in barren lands, not
very remote from our outer reef, but since submerged, a band of evil-
minded, envious goblins, furlongs in stature, and with immeasurable
arms; who from time to time cast covetous glances upon our blooming
isles. Long they lusted; till at last, they waded through the sea,
strode over the reef, and seizing the nearest islet, rolled it over
and over, toward an adjoining outlet.

"But the task was hard; and day-break surprised them in the midst of
their audacious thieving; while in the very act of giving the devoted
land another doughty surge and Somerset. Leaving it bottom upward and
midway poised, gardens under water, its foundations in air, they
precipitately fled; in their great haste, deserting a comrade, vainly
struggling to liberate his foot caught beneath the overturned land."

"This poor fellow now raised such an outcry, as to awaken the god
Upi, or the Archer, stretched out on a long cloud in the East; who
forthwith resolved to make an example of the unwilling lingerer.
Snatching his bow, he let fly an arrow. But overshooting its mark, it
pierced through and through, the lofty promontory of a neighboring
island; making an arch in it, which remaineth even unto this day. A
second arrow, however, accomplished its errand: the slain giant
sinking prone to the bottom."

"And now," added Mohi, "glance over the gunwale, and you will see his
remains petrified into white ribs of coral."

"Ay, there they are," said Yoomy, looking down into the water where
they gleamed. "A fanciful legend, Braid-beard."

"Very entertaining," said Media.

"Even so," said Babbalanja. "But perhaps we lost time in listening to
it; for though we know it, we are none the wiser."

"Be not a cynic," said Media. "No pastime is lost time."

Musing a moment, Babbalanja replied, "My lord, that maxim may be good
as it stands; but had you made six words of it, instead of six
syllables, you had uttered a better and a deeper."



CHAPTER LXX
The Minstrel Leads Off With A Paddle-Song; And A Message Is Received
From Abroad


From seaward now came a breeze so blithesome and fresh, that it made
us impatient of Babbalanja's philosophy, and Mohi's incredible
legends. One and all, we called upon the minstrel Yoomy to give us
something in unison with the spirited waves wide-foaming around us.

"If my lord will permit, we will give Taji the Paddle-Chant of the
warriors of King Bello."

"By all means," said Media.

So the three canoes were brought side to side; their sails rolled up;
and paddles in hand, our paddlers seated themselves sideways on the
gunwales; Yoomy, as leader, occupying the place of the foremast, or
Bow-Paddler of the royal barge.

Whereupon the six rows of paddle-blades being uplifted, and every eye
on the minstrel, this song was sung, with actions corresponding; the
canoes at last shooting through the water, with a violent roll.

          (_All._)
      Thrice waved on high,
      Our paddles fly:
  Thrice round the head, thrice dropt to feet:
      And then well timed,
      Of one stout mind,
  All fall, and back the waters heap!

          (_Bow-Paddler._)
      Who lifts this chant?
      Who sounds this vaunt?

          (_All._)
  The wild sea song, to the billows' throng,
      Rising, falling,
      Hoarsely calling,
  Now high, now low, as fast we go,
  Fast on our flying foe!

          (_Bow-Paddler._)
      Who lifts this chant?
      Who sounds this vaunt?

          (_All._)
  Dip, dip, in the brine our paddles dip,
  Dip, dip, the fins of our swimming ship!
      How the waters part,
      As on we dart;
        Our sharp prows fly,
        And curl on high,
  As the upright fin of the rushing shark,
  Rushing fast and far on his flying mark!
      Like him we prey;
      Like him we slay;
        Swim on the fog,
        Our prow a blow!

          (_Bow-Paddler._)
      Who lifts this chant?
      Who sounds this vaunt?

          (_All._)
  Heap back; heap back; the waters back!
  Pile them high astern, in billows black;
      Till we leave our wake,
      In the slope we make;
      And rush and ride,
      On the torrent's tide!

Here we were overtaken by a swift gliding canoe, which, bearing down
upon us before the wind, lowered its sail when close by: its
occupants signing our paddlers to desist.

I started.

The strangers were three hooded damsels the enigmatical Queen
Hautia's heralds.

Their pursuit surprised and perplexed me. Nor was there
wanting a vague feeling of alarm to heighten these emotions. But
perhaps I was mistaken, and this time they meant not me.

Seated in the prow, the foremost waved her Iris flag. Cried Yoomy,
"Some message! Taji, that Iris points to you."

It was then, I first divined, that some meaning must have lurked in
those flowers they had twice brought me before.

The second damsel now flung over to me Circe flowers; then, a faded
jonquil, buried in a tuft of wormwood leaves.

The third sat in the shallop's stern, and as it glided from us,
thrice waved oleanders.

"What dumb show is this?" cried Media. "But it looks like poetry:
minstrel, you should know."

"Interpret then," said I.

"Shall I, then, be your Flora's flute, and Hautia's dragoman? Held
aloft, the Iris signified a message. These purple-woven Circe flowers
mean that some spell is weaving. That golden, pining jonquil, which
you hold, buried in those wormwood leaves, says plainly to you--
Bitter love in absence."

Said Media, "Well done, Taji, you have killed a queen." "Yet no Queen
Hautia have these eyes beheld."

Said Babbalanja, "The thrice waved oleanders, Yoomy; what meant
they?"

"Beware--beware--beware."

"Then that, at least, seems kindly meant," said Babbalanja; "Taji,
beware of Hautia."



CHAPTER LXXI
They Land Upon The Island Of Juam


Crossing the lagoon, our course now lay along the reel to Juam; a
name bestowed upon one of the largest islands hereabout; and also,
collectively, upon several wooded isles engulfing it, which together
were known as the dominions of one monarch. That monarch was
Donjalolo. Just turned of twenty-five, he was accounted not only the
handsomest man in his dominions, but throughout the lagoon. His
comeliness, however, was so feminine, that he was sometimes called
"Fonoo," or the Girl.

Our first view of Juam was imposing. A dark green pile of cliffs,
towering some one hundred toises; at top, presenting a range of
steep, gable-pointed projections; as if some Titanic hammer and
chisel had shaped the mass.

Sailing nearer, we perceived an extraordinary rolling of the sea;
which bursting into the lagoon through an adjoining breach in the
reef, surged toward Juam in enormous billows. At last, dashing
against the wall of the cliff; they played there in unceasing
fountains. But under the brow of a beetling crag, the spray came and
went unequally. There, the blue billows seemed swallowed up, and
lost.

Right regally was Juam guarded. For, at this point, the rock was
pierced by a cave, into which the great waves chased each other like
lions; after a hollow, subterraneous roaring issuing forth with manes
disheveled.

Cautiously evading the dangerous currents here ruffling the lagoon,
we rounded the wall of cliff; and shot upon a smooth expanse; on one
side, hemmed in by the long, verdent, northern shore of Juam;
and across the water, sentineled by its tributary islets.

With sonorous Vee-Vee in the shark's mouth, we swept toward the
beach, tumultuous with a throng.

Our canoes were secured. And surrounded by eager glances, we passed
the lower ends of several populous valleys; and crossing a wide, open
meadow, gradually ascending, came to a range of light-green bluffs.
Here, we wended our way down a narrow defile, almost cleaving this
quarter of the island to its base. Black crags frowned overhead:
among them the shouts of the Islanders reverberated. Yet steeper grew
the defile, and more overhanging the crags till at last, the keystone
of the arch seemed dropped into its place. We found ourselves in a
subterranean tunnel, dimly lighted by a span of white day at the end.

Emerging, what a scene was revealed! All round, embracing a circuit
of some three leagues, stood heights inaccessible, here and there,
forming buttresses, sheltering deep recesses between. The bosom of
the place was vivid with verdure.

Shining aslant into this wild hollow, the afternoon sun lighted up
its eastern side with tints of gold. But opposite, brooded a somber
shadow, double-shading the secret places between the salient spurs of
the mountains. Thus cut in twain by masses of day and night, it
seemed as if some Last Judgment had been enacted in the glen.

No sooner did we emerge from the defile, than we became sensible of a
dull, jarring sound; and Yoomy was almost tempted to turn and flee,
when informed that the sea-cavern, whose mouth we had passed, was
believed to penetrate deep into the opposite hills; and that the
surface of the amphitheater was depressed beneath that of the lagoon.
But all over the lowermost hillsides, and sloping into the glen,
stood grand old groves; still and stately, as if no insolent waves
were throbbing in the mountain's heart.

Such was Willamilla, the hereditary abode of the young monarch of Juam.

Was Yillah immured in this strange retreat? But from those around us
naught could we learn.

Our attention was now directed to the habitations of the glen;
comprised in two handsome villages; one to the west, the other to the
east; both stretching along the base of the cliffs.

Said Media, "Had we arrived at Willamilla in the morning, we had
found Donjalolo and his court in the eastern village; but being
afternoon, we must travel farther, and seek him in his western
retreat; for that is now in the shade."

Wending our way, Media added, that aside from his elevated station as
a monarch, Donjalolo was famed for many uncommon traits; but more
especially for certain peculiar deprivations, under which he labored.

Whereupon Braid-Beard unrolled his old chronicles; and regaled us
with the history, which will be found in the following chapter.



CHAPTER LXXII
A Book From The Chronicles Of Mohi


Many ages ago, there reigned in Juam a king called Teei. This Teei's
succession to the sovereignty was long disputed by his brother
Marjora; who at last rallying round him an army, after many
vicissitudes, defeated the unfortunate monarch in a stout fight of
clubs on the beach.

In those days, Willamilla during a certain period of the year was a
place set apart for royal games and diversions; and was furnished
with suitable accommodations for king and court. From its peculiar
position, moreover, it was regarded as the last stronghold of the
Juam monarchy: in remote times having twice withstood the most
desperate assaults from without. And when Roonoonoo, a famous
upstart, sought to subdue all the isles in this part of the
Archipelago, it was to Willamilla that the banded kings had repaired
to take counsel together; and while there conferring, were surprised
at the sudden onslaught of Roonoonoo in person. But in the end, the
rebel was captured, he and all his army, and impaled on the tops of
the hills.

Now, defeated and fleeing for his life, Teei with his surviving
followers was driven across the plain toward the mountains. But to
cut him off from all escape to inland Willamilla, Marjora dispatched
a fleet band of warriors to occupy the entrance of the defile.
Nevertheless, Teei the pursued ran faster than his pursuers; first
gained the spot; and with his chiefs, fled swiftly down the gorge,
closely hunted by Marjora's men. But arriving at the further end,
they in vain sought to defend it. And after much desperate
fighting, the main body of the foe corning up with great slaughter
the fugitives were driven into the glen.

They ran to the opposite wall of cliff; where turning, they fought at
bay, blood for blood, and life for life, till at last, overwhelmed by
numbers, they were all put to the point of the spear.

With fratricidal hate, singled out by the ferocious Marjora, Teei
fell by that brother's hand. When stripping from the body the regal
girdle, the victor wound it round his own loins; thus proclaiming
himself king over Juam.

Long torn by this intestine war, the island acquiesced in the new
sovereignty. But at length a sacred oracle declared, that since the
conqueror had slain his brother in deep Willamilla, so that Teei
never more issued from that refuge of death; therefore, the same fate
should be Marjora's; for never, thenceforth, from that glen, should
he go forth; neither Marjora; nor any son of his girdled loins; nor
his son's sons; nor the uttermost scion of his race.

But except this denunciation, naught was denounced against the usurper;
who, mindful of the tenure by which he reigned, ruled over the island
for many moons; at his death bequeathing the girdle to his son.

In those days, the wildest superstitions concerning the interference
of the gods in things temporal, prevailed to a much greater extent
than at present. Hence Marjora himself, called sometimes in the
traditions of the island, The-Heart-of-Black-Coral, even unscrupulous
Marjora had quailed before the oracle. "He bowed his head," say the
legends. Nor was it then questioned, by his most devoted adherents,
that had he dared to act counter to that edict, he had dropped dead,
the very instant he went under the shadow of the defile. This
persuasion also guided the conduct of the son of Marjora, and that of
his grandson.

But there at last came to pass a change in the popular fancies
concerning this ancient anathema. The penalty denounced against the
posterity of the usurper should they issue from the glen, came
to be regarded as only applicable to an invested monarch, not to his
relatives, or heirs.

A most favorable construction of the ban; for all those related to
the king, freely passed in and out of Willamilla.

From the time of the usurpation, there had always been observed a
certain ceremony upon investing the heir to the sovereignty with the
girdle of Teei. Upon these occasions, the chief priests of the island
were present, acting an important part. For the space of as many
days, as there had reigned kings of Marjora's dynasty, the inner
mouth of the defile remained sealed; the new monarch placing the last
stone in the gap. This symbolized his relinquishment forever of all
purpose of passing out of the glen. And without this observance, was
no king girdled in Juam.

It was likewise an invariable custom, for the heir to receive the
regal investiture immediately upon the decease of his sire. No delay
was permitted. And instantly upon being girdled, he proceeded to take
part in the ceremony of closing the cave; his predecessor yet
remaining uninterred on the purple mat where he died.

In the history of the island, three instances were recorded; wherein,
upon the vacation of the sovereignty, the immediate heir had
voluntarily renounced all claim to the succession, rather than
surrender the privilege of roving, to which he had been entitled, as
a prince of the blood.

Said Rani, one of these young princes, in reply to the remonstrances
of his friends, "What! shall I be a king, only to be a slave? Teei's
girdle would clasp my waist less tightly, than my soul would be
banded by the mountains of Willamilla. A subject, I am free. No slave
in Juam but its king; for all the tassels round his loins."

To guard against a similar resolution in the mind of his only son,
the wise sire of Donjalolo, ardently desirous of perpetuating his
dignities in a child so well beloved, had from his earliest infancy,
restrained the boy from passing out of the glen, to contract in the
free air of the Archipelago, tastes and predilections fatal to
the inheritance of the girdle.

But as he grew in years, so impatient became young Donjalolo of the
king his father's watchfulness over him, though hitherto a most
dutiful son, that at last he was prevailed upon by his youthful
companions to appoint a day, on which to go abroad, and visit Mardi.
Hearing this determination, the old king sought to vanquish it. But
in vain. And early on the morning of the day, that Donjalolo was to
set out, he swallowed poison, and died; in order to force his son
into the instant assumption of the honors thus suddenly inherited.

The event, but not its dreadful circumstances, was communicated to
the prince; as with a gay party of young chiefs, he was about to
enter the mouth of the defile.

"My sire dead!" cried Donjalolo. "So sudden, it seems a bolt from
Heaven." And bursting into exclamations of grief, he wept upon the
bosom of Talara his friend.

But starting from his side:--"My fate converges to a point. If I but
cross that shadow, my kingdom is lost. One lifting of my foot, and
the girdle goes to my proud uncle Darfi, who would so joy to be my
master. Haughty Dwarf! Oh Oro! would that I had ere this passed thee,
fatal cavern; and seen for myself, what outer Mardi is. Say ye true,
comrades, that Willamilla is less lovely than the valleys without?
that there is bright light in the eyes of the maidens of Mina? and
wisdom in the hearts of the old priests of Maramma; that it is
pleasant to tread the green earth where you will; and breathe the
free ocean air? Would, oh would, that I were but the least of yonder
sun-clouds, that look down alike on Willamilla and all places
besides, that I might determine aright. Yet why do I pause? did not
Rani, and Atama, and Mardonna, my ancestors, each see for himself,
free Mardi; and did they not fly the proffered girdle; choosing
rather to be free to come and go, than bury themselves forever in
this fatal glen? Oh Mardi! Mardi! art thou then so fair to
see? Is liberty a thing so glorious? Yet can I be no king, and behold
thee! Too late, too late, to view thy charms and then return. My
sire! my sire! thou hast wrung my heart with this agony of doubt.
Tell me, comrades,--for ye have seen it,--is Mardi sweeter to behold,
than it is royal to reign over Juam? Silent, are ye? Knowing what ye
do, were ye me, would ye be kings? Tell me, Talara.--No king: no
king:--that were to obey, and not command. And none hath Donjalolo
ere obeyed but the king his father. A king, and my voice may be heard
in farthest Mardi, though I abide in narrow Willamilla. My sire! my
sire! Ye flying clouds, what look ye down upon? Tell me, what ye see
abroad? Methinks sweet spices breathe from out the cave."

"Hail, Donjalolo, King of Juam," now sounded with acclamations from
the groves.

Starting, the young prince beheld a multitude approaching: warriors
with spears, and maidens with flowers; and Kubla, a priest, lifting
on high the tasseled girdle of Teei, and waving it toward him.

The young chiefs fell back. Kubla, advancing, came close to the
prince, and unclasping the badge of royalty, exclaimed, "Donjalolo,
this instant it is king or subject with thee: wilt thou be girdled
monarch?"

Gazing one moment up the dark defile, then staring vacantly,
Donjalolo turned and met the eager gaze of Darfi. Stripping off his
mantle, the next instant he was a king.

Loud shouted the multitude, and exulted; but after mutely assisting
at the closing of the cavern, the new-girdled monarch retired sadly
to his dwelling, and was not seen again for many days.



CHAPTER LXXIII
Something More Of The Prince


Previous to recording our stay in his dominions, it only remains to
be related of Donjalolo, that after assuming the girdle, a change
came over him.

During the lifetime of his father, he had been famed for his
temperance and discretion. But when Mardi was forever shut out; and
he remembered the law of his isle, interdicting abdication to its
kings; he gradually fell into desperate courses, to drown the
emotions at times distracting him.

His generous spirit thirsting after some energetic career, found
itself narrowed down within the little glen of Willamilla, where
ardent impulses seemed idle. But these are hard to die; and repulsed
all round, recoil upon themselves.

So with Donjalolo; who, in many a riotous scene, wasted the powers
which might have compassed the noblest designs.

Not many years had elapsed since the death of the king, his father.
But the still youthful prince was no longer the bright-eyed and
elastic boy who at the dawn of day had sallied out to behold the
landscapes of the neighboring isles.

Not more effeminate Sardanapalus, than he. And, at intervals, he was
the victim of unaccountable vagaries; haunted by specters, and
beckoned to by the ghosts of his sires.

At times, loathing his vicious pursuits, which brought him no solid
satisfaction, but ever filled him with final disgust, he would
resolve to amend his ways; solacing himself for his bitter captivity,
by the society of the wise and discreet.

But brief the interval of repentance. Anew, he burst into excesses, a
hundred fold more insane than ever.

Thus vacillating between virtue and vice; to neither constant, and
upbraided by both; his mind, like his person in the glen, was
continually passing and repassing between opposite extremes.



CHAPTER LXXIV
Advancing Deeper Into The Vale, They Encounter Donjalolo


From the mouth of the cavern, a broad shaded way over-arched by
fraternal trees embracing in mid-air, conducted us to a cross-path,
on either hand leading to the opposite cliffs, shading the twin
villages before mentioned.

Level as a meadow, was the bosom of the glen. Here, nodding with
green orchards of the Bread-fruit and the Palm; there, flashing with
golden plantations of the Banana. Emerging from these, we came out
upon a grassy mead, skirting a projection of the mountain. And soon
we crossed a bridge of boughs, spanning a trench, thickly planted
with roots of the Tara, like alligators, or Hollanders, reveling in
the soft alluvial. Strolling on, the wild beauty of the mountains
excited our attention. The topmost crags poured over with vines;
which, undulating in the air, seemed leafy cascades; their sources
the upland groves.

Midway up the precipice, along a shelf of rock, sprouted the
multitudinous roots of an apparently trunkless tree. Shooting from
under the shallow soil, they spread all over the rocks below,
covering them with an intricate net-work. While far aloft, great
boughs--each a copse--clambered to the very summit of the mountain;
then bending over, struck anew into the soil; forming along the verge
an interminable colonnade; all manner of antic architecture standing
against the sky.

According to Mohi, this tree was truly wonderful; its seed having
been dropped from the moon; where were plenty more similar
forests, causing the dark spots on its surface.

Here and there, the cool fluid in the veins of the mountains gushed
forth in living springs; their waters received in green mossy tanks,
half buried in grasses.

In one place, a considerable stream, bounding far out from a wooded
height, ere reaching the ground was dispersed in a wide misty shower,
falling so far from the base of the cliff; that walking close
underneath, you felt little moisture. Passing this fall of vapors, we
spied many Islanders taking a bath.

But what is yonder swaying of the foliage? And what now issues forth,
like a habitation astir? Donjalolo drawing nigh to his guests.

He came in a fair sedan; a bower, resting upon three long, parallel
poles, borne by thirty men, gayly attired; five at each pole-end.
Decked with dyed tappas, and looped with garlands of newly-plucked
flowers, from which, at every step, the fragrant petals were blown;
with a sumptuous, elastic motion the gay sedan came on; leaving
behind it a long, rosy wake of fluttering leaves and odors.

Drawing near, it revealed a slender, enervate youth, of pallid
beauty, reclining upon a crimson mat, near the festooned arch of the
bower. His anointed head was resting against the bosom of a girl;
another stirred the air, with a fan of Pintado plumes. The pupils of
his eyes were as floating isles in the sea. In a soft low tone he
murmured "Media!"

The bearers paused; and Media advancing; the Island Kings bowed their
foreheads together.

Through tubes ignited at the end, Donjaloln's reclining attendants
now blew an aromatic incense around him. These were composed of the
stimulating leaves of the "Aina," mixed with the long yellow blades
of a sweet-scented upland grass; forming a hollow stem. In general,
the agreeable fumes of the "Aina" were created by one's own
inhalations; but Donjalolo deeming the solace too dearly purchased by
any exertion of the royal lungs, regaled himself through those of his
attendants, whose lips were as moss-rose buds after a shower.

In silence the young prince now eyed us attentively; meanwhile gently
waving his hand, to obtain a better view through the wreaths of
vapor. He was about to address us, when chancing to catch a glimpse
of Samoa, he suddenly started; averted his glance; and wildly
commanded the warrior out of sight. Upon this, his attendants would
have soothed him; and Media desired the Upoluan to withdraw.

While we were yet lost in wonder at this scene, Donjalolo, with eyes
closed, fell back into the arms of his damsels. Recovering, he
fetched a deep sigh, and gazed vacantly around.

It seems, that he had fancied Samoa the noon-day specter of his
ancestor Marjora; the usurper having been deprived of an arm in the
battle which gained him the girdle. Poor prince: this was one of
those crazy conceits, so puzzling to his subjects.

Media now hastened to assure Donjalolo, that Samoa, though no cherub
to behold, was good flesh and blood, nevertheless. And soon the king
unconcernedly gazed; his monomania having departed as a dream.

But still suffering from the effects of an overnight feast, he
presently murmured forth a desire to be left to his women; adding
that his people would not fail to provide for the entertainment of
his guests.

The curtains of the sedan were now drawn; and soon it disappeared in
the groves. Journeying on, ere long we arrived at the western side of
the glen; where one of the many little arbors scattered among the
trees, was assigned for our abode. Here, we reclined to an agreeable
repast. After which, we strolled forth to view the valley at large;
more especially the far-famed palaces of the prince.



CHAPTER LXXV
Time And Temples


In the oriental Pilgrimage of the pious old Purchas, and in the fine
old folio Voyages of Hakluyt, Thevenot, Ramusio, and De Bry, we read
of many glorious old Asiatic temples, very long in erecting. And
veracious Gaudentia di Lucca hath a wondrous narration of the time
consumed in rearing that mighty three-hundred-and-seventy-five-
pillared Temple of the Year, somewhere beyond Libya; whereof, the
columns did signify days, and all round fronted upon concentric zones
of palaces, cross-cut by twelve grand avenues symbolizing the signs
of the zodiac, all radiating from the sun-dome in their midst. And in
that wild eastern tale of his, Marco Polo tells us, how the Great
Mogul began him a pleasure-palace on so imperial a scale, that his
grandson had much ado to complete it.

But no matter for marveling all this: great towers take time to
construct.

And so of all else.

And that which long endures full-fledged, must have long lain in the
germ. And duration is not of the future, but of the past; and
eternity is eternal, because it has been, and though a strong new
monument be builded to-day, it only is lasting because its blocks are
old as the sun. It is not the Pyramids that are ancient, but the
eternal granite whereof they are made; which had been equally ancient
though yet in the quarry. For to make an eternity, we must build with
eternities; whence, the vanity of the cry for any thing alike durable
and new; and the folly of the reproach--Your granite hath come from
the old-fashioned hills. For we are not gods and creators; and
the controversialists have debated, whether indeed the All-Plastic
Power itself can do more than mold. In all the universe is but one
original; and the very suns must to their source for their fire; and
we Prometheuses must to them for ours; which, when had, only
perpetual Vestal tending will keep alive.

But let us back from fire to store. No fine firm fabric ever yet grew
like a gourd. Nero's House of Gold was not raised in a day; nor the
Mexican House of the Sun; nor the Alhambra; nor the Escurial; nor
Titus's Amphitheater; nor the Illinois Mounds; nor Diana's great
columns at Ephesus; nor Pompey's proud Pillar; nor the Parthenon; nor
the Altar of Belus; nor Stonehenge; nor Solomon's Temple; nor
Tadmor's towers; nor Susa's bastions; nor Persepolis' pediments.
Round and round, the Moorish turret at Seville was not wound
heavenward in the revolution of a day; and from its first founding,
five hundred years did circle, ere Strasbourg's great spire lifted
its five hundred feet into the air. No: nor were the great grottos of
Elephanta hewn out in an hour; nor did the Troglodytes dig Kentucky's
Mammoth Cave in a sun; nor that of Trophonius, nor Antiparos; nor the
Giant's Causeway. Nor were the subterranean arched sewers of Etruria
channeled in a trice; nor the airy arched aqueducts of Nerva thrown
over their values in the ides of a month. Nor was Virginia's Natural
Bridge worn under in a year; nor, in geology, were the eternal
Grampians upheaved in an age. And who shall count the cycles that
revolved ere earth's interior sedimentary strata were crystalized
into stone. Nor Peak of Piko, nor Teneriffe, were chiseled into
obelisks in a decade; nor had Mount Athos been turned into
Alexander's statue so soon. And the bower of Artaxerxes took a whole
Persian summer to grow; and the Czar's Ice Palace a long Muscovite
winter to congeal. No, no: nor was the Pyramid of Cheops masoned in a
month; though, once built, the sands left by the deluge might
not have submerged such a pile. Nor were the broad boughs of Charles'
Oak grown in a spring; though they outlived the royal dynasties of
Tudor and Stuart. Nor were the parts of the great Iliad put together
in haste; though old Homer's temple shall lift up its dome, when St.
Peter's is a legend. Even man himself lives months ere his Maker
deems him fit to be born; and ere his proud shaft gains its full
stature, twenty-one long Julian years must elapse. And his whole
mortal life brings not his immortal soul to maturity; nor will all
eternity perfect him. Yea, with uttermost reverence, as to human
understanding, increase of dominion seems increase of power; and day
by day new planets are being added to elder-born Saturn, even as six
thousand years ago our own Earth made one more in this system; so, in
incident, not in essence, may the Infinite himself be not less than
more infinite now, than when old Aldebaran rolled forth from his
hand. And if time was, when this round Earth, which to innumerable
mortals has seemed an empire never to be wholly explored; which, in
its seas, concealed all the Indies over four thousand five hundred
years; if time was, when this great quarry of Assyrias and Romes was
not extant; then, time may have been, when the whole material
universe lived its Dark Ages; yea, when the Ineffable Silence,
proceeding from its unimaginable remoteness, espied it as an isle in
the sea. And herein is no derogation. For the Immeasurable's altitude
is not heightened by the arches of Mahomet's heavens; and were all
space a vacuum, yet would it be a fullness; for to Himself His own
universe is He.

Thus deeper and deeper into Time's endless tunnel, does the winged
soul, like a night-hawk, wend her wild way; and finds eternities
before and behind; and her last limit is her everlasting beginning.

But sent over the broad flooded sphere, even Noah's dove came back,
and perched on his hand. So comes back my spirit to me, and folds up
her wings.

Thus, then, though Time be the mightiest of Alarics, yet is he the
mightiest mason of all. And a tutor, and a counselor, and a
physician, and a scribe, and a poet, and a sage, and a king.

Yea, and a gardener, as ere long will be shown.

But first must we return to the glen.



CHAPTER LXXVI
A Pleasant Place For A Lounge


Whether the hard condition of their kingly state, very naturally
demanding some luxurious requital, prevailed upon the monarchs of
Juam to house themselves so delightfully as they did; whether buried
alive in their glen, they sought to center therein a secret world of
enjoyment; however it may have been, throughout the Archipelago this
saying was a proverb--"You are lodged like the king in Willamilla."
Hereby was expressed the utmost sumptuousness of a palace.

A well warranted saying; for of all the bright places, where my soul
loves to linger, the haunts of Donjalolo are most delicious.

In the eastern quarter of the glen was the House of the Morning. This
fanciful palace was raised upon a natural mound, many rods square,
almost completely filling up a deep recess between deep-green and
projecting cliffs, overlooking many abodes distributed in the shadows
of the groves beyond.

Now, if it indeed be, that from the time employed in its
construction, any just notion may be formed of the stateliness of an
edifice, it must needs be determined, that this retreat of Donjalolo
could not be otherwise than imposing.

Full five hundred moons was the palace in completing; for by some
architectural arborist, its quadrangular foundations had been laid in
seed-cocoanuts, requiring that period to sprout up into pillars. In
front, these were horizontally connected, by elaborately carved
beams, of a scarlet hue, inserted into the vital wood; which,
swelling out, and over lapping, firmly secured them. The beams
supported the rafters, inclining from the rear; while over the
aromatic grasses covering the roof, waved the tufted tops of the
Palms, green capitals to their dusky shafts.

Through and through this vibrating verdure, bright birds flitted and
sang; the scented and variegated thatch seemed a hanging-garden; and
between it and the Palm tops, was leaf-hung an arbor in the air.

Without these columns, stood a second and third colonnade, forming
the most beautiful bowers; advancing through which, you fancied that
the palace beyond must be chambered in a fountain, or frozen in a
crystal. Three sparkling rivulets flowing from the heights were led
across its summit, through great trunks half buried in the thatch;
and emptying into a sculptured channel, running along the eaves,
poured over in one wide sheet, plaited and transparent. Received into
a basin beneath, they were thence conducted down the vale.

The sides of the palace were hedged by Diomi bushes bearing a flower,
from its perfume, called Lenora, or Sweet Breath; and within these
odorous hedges, were heavy piles of mats, richly dyed and embroidered.

Here lounging of a glowing noon, the plaited cascade playing, the
verdure waving, and the birds melodious, it was hard to say, whether
you were an inmate of a garden in the glen, or a grotto in the sea.

But enough for the nonce, of the House of the Morning. Cross we the
hollow, to the House of the Afternoon.



CHAPTER LXXVII
The House Of The Afternoon


For the most part, the House of the Afternoon was but a wing built
against a mansion wrought by the hand of Nature herself; a grotto
running into the side of the mountain. From high over the mouth of
this grotto, sloped a long arbor, supported by great blocks of stone,
rudely chiseled into the likeness of idols, each bearing a carved
lizard on its chest: a sergeant's guard of the gods condescendingly
doing duty as posts.

From the grotto thus vestibuled, issued hilariously forth the most
considerable stream of the glen; which, seemingly overjoyed to find
daylight in Willamilla, sprang into the arbor with a cheery, white
bound. But its youthful enthusiasm was soon repressed; its waters
being caught in a large stone basin, scooped out of the natural rock;
whence, staid and decorous, they traversed sundry moats; at last
meandering away, to join floods with the streams trained to do
service at the other end of the vale.

Truant streams: the livelong day wending their loitering path to the
subterraneous outlet, flowing into which, they disappeared. But no
wonder they loitered; passing such ravishing landscapes. Thus with
life: man bounds out of night; runs and babbles in the sun; then
returns to his darkness again; though, peradventure, once more to
emerge.

But the grotto was not a mere outlet to the stream. Flowing through a
dark flume in the rock, on both sides it left a dry, elevated shelf,
to which you ascend from the arbor by three artificially-wrought
steps, sideways disposed, to avoid the spray of the rejoicing
cataract. Mounting these, and pursuing the edge of the flume, the
grotto gradually expands and heightens; your way lighted by rays in
the inner distance. At last you come to a lofty subterraneous dome,
lit from above by a cleft in the mountain; while full before you, in
the opposite wall, from a low, black arch, midway up, and
inaccessible, the stream, with a hollow ring and a dash, falls in a
long, snowy column into a bottomless pool, whence, after many an eddy
and whirl, it entered the flume, and away with a rush. Half hidden
from view by an overhanging brow of the rock, the white fall looked
like the sheeted ghost of the grotto.

Yet gallantly bedecked was the cave, as any old armorial hall hung
round with banners and arras. Streaming from the cleft, vines swung
in the air; or crawled along the rocks, wherever a tendril could be
fixed. High up, their leaves were green; but lower down, they were
shriveled; and dyed of many colors; and tattered and torn with much
rustling; as old banners again; sore raveled with much triumphing.

In the middle of this hall in the hill was incarcerated the stone
image of one Demi, the tutelar deity of Willamina. All green and oozy
like a stone under water, poor Demi looked as if sore harassed with
sciatics and lumbagos.

But he was cheered from aloft, by the promise of receiving a garland
all blooming on his crown; the Dryads sporting in the woodlands
above, forever peeping down the cleft, and essaying to drop him a
coronal.

Now, the still, panting glen of Willamilla, nested so close by the
mountains, and a goodly green mark for the archer in the sun, would
have been almost untenable were it not for the grotto. Hereby, it
breathed the blessed breezes of Omi; a mountain promontory
buttressing the island to the east, receiving the cool stream of the
upland Trades; much pleasanter than the currents beneath.

At all times, even in the brooding noon-day, a gush of cool air came
hand-in-hand with the cool waters, that burst with a shout into the
palace of Donjalolo. And as, after first refreshing the king, as in
loyalty bound, the stream flowed at large through the glen, and
bathed its verdure; so, the blessed breezes of Omi, not only made
pleasant the House of the Afternoon; but finding ample outlet in its
wide, open front, blew forth upon the bosom of all Willamilla.

"Come let us take the air of Omi," was a very common saying in the
glen. And the speaker would hie with his comrade toward the grotto;
and flinging himself on the turf, pass his hand through his locks,
and recline; making a joy and a business of breathing; for truly the
breezes of Omi were as air-wine to the lungs.

Yet was not this breeze over-cool; though at times the zephyrs grew
boisterous. Especially at the season of high sea, when the strong
Trades drawn down the cleft in the mountain, rushed forth from the
grotto with wonderful force. Crossing it then, you had much ado to
keep your robe on your back.

Thus much for the House of the Afternoon. Whither--after spending the
shady morning under the eastern cliffs of the glen--daily, at a
certain hour, Donjalolo in his palanquin was borne; there, finding
new shades; and there tarrying till evening; when again he was
transported whence he came: thereby anticipating the revolution of
the sun. Thus dodging day's luminary through life, the prince hied to
and fro in his dominions; on his smooth, spotless brow Sol's rays
never shining.



CHAPTER LXXVIII
Babbalanja Solus


Of the House of the Afternoon something yet remains to be said.

It was chiefly distinguished by its pavement, where, according to the
strange customs of the isle, were inlaid the reputed skeletons of
Donjalolo's sires; each surrounded by a mosaic of corals,--red,
white, and black, intermixed with vitreous stones fallen from the
skies in a meteoric shower. These delineated the tattooing of the
departed. Near by, were imbedded their arms: mace, bow, and spear, in
similar marquetry; and over each skull was the likeness of a scepter.

First and conspicuous lay the half-decayed remains of Marjora, the
father of these Coral Kings; by his side, the storied, sickle-shaped
weapon, wherewith he slew his brother Teei.

"Line of kings and row of scepters," said Babbalanja as he gazed.
"Donjalolo, come forth and ponder on thy sires. Here they lie, from
dread Marjora down to him who fathered thee. Here are their bones,
their spears, and their javelins; their scepters, and the very
fashion of their tattooing: all that can be got together of what they
were. Tell me, oh king, what are thy thoughts? Dotest thou on these
thy sires? Art thou more truly royal, that they were kings? Or more a
man, that they were men? Is it a fable, or a verity about Marjora and
the murdered Teei? But here is the mighty conqueror,--ask him. Speak
to him: son to sire: king to king. Prick him; beg; buffet;
entreat; spurn; split the globe, he will not budge. Walk over and
over thy whole ancestral line, and they will not start. They are not
here. Ay, the dead are not to be found, even in their graves. Nor
have they simply departed; for they willed not to go; they died not
by choice; whithersoever they have gone, thither have they been
dragged; and if so be, they are extinct, their nihilities went not
more against their grain, than their forced quitting of Mardi. Either
way, something has become of them that they sought not. Truly, had
stout-hearted Marjora sworn to live here in Willamilla for ay, and
kept the vow, _that_ would have been royalty indeed; but here he
lies. Marjora! rise! Juam revolteth! Lo, I stamp upon thy scepter;
base menials tread upon thee where thou hest! Up, king, up! What? no
reply? Are not these bones thine? Oh, how the living triumph over the
dead! Marjora! answer. Art thou? or art thou not? I see thee not; I
hear thee not; I feel thee not; eyes, ears, hands, are worthless to
test thy being; and if thou art, thou art something beyond all human
thought to compass. We must have other faculties to know thee by.
Why, thou art not even a sightless sound; not the echo of an echo;
here are thy bones. Donjalolo, methinks I see thee fallen upon by
assassins:--which of thy fathers riseth to the rescue? I see thee
dying:--which of them telleth thee what cheer beyond the grave? But
they have gone to the land unknown. Meet phrase. Where is it? Not one
of Oro's priests telleth a straight story concerning it; 'twill be
hard finding their paradises. Touching the life of Alma, in Mohi's
chronicles, 'tis related, that a man was once raised from the tomb.
But rubbed he not his eyes, and stared he not most vacantly? Not one
revelation did he make. Ye gods! to have been a bystander there!

"At best, 'tis but a hope. But will a longing bring the thing
desired? Doth dread avert its object? An instinct is no preservative.
The fire I shrink from, may consume me.--But dead, and yet
alive; alive, yet dead;--thus say the sages of Maramma. But die we
then living? Yet if our dead fathers somewhere and somehow live, why
not our unborn sons? For backward or forward, eternity is the same;
already have we been the nothing we dread to be. Icy thought! But
bring it home,--it will not stay. What ho, hot heart of mine: to beat
thus lustily awhile, to feel in the red rushing blood, and then be
ashes,--can this be so? But peace, peace, thou liar in me, telling me
I am immortal--shall I not be as these bones? To come to this! But
the balsam-dropping palms, whose boles run milk, whose plumes wave
boastful in the air, they perish in their prime, and bow their
blasted trunks. Nothing abideth; the river of yesterday floweth not
to-day; the sun's rising is a setting; living is dying; the very
mountains melt; and all revolve:--systems and asteroids; the sun
wheels through the zodiac, and the zodiac is a revolution. Ah gods!
in all this universal stir, am _I_ to prove one stable thing?

"Grim chiefs in skeletons, avaunt! Ye are but dust; belike the dust
of beggars; for on this bed, paupers may lie down with kings, and
filch their skulls. _This_, great Marjora's arm? No, some old
paralytic's. _Ye_, kings? _ye_, men? Where are your vouchers? I do
reject your brother-hood, ye libelous remains. But no, no; despise
them not, oh Babbalanja! Thy own skeleton, thou thyself dost carry
with thee, through this mortal life; and aye would view it, but for
kind nature's screen; thou art death alive; and e'en to what's before
thee wilt thou come. Ay, thy children's children will walk over thee:
thou, voiceless as a calm."

And over the Coral Kings, Babbalanja paced in profound meditation.



CHAPTER LXXIX
The Center Of Many Circumferences


Like Donjalolo himself, we hie to and fro; for back now must we pace
to the House of the Morning.

In its rear, there diverged three separate arbors, leading to less
public apartments.

Traversing the central arbor, and fancying it will soon lead you to
open ground, you suddenly come upon the most private retreat of the
prince: a square structure; plain as a pyramid; and without, as
inscrutable. Down to the very ground, its walls are thatched; but on
the farther side a passage-way opens, which you enter. But not yet
are you within. Scarce a yard distant, stands an inner thatched wall,
blank as the first. Passing along the intervening corridor, lighted
by narrow apertures, you reach the opposite side, and a second
opening is revealed. This entering, another corridor; lighted as the
first, but more dim, and a third blank wall. And thus, three times
three, you worm round and round, the twilight lessening as you
proceed; until at last, you enter the citadel itself: the innermost
arbor of a nest; whereof, each has its roof, distinct from the rest.

The heart of the place is but small; illuminated by a range of open
sky-lights, downward contracting.

Innumerable as the leaves of an endless folio, multitudinous mats
cover the floor; whereon reclining by night, like Pharaoh on the top
of his patrimonial pile, the inmate looks heavenward, and heavenward
only; gazing at the torchlight processions in the skies, when, in
state, the suns march to be crowned.

And here, in this impenetrable retreat, centrally slumbered the
universe-rounded, zodiac-belted, horizon-zoned, sea-girt, reef-
sashed, mountain-locked, arbor-nested, royalty-girdled, arm-clasped,
self-hugged, indivisible Donjalolo, absolute monarch of Juam:--the
husk-inhusked meat in a nut; the innermost spark in a ruby; the
juice-nested seed in a goldenrinded orange; the red royal stone in an
effeminate peach; the insphered sphere of spheres.



CHAPTER LXXX
Donjalolo In The Bosom Of His Family


To pretend to relate the manner in which Juam's ruler passed his
captive days, without making suitable mention of his harem, would be
to paint one's full-length likeness and omit the face. For it was his
harem that did much to stamp the character of Donjalolo.

And had he possessed but a single spouse, most discourteous, surely,
to have overlooked the princess; much more, then, as it is; and by
how-much the more, a plurality exceeds a unit.

Exclusive of the female attendants, by day waiting upon the person of
the king, he had wives thirty in number, corresponding in name to the
nights of the moon. For, in Juam, time is not reckoned by days, but
by nights; each night of the lunar month having its own designation;
which, relatively only, is extended to the day.

In uniform succession, the thirty wives ruled queen of the king's
heart. An arrangement most wise and judicious; precluding much of
that jealousy and confusion prevalent in ill-regulated seraglios. For
as thirty spouses must be either more desirable, or less desirable
than one; so is a harem thirty times more difficult to manage than an
establishment with one solitary mistress. But Donjalolo's wives were
so nicely drilled, that for the most part, things went on very
smoothly. Nor were his brows much furrowed with wrinkles referable to
domestic cares and tribulations. Although, as in due time will be
seen, from these he was not altogether exempt.

Now, according to Braid-Beard, who, among other abstruse political
researches, had accurately informed himself concerning the internal
administration of Donjalolo's harem, the following was the method
pursued therein.

On the Aquella, or First Night of the month, the queen of that name
assumes her diadem, and reigns. So too with Azzolino the Second, and
Velluvi the Third Night of the Moon; and so on, even unto the utter
eclipse thereof; through Calends, Nones, and Ides.

For convenience, the king is furnished with a card, whereon are
copied the various ciphers upon the arms of his queens; and parallel
thereto, the hieroglyphics significant of the corresponding Nights of
the month. Glancing over this, Donjalolo predicts the true time of
the rising and setting of all his stars.

This Moon of wives was lodged in two spacious seraglios, which few
mortals beheld. For, so deeply were they buried in a grove; so
overpowered with verdure; so overrun with vines; and so hazy with the
incense of flowers; that they were almost invisible, unless closely
approached. Certain it was, that it demanded no small enterprise,
diligence, and sagacity, to explore the mysterious wood in search of
them. Though a strange, sweet, humming sound, as of the clustering
and swarming of warm bees among roses, at last hinted the royal honey
at hand. High in air, toward the summit of the cliff, overlooking
this side of the glen, a narrow ledge of rocks might have been seen,
from which, rumor whispered, was to be caught an angular peep at the
tip of the apex of the roof of the nearest seraglio. But this wild
report had never been established. Nor, indeed, was it susceptible of
a test. For was not that rock inaccessible as the eyrie of young
eagles? But to guard against the possibility of any visual
profanation, Donjalolo had authorized an edict, forever tabooing that
rock to foot of man or pinion of fowl. Birds and bipeds both trembled
and obeyed; taking a wide circuit to avoid the spot.

Access to the seraglios was had by corresponding arbors leading from
the palace. The seraglio to the right was denominated "Ravi"
(Before), that to the left "Zono" (After). The meaning of which was,
that upon the termination of her reign the queen wended her way to
the Zono; there tarrying with her predecessors till the Ravi was
emptied; when the entire Moon of wives, swallow-like, migrated back
whence they came; and the procession was gone over again.

In due order, the queens reposed upon mats inwoven with their
respective ciphers. In the Ravi, the mat of the queen-apparent, or
next in succession, was spread by the portal. In the Zono, the newly-
widowed queen reposed furthest from it.

But alas for all method where thirty wives are concerned.
Notwithstanding these excellent arrangements, the mature result of
ages of progressive improvement in the economy of the royal seraglios
in Willamilla, it must needs be related, that at times the order of
precedence became confused, and was very hard to restore.

At intervals, some one of the wives was weeded out, to the no small
delight of the remainder; but to their equal vexation her place would
soon after be supplied by some beautiful stranger; who assuming the
denomination of the vacated Night of the Moon, thenceforth commenced
her monthly revolutions in the king's infallible calendar.

In constant attendance, was a band of old men; woe-begone, thin of
leg, and puny of frame; whose grateful task it was, to tarry in the
garden of Donjalolo's delights, without ever touching the roses.
Along with innumerable other duties, they were perpetually kept
coming and going upon ten thousand errands; for they had it in strict
charge to obey the slightest behests of the damsels; and with all
imaginable expedition to run, fly, swim, or dissolve into impalpable
air, at the shortest possible notice.

So laborious their avocations, that none could discharge them
for more than a twelvemonth, at the end of that period giving up the
ghost out of pure exhaustion of the locomotive apparatus. It was this
constant drain upon the stock of masculine old age in the glen, that
so bethinned its small population of gray-beards and hoary-heads. And
any old man hitherto exempted, who happened to receive a summons to
repair to the palace, and there wait the pleasure of the king: this
unfortunate, at once suspecting his doom, put his arbor in order;
oiled and suppled his joints; took a long farewell of his friends;
selected his burial-place; and going resigned to his fate, in due
time expired like the rest.

Had any one of them cast about for some alleviating circumstance, he
might possibly have derived some little consolation from the thought,
that though a slave to the whims of thirty princesses, he was
nevertheless one of their guardians, and as such, he might
ingeniously have concluded, their superior. But small consolation
this. For the damsels were as blithe as larks, more playful than
kittens; never looking sad and sentimental, projecting clandestine
escapes. But supplied with the thirtieth part of all that Aspasia
could desire; glorying in being the spouses of a king; nor in the
remotest degree anxious about eventual dowers; they were care-free,
content, and rejoicing, as the rays of the morning.

Poor old men, then; it would be hard to distill out of your fate, one
drop of the balm of consolation. For, commissioned to watch over
those who forever kept you on the trot, affording you no time to hunt
up peccadilloes; was not this circumstance an aggravation of hard
times? a sharpening and edge-giving to the steel in your souls?

But much yet remains unsaid.

To dwell no more upon the eternal wear-and-tear incident to these
attenuated old warders, they were intensely hated by the damsels.
Inasmuch, as it was archly opined, for what ulterior purposes they
were retained.

Nightly couching, on guard, round the seraglio, like fangless old
bronze dragons round a fountain enchanted, the old men ever and anon
cried out mightily, by reason of sore pinches and scratches received
in the dark: And tri-trebly-tri-triply girt about as he was,
Donjalolo himself started from his slumbers, raced round and round
through his ten thousand corridors; at last bursting all dizzy among
his twenty-nine queens, to see what under the seventh-heavens was the
matter. When, lo and behold! there lay the innocents all sound
asleep; the dragons moaning over their mysterious bruises.

Ah me! his harem, like all large families, was the delight and the
torment of the days and nights of Donjalolo.

And in one special matter was he either eminently miserable, or
otherwise: for all his multiplicity of wives, he had never an heir.
Not his, the proud paternal glance of the Grand Turk Solyman, looking
round upon a hundred sons, all bone of his bone, and squinting with
his squint.



CHAPTER LXXXI
Wherein Babbalanja Relates The Adventure Of One Karkeke In The Land
Of Shades


At our morning repast on the second day of our stay in the hollow,
our party indulged in much lively discourse.

"Samoa," said I, "those isles of yours, of whose beauty you so often
make vauntful mention, can those isles, good Samoa, furnish a valley
in all respects equal to Willamilla?"

Disdainful answer was made, that Willamilla might be endurable enough
for a sojourn, but as a permanent abode, any glen of his own natal
isle was unspeakably superior.

"In the great valley of Savaii," cried Samoa, "for every leaf grown
here in Willamilla, grows a stately tree; and for every tree here
waving, in Savaii flourishes a goodly warrior."

Immeasurable was the disgust of the Upoluan for the enervated
subjects of Donjalolo; and for Donjalolo himself; though it was
shrewdly divined, that his annoying reception at the hands of the
royalty of Juam, had something to do with his disdain.

To Jarl, no similar question was put; for he was sadly deficient in a
taste for the picturesque. But he cursorily observed, that in his
blue-water opinion, Willamilla was next to uninhabitable, all view of
the sea being intercepted.

And here it may be well to relate a comical blunder on the part of
honest Jarl; concerning which, Samoa, the savage, often afterward
twitted him; as indicating a rusticity, and want of polish in his
breeding. It rather originated, however, in his not heeding the
conventionalities of the strange people among whom he was thrown.

The anecdote is not an epic; but here it is.

Reclining in our arbor, we breakfasted upon a marble slab; so frost-
white, and flowingly traced with blue veins, that it seemed a little
lake sheeted over with ice: Diana's virgin bosom congealed.

Before each guest was a richly carved bowl and gourd, fruit and wine
freighted also the empty hemisphere of a small nut, the purpose of
which was a problem. Now, King Jarl scorned to admit the slightest
degree of under-breeding in the matter of polite feeding. So nothing
was a problem to him. At once reminded of the morsel of Arvaroot in
his mouth, a substitute for another sort of sedative then
unattainable, he was instantly illuminated concerning the purpose of
the nut; and very complacently introduced each to the other; in the
innocence of his ignorance making no doubt that he had acquitted
himself with discretion; the little hemisphere plainly being intended
as a place of temporary deposit for the Arva of the guests.

The company were astounded: Samoa more than all. King Jarl,
meanwhile, looking at all present with the utmost serenity. At
length, one of the horrified attendants, using two sticks for a
forceps, disappeared with the obnoxious nut, Upon which, the meal
proceeded.

This attendant was not seen again for many days; which gave rise to
the supposition, that journeying to the sea-side, he had embarked for
some distant strand; there, to bury out of sight the abomination with
which he was freighted.

Upon this, his egregious misadventure, calculated to do discredit to
our party, and bring Media himself into contempt, Babbalanja had no
scruples in taking Jarl roundly to task. He assured him, that it
argued but little brains to evince a desire to be thought familiar
with all things; that however desirable as incidental attainments,
conventionalities, in themselves, were the very least of arbitrary
trifles; the knowledge of them, innate with no man. "Moreover Jarl,"
he added, "in essence, conventionalities are but mimickings,
at which monkeys succeed best. Hence, when you find yourself at a
loss in these matters, wait patiently, and mark what the other
monkeys do: and then follow suit. And by so doing, you will gain a
vast reputation as an accomplished ape. Above all things, follow not
the silly example of the young spark Karkeke, of whom Mohi was
telling me. Dying, and entering the other world with a mincing gait,
and there finding certain customs quite strange and new; such as
friendly shades passing through each other by way of a salutation;--
Karkeke, nevertheless, resolved to show no sign of embarrassment.
Accosted by a phantom, with wings folded pensively, plumes
interlocked across its chest, he off head; and stood obsequiously
before it. Staring at him for an instant, the spirit cut him dead;
murmuring to itself, 'Ah, some terrestrial bumpkin, I fancy,' and
passed on with its celestial nose in the highly rarified air. But
silly Karkeke undertaking to replace his head, found that it would no
more stay on; but forever tumbled off; even in the act of nodding a
salute; which calamity kept putting him out of countenance. And thus
through all eternity is he punished for his folly, in having
pretended to be wise, wherein he was ignorant. Head under arm, he
wanders about, the scorn and ridicule of the other world."

Our repast concluded, messengers arrived from the prince, courteously
inviting our presence at the House of the Morning. Thither we went;
journeying in sedans, sent across the hollow, for that purpose, by
Donjalolo.



CHAPTER LXXXII
How Donjalolo, Sent Agents To The Surrounding Isles; With The Result


Ere recounting what was beheld on entering the House of the Morning,
some previous information is needful. Though so many of Donjalolo's
days were consumed by sloth and luxury, there came to him certain
intervals of thoughtfulness, when all his curiosity concerning the
things of outer Mardi revived with augmented intensity. In these
moods, he would send abroad deputations, inviting to Willamilla the
kings of the neighboring islands; together with the most celebrated
priests, bards, story-tellers, magicians, and wise men; that he might
hear them converse of those things, which he could not behold for
himself.

But at last, he bethought him, that the various narrations he had
heard, could not have been otherwise than unavoidably faulty; by
reason that they had been principally obtained from the inhabitants
of the countries described; who, very naturally, must have been
inclined to partiality or uncandidness in their statements. Wherefore
he had very lately dispatched to the isles special agents of his own;
honest of heart, keen of eye, and shrewd of understanding; to seek
out every thing that promised to illuminate him concerning the places
they visited, and also to collect various specimens of interesting
objects; so that at last he might avail himself of the researches of
others, and see with their eyes.

But though two observers were sent to every one of the
neighboring lands; yet each was to act independently; make his own
inquiries; form his own conclusions; and return with his own
specimens; wholly regardless of the proceedings of the other.

It so came to pass, that on the very day of our arrival in the glen,
these pilgrims returned from their travels. And Donjalolo had set
apart the following morning to giving them a grand public reception.
And it was to this, that our party had been invited, as related in
the chapter preceding.

In the great Palm-hall of the House of the Morning, we were assigned
distinguished mats, to the right of the prince; his chiefs,
attendants, and subjects assembled in the open colonnades without.

When all was in readiness, in marched the company of savans and
travelers; and humbly standing in a semi-circle before the king,
their numerous hampers were deposited at their feet.

Donjalolo was now in high spirits, thinking of the rich store of
reliable information about to be furnished.

"Zuma," said he, addressing the foremost of the company, "you and
Varnopi were directed to explore the island of Rafona. Proceed now,
and relate all you know of that place. Your narration heard, we will
list to Varnopi."

With a profound inclination the traveler obeyed.

But soon Donjalolo interrupted him. "What say you, Zuma, about the
secret cavern, and the treasures therein? A very different account,
this, from all I have heard hitherto; but perhaps yours is the true
version. Go on."

But very soon, poor Zuma was again interrupted by exclamations of
surprise. Nay, even to the very end of his mountings.

But when he had done, Donjalolo observed, that if from any cause Zuma
was in error or obscure, Varnopi would not fail to set him right.

So Varnopi was called upon.

But not long had Varnopi proceeded, when Donjalolo changed color.

"What!" he exclaimed, "will ye contradict each other before our very
face. Oh Oro! how hard is truth to be come at by proxy! Fifty
accounts have I had of Rafona; none of which wholly agreed; and here,
these two varlets, sent expressly to behold and report, these two
lying knaves, speak crookedly both. How is it? Are the lenses in
their eyes diverse-hued, that objects seem different to both; for
undeniable is it, that the things they thus clashingly speak of are
to be known for the same; though represented with unlike colors and
qualities. But dumb things can not lie nor err. Unpack thy hampers,
Zuma. Here, bring them close: now: what is this?"

"That," tremblingly replied Zuma, "is a specimen of the famous reef-
bar on the west side of the island of Rafona; your highness perceives
its deep red dyes."

Said Donjalolo, "Varnopi, hast thou a piece of this coral, also?"

"I have, your highness," said Varnopi; "here it is."

Taking it from his hand, Donjalolo gazed at its bleached, white hue;
then dashing it to the pavement, "Oh mighty Oro! Truth dwells in her
fountains; where every one must drink for himself. For me, vain all
hope of ever knowing Mardi! Away! Better know nothing, than be
deceived. Break up!"

And Donjalolo rose, and retired.

All present now broke out in a storm of vociferation; some siding
with Zuma; others with Varnopi; each of whom, in turn, was declared
the man to be relied upon.

Marking all this, Babbalanja, who had been silently looking on,
leaning against one of the palm pillars, quietly observed to Media:--
"My lord, I have seen this same reef at Rafona. In various places, it
is of various hues. As for Zuma and Varnopi, both are wrong, and both
are right."



CHAPTER LXXXIII
They Visit The Tributary Islets


In Willamilla, no Yillah being found, on the third day we took leave
of Donjalolo; who lavished upon us many caresses and, somewhat
reluctantly on Media's part, we quitted the vale.

One by one, we now visited the outer villages of Juam; and crossing
the waters, wandered several days among its tributary isles. There we
saw the viceroys of him who reigned in the hollow: chieftains of whom
Donjalolo was proud; so honest, humble, and faithful; so bent upon
ameliorating the condition of those under their rule. For, be it
said, Donjalolo was a charitable prince; in his serious intervals,
ever seeking the welfare of his subjects, though after an imperial
view of his own. But alas, in that sunny donjon among the mountains,
where he dwelt, how could Donjalolo be sure, that the things he
decreed were executed in regions forever remote from his view. Ah!
very bland, very innocent, very pious, the faces his viceroys
presented during their monthly visits to Willamilla. But as cruel
their visage, when, returned to their islets, they abandoned
themselves to all the license of tyrants; like Verres reveling down
the rights of the Sicilians.

Like Carmelites, they came to Donjalolo, barefooted; but in their
homes, their proud latchets were tied by their slaves. Before their
king-belted prince, they stood rope-girdled like self-abased monks of
St. Francis; but with those ropes, before their palaces, they hung
Innocence and Truth.

As still seeking Yillah, and still disappointed, we roved through
the lands which these chieftains ruled, Babbalanja exclaimed--"Let us
depart; idle our search, in isles that have viceroys for kings."

At early dawn, about embarking for a distant land, there came to us
certain messengers of Donjalolo, saying that their lord the king,
repenting of so soon parting company with Media and Taji, besought
them to return with all haste; for that very morning, in Willamilla,
a regal banquet was preparing; to which many neighboring kings had
been invited, most of whom had already arrived.

Declaring that there was no alternative but compliance, Media
acceded; and with the king's messengers we returned to the glen.



CHAPTER LXXXIV
Taji Sits Down To Dinner With Five-And-Twenty Kings, And A Royal Time
They Have


It was afternoon when we emerged from the defile. And informed that
our host was receiving his guests in the House of the Afternoon,
thither we directed our steps.

Soft in our face, blew the blessed breezes of Omi, stirring the
leaves overhead; while, here and there, through the trees, showed the
idol-bearers of the royal retreat, hand in hand, linked with festoons
of flowers. Still beyond, on a level, sparkled the nodding crowns of
the kings, like the constellation Corona-Borealis, the horizon just
gained.

Close by his noon-tide friend, the cascade at the mouth of the
grotto, reposed on his crimson mat, Donjalolo:--arrayed in a vestment
of the finest white tappa of Mardi, figured all over with bright
yellow lizards, so curiously stained in the gauze, that he seemed
overrun, as with golden mice.

Marjora's girdle girdled his loins, tasseled with the congregated
teeth of his sires. A jeweled turban-tiara, milk-white, surmounted
his brow, over which waved a copse of Pintado plumes.

But what sways in his hand? A scepter, similar to those likenesses of
scepters, imbedded among the corals at his feet. A polished thigh-
bone; by Braid-Beard declared once Teei's the Murdered. For to
emphasize his intention utterly to rule, Marjora himself had selected
this emblem of dominion over mankind.

But even this last despite done to dead Teei had once been
transcended. In the usurper's time, prevailed the belief, that
the saliva of kings must never touch ground; and Mohi's Chronicles
made mention, that during the life time of Marjora, Teei's skull had
been devoted to the basest of purposes: Marjora's, the hate no turf
could bury.

Yet, traditions like these ever seem dubious. There be many who deny
the hump, moral and physical, of Gloster Richard.

Still advancing unperceived, in social hilarity we descried their
Highnesses, chatting together like the most plebeian of mortals; full
as merry as the monks of old. But marking our approach, all changed.
A pair of potentates, who had been playfully trifling, hurriedly
adjusted their diadems, threw themselves into attitudes, looking
stately as statues. Phidias turned not out his Jupiter so soon.

In various-dyed robes the five-and-twenty kings were arrayed; and
various their features, as the rows of lips, eyes and ears in John
Caspar Lavater's physiognomical charts. Nevertheless, to a king, all
their noses were aquiline.

There were long fox-tail beards of silver gray, and enameled chins,
like those of girls; bald pates and Merovingian locks; smooth brows
and wrinkles: forms erect and stooping; an eye that squinted; one
king was deaf; by his side, another that was halt; and not far off, a
dotard. They were old and young, tall and short, handsome and ugly,
fat and lean, cunning and simple.

With animated courtesy our host received us; assigning a neighboring
bower for Babbalanja and the rest; and among so many right-royal,
demi-divine guests, how could the demi-gods Media and Taji be
otherwise than at home?

The unwonted sprightliness of Donjalolo surprised us. But he was in
one of those relapses of desperate gayety in-variably following his
failures in efforts to amend his life. And the bootless issue of his
late mission to outer Mardi had thrown him into a mood for revelry.
Nor had he lately shunned a wild wine, called Morando.

A slave now appearing with a bowl of this beverage, it circulated
freely.

Not to gainsay the truth, we fancied the Morando much. A nutty,
pungent flavor it had; like some kinds of arrack distilled in the
Philippine isles. And a marvelous effect did it have, in dissolving
the crystalization of the brain; leaving nothing but precious little
drops of good humor, beading round the bowl of the cranium.

Meanwhile, garlanded boys, climbing the limbs of the idol-pillars,
and stirruping their feet in their most holy mouths, suspended
hangings of crimson tappa all round the hall; so that sweeping the
pavement they rustled in the breeze from the grot.

Presently, stalwart slaves advanced; bearing a mighty basin of a
porphyry hue, deep-hollowed out of a tree. Outside, were innumerable
grotesque conceits; conspicuous among which, for a border, was an
endless string of the royal lizards circumnavigating the basin in
inverted chase of their tails.

Peculiar to the groves of Willamilla, the yellow lizard formed part
of the arms of Juam. And when Donjalolo's messenger went abroad, they
carried its effigy, as the emblem of their royal master; themselves
being known, as the Gentlemen of the Golden Lizard.

The porphyry-hued basin planted full in our midst, the attendants
forthwith filled the same with the living waters from the cascade; a
proceeding, for which some of the company were at a loss to account,
unless his highness, our host, with all the coolness of royalty,
purposed cooling himself still further, by taking a bath in presence
of his guests. A conjecture, most premature; for directly, the basin
being filled to within a few inches of the lizards, the attendants
fell to launching therein divers goodly sized trenchers, all laden
with choice viands:--wild boar meat; humps of grampuses; embrowned
bread-fruit, roasted in odoriferous fires of sandal wood, but
suffered to cool; gold fish, dressed with the fragrant juices
of berries; citron sauce; rolls of the baked paste of yams; juicy
bananas, steeped in a saccharine oil; marmalade of plantains; jellies
of guava; confections of the treacle of palm sap; and many other
dainties; besides numerous stained calabashes of Morando, and other
beverages, fixed in carved floats to make them buoyant.

The guests assigned seats, by the woven handles attached to his
purple mat, the prince, our host, was now gently moved by his
servitors to the head of the porphyry-hued basin. Where, flanked by
lofty crowned-heads, white-tiaraed, and radiant with royalty, he sat;
like snow-turbaned Mont Blanc, at sunrise presiding over the head
waters of the Rhone; to right and left, looming the gilded summits of
the Simplon, the Gothard, the Jungfrau, the Great St. Bernard, and
the Grand Glockner.

Yet turbid from the launching of its freight, Lake Como tossed to and
fro its navies of good cheer, the shadows of the king-peaks wildly
flitting thereupon.

But no frigid wine and fruit cooler, Lake Como; as at first it did
seem; but a tropical dining table, its surface a slab of light blue
St. Pons marble in a state of fluidity.

Now, many a crown was doffed; scepters laid aside; girdles slackened;
and among those verdant viands the bearded kings like goats did
browse; or tusking their wild boar's meat, like mastiffs ate.

And like unto some well-fought fight, beginning calmly, but pressing
forward to a fiery rush, this well-fought feast did now wax warm.

A few royal epicures, however, there were: epicures intent upon
concoctions, admixtures, and masterly compoundings; who comported
themselves with all due deliberation and dignity; hurrying themselves
into no reckless deglutition of the dainties. Ah! admirable conceit,
Lake Como: superseding attendants. For, from hand to hand the
trenchers sailed; no sooner gaining one port, than dispatched over
sea to another.

Well suited they were for the occasion; sailing high out of
water, to resist the convivial swell at times ruffling the sociable
sea; and sharp at both ends, still better adapting them to easy
navigation.

But soon, the Morando, in triumphant decanters, went round, reeling
like barks before a breeze. But their voyages were brief; and ere
long, in certain havens, the accumulation of empty vessels threatened
to bridge the lake with pontoons. In those directions, Trade winds
were setting. But full soon, cut out were all unladen and
unprofitable gourds; and replaced by jolly-bellied calabashes, for a
time sailing deep, yawing heavily to the push.

At last, the whole flotilla of trenchers--wrecks and all--were sent
swimming to the further end of Lake Como; and thence removed, gave
place to ruddy hillocks of fruit, and floating islands of flowers.
Chief among the former, a quince-like, golden sphere, that filled the
air with such fragrance, you thought you were tasting its flavor.

Nor did the wine cease flowing. That day the Juam grape did bleed;
that day the tendril ringlets of the vines, did all uncurl and grape
by grape, in sheer dismay, the sun ripe clusters dropped. Grape-glad
were five-and-twenty kings: five-and-twenty kings were merry.

Morando's vintage had no end; nor other liquids, in the royal cellar
stored, somewhere secret in the grot. Oh! where's the endless Niger's
source? Search ye here, or search ye there; on, on, through ravine,
vega, vale--no head waters will ye find. But why need gain the hidden
spring, when its lavish stream flows by? At three-fold mouths that
Delta-grot discharged; rivers golden, white, and red.

But who may sing for aye? Down I come, and light upon the old and
prosy plain.

Among other decanters set afloat, was a pompous, lordly-looking
demijohn, but old and reverend withal, that sailed about,
consequential as an autocrat going to be crowned, or a treasure-
freighted argosie bound home before the wind. It looked
solemn, however, though it reeled; peradventure, far gone with its
own potent contents.

Oh! russet shores of Rhine and Rhone! oh, mellow memories of ripe old
vintages! oh, cobwebs in the Pyramids! oh, dust on Pharaoh's tomb!--
all, all recur, as I bethink me of that glorious gourd, its contents
cogent as Tokay, itself as old as Mohi's legends; more venerable to
look at than his beard. Whence came it? Buried in vases, so saith the
label, with the heart of old Marjora, now dead one hundred thousand
moons. Exhumed at last, it looked no wine, but was shrunk into a
subtile syrup.

This special calabash was distinguished by numerous trappings,
caparisoned like the sacred bay steed led before the Great Khan of
Tartary. A most curious and betasseled network encased it; and the
royal lizard was jealously twisted about its neck, like a hand on a
throat containing some invaluable secret.

All Hail, Marzilla! King's Own Royal Particular! A vinous Percy!
Dating back to the Conquest! Distilled of yore from purple berries
growing in the purple valley of Ardair! Thrice hail.

But the imperial Marzilla was not for all; gods only could partake;
the Kings and demigods of the isles; excluding left-handed
descendants of sad rakes of immortals, in old times breaking heads
and hearts in Mardi, bequeathing bars-sinister to many mortals, who
now in vain might urge a claim to a cup-full of right regal Marzilla.

The Royal Particular was pressed upon me, by the now jovial
Donjalolo. With his own sceptered hand charging my flagon to the
brim, he declared his despotic pleasure, that I should quaff it off
to the last lingering globule. No hard calamity, truly; for the
drinking of this wine was as the singing of a mighty ode, or frenzied
lyric to the soul.

"Drink, Taji," cried Donjalolo, "drink deep. In this wine a king's
heart is dissolved. Drink long; in this wine lurk the seeds of the
life everlasting Drink deep; drink long: thou drinkest wisdom
and valor at every draught. Drink forever, oh Taji, for thou drinkest
that which will enable thee to stand up and speak out before mighty
Oro himself."

"Borabolla," he added, turning round upon a domed old king at his
left, "Was it not the god Xipho, who begged of my great-great-
grandsire a draught of this same wine, saying he was about to beget a
hero?"

"Even so. And thy glorious Marzilla produced thrice valiant Ononna,
who slew the giants of the reef."

"Ha, ha, hear'st that, oh Taji?" And Donjalolo drained another cup.

Amazing! the flexibility of the royal elbow, and the rigidity of the
royal spine! More especially as we had been impressed with a notion
of their debility. But, sometimes these seemingly enervated young
blades approve themselves steadier of limb, than veteran revelers of
very long standing.

"Discharge the basin, and refill it with wine," cried Donjalolo.
"Break all empty gourds! Drink, kings, and dash your cups at every
draught."

So saying, he started from his purple mat; and with one foot planted
unknowingly upon the skull of Marjora; while all the skeletons
grinned at him from the pavement; Donjalolo, holding on high his
blood-red goblet, burst forth with the following invocation:--

    Ha, ha, gods and kings; fill high, one and all;
    Drink, drink! shout and drink! mad respond to the call!
    Fill fast, and fill frill; 'gainst the goblet ne'er sin;
    Quaff there, at high tide, to the uttermost rim:--
      Flood-tide, and soul-tide to the brim!

    Who with wine in him fears? who thinks of his cares?
    Who sighs to be wise, when wine in him flares?
    Water sinks down below, in currents full slow;
    But wine mounts on high with its genial glow:--
      Welling up, till the brain overflow!

    As the spheres, with a roll, some fiery of soul,
    Others golden, with music, revolve round the pole;

    So let our cups, radiant with many hued wines,
    Round and round in groups circle, our Zodiac's Signs:--
      Round reeling, and ringing their chimes!

    Then drink, gods and kings; wine merriment brings;
    It bounds through the veins; there, jubilant sings.
    Let it ebb, then, and flow; wine never grows dim;
    Drain down that bright tide at the foam beaded rim:--
      Fill up, every cup, to the brim!


Caught by all present, the chorus resounded again and again. The
beaded wine danced on many a beard; the cataract lifted higher its
voice; the grotto sent back a shout; the ghosts of the Coral Monarchs
seemed starting from their insulted bones. But ha, ha, ha, roared
forth the five-and-twenty kings--alive, not dead--holding both hands
to their girdles, and baying out their laughter from abysses; like
Nimrod's hounds over some fallen elk.

Mad and crazy revelers, how ye drank and roared! but kings no more:
vestures loosed; and scepters rolling on the ground.

Glorious agrarian, thou wine! bringing all hearts on a level, and at
last all legs to the earth; even those of kings, who, to do them
justice, have been much maligned for imputed qualities not theirs.
For whoso has touched flagons with monarchs, bear they their back
bones never so stiffly on the throne, well know the rascals, to be at
bottom royal good fellows; capable of a vinous frankness exceeding
that of base-born men. Was not Alexander a boon companion? And daft
Cambyses? and what of old Rowley, as good a judge of wine and other
matters, as ever sipped claret or kisses.

If ever Taji joins a club, be it a Beef-Steak Club of Kings!

Donjalolo emptied yet another cup.

The mirth now blew a gale; like a ship's shrouds in a Typhoon, every
tendon vibrated; the breezes of Omi came forth with a rush; the
hangings shook; the goblets danced fandangos; and Donjalolo,
clapping his hands, called before him his dancing women.

Forth came from the grotto a reed-like burst of song, making all
start, and look that way to behold such enchanting strains. Sounds
heralding sights! Swimming in the air, emerged the nymphs, lustrous
arms interlocked like Indian jugglers' glittering snakes. Round the
cascade they thronged; then paused in its spray. Of a sudden, seemed
to spring from its midst, a young form of foam, that danced into the
soul like a thought. At last, sideways floating off, it subsided into
the grotto, a wave. Evening drawing on apace, the crimson draperies
were lifted, and festooned to the arms of the idol-pillars, admitting
the rosy light of the even.

Yielding to the re-action of the banquet, the kings now reclined; and
two mute damsels entered: one with a gourd of scented waters; the
other with napkins. Bending over Donjalolo's steaming head, the first
let fall a shower of aromatic drops, slowly aborbed by her companion.
Thus, in turn, all were served; nothing heard but deep breathing.

In a marble vase they now kindled some incense: a handful of spices.

Shortly after, came three of the king's beautiful smokers; who,
lighting their tubes at this odorous fire, blew over the company the
sedative fumes of the Aina.

Steeped in languor, I strove against it long; essayed to struggle out
of the enchanted mist. But a syren hand seemed ever upon me, pressing
me back.

Half-revealed, as in a dream, and the last sight that I saw, was
Donjalolo:--eyes closed, face pale, locks moist, borne slowly to his
sedan, to cross the hollow, and wake in the seclusion of his harem.



CHAPTER LXXXV
After Dinner


As in dreams I behold thee again, Willamila! as in dreams, once again
I stroll through thy cool shady groves, oh fairest of the vallies of
Mardi! the thought of that mad merry feasting steals over my soul
till I faint.

Prostrate here and there over the bones of Donjalolo's sires, the
royal bacchanals lay slumbering till noon.

"Which are the deadest?" said Babbalanja, peeping in, "the live
kings, or the dead ones?"

But the former were drooping flowers sought to be revived by
watering. At intervals the sedulous attendants went to and fro,
besprinkling their heads with the scented contents of their vases.

At length, one by one, the five-and-twenty kings lifted their
ambrosial curls; and shaking the dew therefrom, like eagles opened
their right royal eyes, and dilated their aquiline nostrils, full
upon the golden rays of the sun.

But why absented himself, Donjalolo? Had he cavalierly left them to
survive the banquet by themselves? But this apparent incivility was
soon explained by heralds, announcing to their prone majesties, that
through the over solicitude of his slaves, their lord the king had
been borne to his harem, without being a party to the act. But to
make amends, in his sedan, Donjalolo was even now drawing nigh. Not,
however, again to make merry; but socially to sleep in company with
his guests; for, together they had all got high, and together they
must all lie low.

So at it they went: each king to his bones, and slumbered like
heroes till evening; when, availing themselves of the cool moonlight
approaching, the royal guests bade adieu to their host; and summoning
their followers, quitted the glen.

Early next day, having determined to depart for our canoes, we
proceeded to the House of the Morning, to take leave of Donjalolo.

An amazing change, one night of solitude had wrought! Pale and
languid, we found him reclining: one hand on his throbbing temples.

Near an overturned vessel of wine, the royal girdle lay tossed at his
feet. He had waved off his frightened attendants, who crouched out of
sight.

We advanced.

"Do ye too leave me? Ready enough are ye to partake of my
banquetings, which, to such as ye, are but mad incidents in one round
of more tranquil diversions. But heed me not, Media;--I am mad. Oh,
ye gods! am I forever a captive?--Ay, free king of Odo, when you
list, condescend to visit the poor slave in Willamilla. I account
them but charity, your visits; would fain allure ye by sumptuous
fare. Go, leave me; go, and be rovers again throughout blooming
Mardi. For, me, I am here for aye.--Bring me wine, slaves! quick!
that I may pledge my guests fitly. Alas, Media, at the bottom of this
cup are no sparkles as at top. Oh, treacherous, treacherous friend!
full of smiles and daggers. Yet for such as me, oh wine, thou art
e'en a prop, though it pierce the side; for man must lean. Thou wine
art the friend of the friendless, though a foe to all. King Media,
let us drink. More cups!--And now, farewell."

Falling back, he averted his face; and silently we quitted the
palace.



CHAPTER LXXXVI
Of Those Scamps The Plujii


The beach gained, we embarked.

In good time our party recovered from the seriousness into which we
had been thrown; and a rather long passage being now before us, we
whiled away the hours as best we might.

Among many entertaining, narrations, old Braid-Beard, crossing his
calves, and peaking his beard, regaled us with some account of
certain invisible spirits, ycleped the Plujii, arrant little knaves
as ever gulped moonshine.

They were spoken of as inhabiting the island of Quelquo, in a remote
corner of the lagoon; the innocent people of which island were sadly
fretted and put out by their diabolical proceedings. Not to be
wondered at; since, dwelling as they did in the air, and completely
inaccessible, these spirits were peculiarly provocative of ire.

Detestable Plujii! With malice aforethought, they brought about high
winds that destroyed the banana plantations, and tumbled over the
heads of its occupants many a bamboo dwelling. They cracked the
calabashes; soured the "poee;" induced the colic; begat the spleen;
and almost rent people in twain with stitches in the side. In short,
from whatever evil, the cause of which the Islanders could not
directly impute to their gods, or in their own opinion was not
referable to themselves,--of that very thing must the invisible
Plujii be guilty. With horrible dreams, and blood-thirsty gnats, they
invaded the most innocent slumbers.

All things they bedeviled. A man with a wry neck ascribed it
to the Plujii; he with a bad memory railed against the Plujii; and
the boy, bruising his finger, also cursed those abominable spirits.

Nor, to some minds, at least, was there wanting strong presumptive
evidence, that at times, with invisible fingers, the above mentioned
Plujii did leave direct and tangible traces of their presence;
pinching and pounding the unfortunate Islanders; pulling their hair;
plucking their ears, and tweaking their beards and their noses. And
thus perpetually vexing, incensing, tormenting, and exasperating
their helpless victims, the atrocious Plujii reveled in their
malicious dominion over the souls and bodies of the people of Quelquo.

What it was, that induced them to enact such a part, Oro only knew;
and never but once, it seems, did old Mohi endeavor to find out.

Once upon a time, visiting Quelquo, he chanced to encounter an old
woman almost doubled together, both hands upon her abdomen; in that
manner running about distracted.

"My good woman," said he, "what under the firmament is the matter?"

"The Plujii! the Plujii!" affectionately caressing the field of their
operations.

"But why do they torment you?" he soothingly inquired. "How should I
know? and what good would it do me if I did?"

And on she ran.

At this part of his narration, Mohi was interrupted by Media; who,
much to the surprise of all present, observed, that, unbeknown to him
(Braid-Beard), he happened to have been on that very island, at that
very time, and saw that identical old lady in the very midst of those
abdominal tribulations.

"That she was really in great distress," he went on to say, "was
plainly to be seen; but that in that particular instance, your
Plujii had any hand in tormenting her, I had some boisterous doubts.
For, hearing that an hour or two previous she had been partaking of
some twenty unripe bananas, I rather fancied that that circumstance
might have had something to do with her sufferings. But however it
was, all the herb-leeches on the island would not have altered her
own opinions on the subject."

"No," said Braid-Beard; "a post-mortem examination would not have
satisfied her ghost."

"Curious to relate," he continued, "the people of that island never
abuse the Plujii, notwithstanding all they suffer at their hands,
unless under direct provocation; and a settled matter of faith is it,
that at such times all bitter words and hasty objurgations are
entirely overlooked, nay, pardoned on the spot, by the unseen genii
against whom they are directed."

"Magnanimous Plujii!" cried Media. "But, Babbalanja, do you, who run
a tilt at all things, suffer this silly conceit to be uttered with
impunity in your presence? Why so silent?"

"I have been thinking, my lord," said Babbalanja, "that though the
people of that island may at times err, in imputing their calamities
to the Plujii, that, nevertheless, upon the whole, they indulge in a
reasonable belief. For, Plujii or no Plujii, it is undeniable, that
in ten thousand ways, as if by a malicious agency, we mortals are
woefully put out and tormented; and that, too, by things in
themselves so exceedingly trivial, that it would seem almost impiety
to ascribe them to the august gods. No; there must exist some greatly
inferior spirits; so insignificant, comparatively, as to be
overlooked by the supernal powers; and through them it must be, that
we are thus grievously annoyed. At any rate; such a theory would
supply a hiatus in my system of meta-physics."

"Well, peace to the Plujii," said Media; "they trouble not me."



CHAPTER LXXXVII
Nora-Bamma


Still onward gliding, the lagoon a calm.

Hours pass; and full before us, round and green, a Moslem turban by
us floats--Nora-Bamma, Isle of Nods.

Noon-tide rolls its flood. Vibrates the air, and trembles. And by
illusion optical, thin-draped in azure haze, drift here and there the
brilliant lands: swans, peacock-plumaged, sailing through the sky.
Down to earth hath heaven come; hard telling sun-clouds from the isles.

And high in air nods Nora-Bamma. Nid-nods its tufted summit like
three ostrich plumes; its beetling crags, bent poppies, shadows,
willowy shores, all nod; its streams are murmuring down the hills;
its wavelets hush the shore.

Who dwells in Nora-Bamma? Dreamers, hypochondriacs, somnambulists;
who, from the cark and care of outer Mardi fleeing, in the poppy's
jaded odors, seek oblivion for the past, and ecstasies to come.

Open-eyed, they sleep and dream; on their roof-trees, grapes unheeded
drop. In Nora-Bamma, whispers are as shouts; and at a zephyr's breath,
from the woodlands shake the leaves, as of humming-birds, a flight.

All this spake Braid-Beard, of the isle. How that none ere touched
its strand, without rendering instant tribute of a nap; how that
those who thither voyaged, in golden quest of golden gourds, fast
dropped asleep, ere one was plucked; waking not till night; how that
you must needs rub hard your eyes, would you wander through the isle;
and how that silent specters would be met, haunting twilight groves,
and dreamy meads; hither gliding, thither fading, end or purpose none.

True or false, so much for Mohi's Nora Bamma.

But as we floated on, it looked the place described. We yawned, and
yawned, as crews of vessels may; as in warm Indian seas, their
winnowing sails all swoon, when by them glides some opium argosie.



CHAPTER LXXXVIII
In A Calm, Hautia's Heralds Approach


"How still!" cried Babbalanja. "This calm is like unto Oro's
everlasting serenity, and like unto man's last despair."

But now the silence was broken by a strange, distant, intermitted
melody in the water.

Gazing over the side, we saw naught but a far-darting ray in its
depths.

Then Yoomy, before buried in a reverie, burst forth with a verse,
sudden as a jet from a Geyser.

    Like the fish of the bright and twittering fin,
      Bright fish! diving deep as high soars the lark,
    So, far, far, far, doth the maiden swim,
      Wild song, wild light, in still ocean's dark.

"What maiden, minstrel?" cried Media.

"None of these," answered Yoomy, pointing out a shallop gliding near.

"The damsels three:--Taji, they pursue you yet." That still canoe
drew nigh, the Iris in its prow.

Gliding slowly by, one damsel flung a Venus-car, the leaves yet fresh.

Said Yoomy--"Fly to love."

The second maiden flung a pallid blossom, buried in hemlock leaves.

Said Yoomy, starting--"I have wrought a death."

Then came showering Venus-cars, and glorious moss-roses numberless,
and odorous handfuls of Verbena.

Said Yoomy--"Yet fly, oh fly to me: all rosy joys and sweets are mine."

Then the damsels floated on.

"Was ever queen more enigmatical?" cried Media--"Love,--death,--joy,
--fly to me? But what says Taji?"

"That I turn not back for Hautia; whoe'er she be, that wild witch I
contemn."

"Then spread our pinions wide! a breeze! up sails! ply paddles all!
Come, Flora's flute, float forth a song."

To pieces picking the thorny roses culled from Hautia's gifts, and
holding up their blighted cores, thus plumed and turbaned Yoomy sang,
leaning against the mast:--

    Oh! royal is the rose,
      But barbed with many a dart;
    Beware, beware the rose,
      'Tis cankered at the heart.

      Sweet, sweet the sunny down,
    Oh! lily, lily, lily down!
      Sweet, sweet, Verbena's bloom!
    Oh! pleasant, gentle, musky bloom!

    Dread, dread the sunny down;
      Lo! lily-hooded asp;
    Blooms, blooms no more Verbena;
      White-withered in your clasp.



CHAPTER LXXXIX
Braid-Beard Rehearses The Origin Of The Isle Of Rogues


Judge not things by their names. This, the maxim illustrated
respecting the isle toward which we were sailing.

Ohonoo was its designation, in other words the Land of Rogues. So
what but a nest of villains and pirates could one fancy it to be: a
downright Tortuga, swarming with "Brethren of the coast,"--such as
Montbars, L'Ollonais, Bartolomeo, Peter of Dieppe, and desperadoes of
that kidney. But not so. The men of Ohonoo were as honest as any in
Mardi. They had a suspicious appellative for their island, true; but
not thus seemed it to them. For, upon nothing did they so much plume
themselves as upon this very name. Why? Its origin went back to old
times; and being venerable they gloried therein; though they
disclaimed its present applicability to any of their race; showing,
that words are but algebraic signs, conveying no meaning except what
you please. And to be called one thing, is oftentimes to be another.

But how came the Ohonoose by their name?

Listen, and Braid-Beard, our Herodotus, will tell.

Long and long ago, there were banished to Ohonoo all the bucaniers,
flibustiers, thieves, and malefactors of the neighboring islands;
who, becoming at last quite a numerous community, resolved to make a
stand for their dignity, and number one among the nations of Mardi.
And even as before they had been weeded out of the surrounding
countries; so now, they went to weeding out themselves; banishing all
objectionable persons to still another island.

These events happened at a period so remote, that at present it was
uncertain whether those twice banished, were thrust into their second
exile by reason of their superlative knavery, or because of their
comparative honesty. If the latter, then must the residue have been a
precious enough set of scoundrels.

However it was, the commonwealth of knaves now mustered together
their gray-beards, and wise-pates, and knowing-ones, of which last
there was a plenty, chose a king to rule over them, and went to
political housekeeping for themselves.

And in the fullness of time, this people became numerous and mighty.
And the more numerous and mighty they waxed, by so much the more did
they take pride and glory in their origin, frequently reverting to it
with manifold boastings. The proud device of their monarch was a hand
with the forefinger crooked, emblematic of the peculatory
propensities of his ancestors.

And all this, at greater length, said Mohi.

"It would seem, then, my lord," said Babbalanja, reclining, "as if
these men of Ohonoo had canonized the derelictions of their
progenitors, though the same traits are deemed scandalous among
themselves. But it is time that makes the difference. The knave of a
thousand years ago seems a fine old fellow full of spirit and fun,
little malice in his soul; whereas, the knave of to-day seems a sour-
visaged wight, with nothing to redeem him. Many great scoundrels of
our Chronicler's chronicles are heroes to us:--witness, Marjora the
usurper. Ay, time truly works wonders. It sublimates wine; it
sublimates fame; nay, is the creator thereof; it enriches and darkens
our spears of the Palm; enriches and enlightens the mind; it ripens
cherries and young lips; festoons old ruins, and ivies old heads;
imparts a relish to old yams, and a pungency to the Ponderings of old
Bardianna; of fables distills truths; and finally, smooths, levels,
glosses, softens, melts, and meliorates all things. Why, my
lord, round Mardi itself is all the better for its antiquity, and the
more to be revered; to the cozy-minded, more comfortable to dwell in.
Ah! if ever it lay in embryo like a green seed in the pod, what a
damp, shapeless thing it must have been, and how unpleasant from the
traces of its recent creation. The first man, quoth old Bardianna,
must have felt like one going into a new habitation, where the
bamboos are green. Is there not a legend in Maramma, that his family
were long troubled with influenzas and catarrhs?"

"Oh Time, Time, Time!" cried Yoomy--"it is Time, old midsummer Time,
that has made the old world what it is. Time hoared the old
mountains, and balded their old summits, and spread the old prairies,
and built the old forests, and molded the old vales. It is Time that
has worn glorious old channels for the glorious old rivers, and
rounded the old lakes, and deepened the old sea! It is Time--"

"Ay, full time to cease," cried Media. "What have you to do with
cogitations not in verse, minstrel? Leave prose to Babbalanja, who is
prosy enough."

"Even so," said Babbalanja, "Yoomy, you  have overstepped your
province. My lord Media well knows, that your business is to make the
metal in you jingle in tags, not ring in the ingot."



CHAPTER XC
Rare Sport At Ohonoo


Approached from the northward, Ohonoo, midway cloven down to the sea,
one half a level plain; the other, three mountain terraces--Ohonoo
looks like the first steps of a gigantic way to the sun. And such, if
Braid-Beard spoke truth, it had formerly been.

"Ere Mardi was made," said that true old chronicler, "Vivo, one of
the genii, built a ladder of mountains whereby to go up and go down.
And of this ladder, the island of Ohonoo was the base. But wandering
here and there, incognito in a vapor, so much wickedness did Vivo spy
out, that in high dudgeon he hurried up his ladder, knocking the
mountains from under him as he went. These here and there fell into
the lagoon, forming many isles, now green and luxuriant; which, with
those sprouting from seeds dropped by a bird from the moon, comprise
all the groups in the reef."

Surely, oh, surely, if I live till Mardi be forgotten by Mardi, I
shall not forget the sight that greeted us, as we drew nigh the
shores of this same island of Ohonoo; for was not all Ohonoo bathing
in the surf of the sea?

But let the picture be painted.

Where eastward the ocean rolls surging against the outer reef of
Mardi, there, facing a flood-gate in the barrier, stands cloven
Ohonoo; her plains sloping outward to the sea, her mountains a
bulwark behind. As at Juam, where the wild billows from seaward roll
in upon its cliffs; much more at Ohonoo, in billowy battalions charge
they hotly into the lagoon, and fall on the isle like an army
from the deep. But charge they never so boldly, and charge they
forever, old Ohonoo gallantly throws them back till all before her is
one scud and rack. So charged the bright billows of cuirassiers at
Waterloo: so hurled them off the long line of living walls, whose
base was as the sea-beach, wreck-strown, in a gale.

Without the break in the reef wide banks of coral shelve off,
creating the bar, where the waves muster for the onset, thundering in
water-bolts, that shake the whole reef, till its very spray trembles.
And then is it, that the swimmers of Ohonoo most delight to gambol in
the surf.

For this sport, a surf-board is indispensable: some five feet in
length; the width of a man's body; convex on both sides; highly
polished; and rounded at the ends. It is held in high estimation;
invariably oiled after use; and hung up conspicuously in the dwelling
of the owner.

Ranged on the beach, the bathers, by hundreds dash in; and diving
under the swells, make straight for the outer sea, pausing not till
the comparatively smooth expanse beyond has been gained. Here,
throwing themselves upon their boards, tranquilly they wait for a
billow that suits. Snatching them up, it hurries them landward,
volume and speed both increasing, till it races along a watery wall,
like the smooth, awful verge of Niagara. Hanging over this scroll,
looking down from it as from a precipice, the bathers halloo; every
limb in motion to preserve their place on the very crest of the wave.
Should they fall behind, the squadrons that follow would whelm them;
dismounted, and thrown forward, as certainly would they be run over
by the steed they ride. 'Tis like charging at the head of cavalry:
you must on.

An expert swimmer shifts his position on his plank; now half striding
it; and anon, like a rider in the ring, poising himself upright in
the scud, coming on like a man in the air.

At last all is lost in scud and vapor, as the overgrown billow bursts
like a bomb. Adroitly emerging, the swimmers thread their way out;
and like seals at the Orkneys, stand dripping upon the shore.

Landing in smooth water, some distance from the scene, we strolled
forward; and meeting a group resting, inquired for Uhia, their king.
He was pointed out in the foam. But presently drawing nigh, he
embraced Media, bidding all welcome.

The bathing over, and evening at hand, Uhia and his subjects repaired
to their canoes; and we to ours.

Landing at another quarter of the island, we journeyed up a valley
called Monlova, and were soon housed in a very pleasant retreat of
our host.

Soon supper was spread. But though the viands were rare, and the red
wine went round and round like a foaming bay horse in the ring; yet
we marked, that despite the stimulus of his day's good sport, and the
stimulus of his brave good cheer, Uhia our host was moody and still.

Said Babbalanja "My lord, he fills wine cups for others to quaff."

But whispered King Media, "Though Uhia be sad, be we merry, merry men."

And merry some were, and merrily went to their mats.



CHAPTER XCI
Of King Uhia And His Subjects


As beseemed him, Uhia was royally lodged. Ample his roof. Beneath it
a hundred attendants nightly laying their heads. But long since, he
had disbanded his damsels.

Springing from syren embrace--"They shall sap and mine me no more" he
cried "my destiny commands me. I will don my manhood. By Keevi! no
more will I clasp a waist."

"From that time forth," said Braid-Beard, "young Uhia spread like the
tufted top of the Palm; his thigh grew brawny as the limb of the
Banian; his arm waxed strong as the back bone of the shark; yea, his
voice grew sonorous as a conch."

"And now he bent his whole soul to the accomplishment of the destiny
believed to be his. Nothing less than bodily to remove Ohonoo to the
center of the lagoon, in fulfillment of an old prophecy running thus--
When a certain island shall stir from its foundations and stand in
the middle of the still water, then shall the ruler of that island be
ruler of all Mardi."

The task was hard, but how glorious the reward! So at it he went, and
all Ohonoo helped him. Not by hands, but by calling in the magicians.
Thus far, nevertheless, in vain. But Uhia had hopes.

Now, informed of all this, said Babbalanja to Media, "My lord, if the
continual looking-forward to something greater, be better than an
acquiescence in things present; then, wild as it is, this belief of
Uhia's he should hug to his heart, as erewhile his wives. But
my lord, this faith it is, that robs his days of peace; his nights of
sweet unconsciousness. For holding himself foreordained to the
dominion of the entire Archipelago, he upbraids the gods for
laggards, and curses himself as deprived of his rights; nay, as
having had wrested from him, what he never possessed. Discontent
dwarfs his horizon till he spans it with his hand. 'Most miserable of
demi-gods,' he cries, 'here am I cooped up in this insignificant
islet, only one hundred leagues by fifty, when scores of broad
empires own me not for their lord.' Yet Uhia himself is envied. 'Ah!'
cries Karrolono, one of his chieftains, master of a snug little glen,
'Here am I cabined in this paltry cell among the mountains, when that
great King Uhia is lord of the whole island, and every cubic mile of
matter therein.' But this same Karrolono is envied. 'Hard, oh
beggarly lot is mine,' cries Donno, one of his retainers. 'Here am I
fixed and screwed down to this paltry plantation, when my lord
Karrolono owns the whole glen, ten long parasangs from cliff to sea.'
But Donno too is envied. 'Alas, cursed fate!' cries his servitor
Flavona. 'Here am I made to trudge, sweat, and labor all day, when
Donno my master does nothing but command.' But others envy Flavona;
and those who envy him are envied in turn; even down to poor bed-
ridden Manta, who dying of want, groans forth, 'Abandoned wretch that
I am! here I miserably perish, while so many beggars gad about and
live!' But surely; none envy Manta! Yes; great Uhia himself. 'Ah!'
cries the king. 'Here am I vexed and tormented by ambition; no peace
night nor day; my temples chafed sore by this cursed crown that I
wear; while that ignoble wight Manta, gives up the ghost with none to
molest him.'"

In vain we wandered up and down in this isle, and peered into its
innermost recesses: no Yillah was there.



CHAPTER XCII
The God Keevi And The Precipice Op Mondo


One object of interest in Ohonoo was the original image of Keevi
the god of Thieves; hence, from time immemorial, the tutelar deity
of the isle.

His shrine was a natural niche in a cliff, walling in the valley
of Monlova And here stood Keevi, with his five eyes, ten hands, and
three pair of legs, equipped at all points for the vocation over
which he presided. Of mighty girth, his arms terminated in hands,
every finger a limb, spreading in multiplied digits: palms twice
five, and fifty fingers.

According to the legend, Keevi fell from a golden cloud, burying
himself to the thighs in the earth, tearing up the soil all round.
Three meditative mortals, strolling by at the time, had a narrow
escape.

A wonderful recital; but none of us voyagers durst flout it. Did they
not show us the identical spot where the idol fell? We descended into
the hollow, now verdant. Questionless, Keevi himself would have
vouched for the truth of the miracle, had he not been unfortunately
dumb. But by far the most cogent, and pointed argument advanced in
support of this story, is a spear which the priests of Keevi brought
forth, for Babbalanja to view.

"Let me look at it closer," said Babbalanja.

And turning it over and over and curiously inspecting it, "Wonderful
spear," he cried. "Doubtless, my reverends, this self-same spear must
have persuaded many recusants!"

"Nay, the most stubborn," they answered.

"And all afterward quoted as additional authority for the truth of
the legend?"

"Assuredly."

From the sea to the shrine of this god, the fine valley of Monlova
ascends with a gentle gradation, hardly perceptible; but upon turning
round toward the water, one is surprised to find himself high
elevated above its surface. Pass on, and the same silent ascent
deceives you; and the valley contracts; and on both sides the cliffs
advance; till at last you come to a narrow space, shouldered by
buttresses of rock. Beyond, through this cleft, all is blue sky. If
the Trades blow high, and you came unawares upon the spot, you would
think Keevi himself pushing you forward with all his hands; so
powerful is the current of air rushing through this elevated defile.
But expostulate not with the tornado that blows you along; sail on;
but soft; look down; the land breaks off in one sheer descent of a
thousand feet, right down to the wide plain below. So sudden and
profound this precipice, that you seem to look off from one world to
another. In a dreamy, sunny day, the spangled plain beneath assumes
an uncertain fleeting aspect. Had you a deep-sea-lead you would
almost be tempted to sound the ocean-haze at your feet.

This, mortal! is the precipice of Mondo.

From this brink, spear in hand, sprang fifty rebel warriors, driven
back into the vale by a superior force. Finding no spot to stand at
bay, with a fierce shout they took the fatal leap.

Said Mohi, "Their souls ascended, ere their bodies touched."

This tragical event took place many generations gone by, and now a
dizzy, devious way conducts one, firm of foot, from the verge to the
plain. But none ever ascended. So perilous, indeed, is the descent
itself, that the islanders venture not the feat, without invoking
supernatural aid. Flanking the precipice beneath beetling rocks,
stand the guardian deities of Mondo; and on altars before
them, are placed the propitiatory offerings of the traveler.

To the right of the brink of the precipice, and far over it, projects
a narrow ledge. The test of legitimacy in the Ohonoo monarchs is to
stand hereon, arms folded, and javelins darting by.

And there in his youth Uhia stood.

"How felt you, cousin?" asked Media.

"Like the King of Ohonoo," he replied. "As I _shall_ again feel; when
King of all Mardi."



CHAPTER XCIII
Babbalanja Steps In Between Mohi And Yoomy; And Yoomy Relates A
Legend


Embarking from Ohonoo, we at length found ourselves gliding by the
pleasant shores of Tupia, an islet which according to Braid-Beard had
for ages remained uninhabited by man. Much curiosity being expressed
to know more of the isle, Mohi was about to turn over his chronicles,
when, with modesty, the minstrel Yoomy interposed; saying, that if my
Lord Media permitted, he himself would relate the legend. From its
nature, deeming the same pertaining to his province as poet; though,
as yet, it had not been versified. But he added, that true pearl
shells rang musically, though not strung upon a cord.

Upon this presumptuous interference, Mohi looked highly offended; and
nervously twitching his beard, uttered something invidious about
frippery young poetasters being too full of silly imaginings to tell
a plain tale.

Said Yoomy, in reply, adjusting his turban,  "Old Mohi, let us not
clash. I honor your calling; but, with submission, your chronicles
are more wild than my cantos. I deal in pure conceits of my own;
which have a shapeliness and a unity, however unsubstantial; but you,
Braid-Beard, deal in mangled realities. In all your chapters, you
yourself grope in the dark. Much truth is not in thee, historian.
Besides, Mohi: my songs perpetuate many things which you sage scribes
entirely overlook. Have you not oftentimes come to me, and my ever
dewy ballads for information, in which you and your musty old
chronicles were deficient?"

"In much that is precious, Mohi, we poets are the true historians; we
embalm; you corrode."

To this Mohi, with some ire, was about to make answer, when, flinging
over his shoulder a new fold of his mantle, Babbalanja spoke thus:
"Peace, rivals. As Bardianna has it, like all who dispute upon
pretensions of their own, you are each nearest the right, when you
speak of the other; and furthest therefrom, when you speak of
yourselves."

Said Mohi and Yoomy in a breath, "Who sought your opinion,
philosopher? you filcher from old Bardianna, and monger of maxims!"

"You, who have so long marked the vices of Mardi, that you flatter
yourself you have none of your own," added Braid-Beard.

"You, who only seem wise, because of the contrasting follies of
others, and not of any great wisdom in yourself," continued the
minstrel, with unwonted asperity."

"Now here," said Babballanja, "am I charged upon by a bearded old
ram, and a lamb. One butting with his carious and brittle old
frontlet; the other pushing with its silly head before its horns are
sprouted. But this comes of being impartial. Had I espoused the cause
of Yoomy versus Mohi, or that of Mohi versus Yoomy, I had been sure
to have had at least one voice in my favor. The impartialist
insulteth all sides, saith old Bardianna; but smite with but one
hand, and the other shall be kissed.--Oh incomparable Bardianna!"

"Will no one lay that troubled old ghost," exclaimed Media, devoutly.
"Proceed with thy legend, Yoomy; and see to it, that it be brief; for
I mistrust me, these legends do but test the patience of the hearers.
But draw a long breath, and begin."

"A long bow," muttered Mohi.

And Yoomy began.

"It is now about ten hundred thousand moons--"

"Great Oro! How long since, say you?" cried Mohi, making Gothic
arches of his brows.

Looking at him disdainfully, but vouchsafing no reply, Yoomy began
over again.

"It is now above ten hundred thousand moons, since there died the last
of a marvelous race, once inhabiting the very shores by which we are
sailing. They were a very diminutive people, only a few inches high--"

"Stop, minstrel," cried Mohi; "how many pennyweights did they weigh?"

Continued Yoomy, unheedingly, "They were covered all over with a
soft, silky down, like that on the rind of the Avee; and there grew
upon their heads a green, lance-leaved vine, of a most delicate
texture. For convenience, the manikins reduced their tendrils,
sporting, nothing but coronals. Whereas, priding themselves upon the
redundancy of their tresses, the little maidens assiduously watered
them with the early dew of the morning; so that all wreathed and
festooned with verdure, they moved about in arbors, trailing after
them trains."

"I can hear no more," exclaimed Mohi, stopping his ears.

Continued Yoomy, "The damsels lured to their bowers, certain red-
plumaged insect-birds, and taught them to nestle therein, and warble;
which, with the pleasant vibrating of the leaves, when the little
maidens moved, produced a strange blending of sweet, singing sounds.
The little maidens embraced not with their arms, but with their viny
locks; whose tendrils instinctively twined about their lovers, till
both were lost in the bower."

"And what then?" asked Mohi, who, notwithstanding the fingers in his
ears, somehow contrived to listen; "What then?"

Vouchsafing no reply, Yoomy went on.

"At a certain age, but while yet the maidens were very young, their
vines bore blossoms. Ah! fatal symptoms. For soon as they burst, the
maidens died in their arbors; and were buried in the valleys;
and their vines spread forth; and the flowers bloomed; but the
maidens themselves were no more. And now disdaining the earth, the
vines shot upward: climbing to the topmost boughs of the trees; and
flowering in the sunshine forever and aye."

Yoomy here paused for a space; but presently continued:

"The little eyes of the people of Tupia were very strange to behold:
full of stars, that shone from within, like the Pleiades, deep-
bosomed in blue. And like the stars, they were intolerant of
sunlight; and slumbering through the day, the people of Tupia only
went abroad by night. But it was chiefly when the moon was at full,
that they were mostly in spirits.

"Then the little manikins would dive down into the sea, and rove
about in the coral groves, making love to the mermaids. Or, racing
round, make a mad merry night of it with the sea-urchins:--plucking
the reverend mullets by the beard; serenading the turtles in their
cells; worrying the sea-nettles; or tormenting with their antics the
touchy torpedos. Sometimes they went prying about with the starfish,
that have an eye at the end of each ray; and often with coral files
in their hands stole upon slumbering swordfish, slyly blunting their
weapons. In short, these stout little manikins were passionately fond
of the sea, and swore by wave and billow, that sooner or later they
would embark thereon in nautilus shells, and spend the rest of their
roving days thousands of inches from Tupia. Too true, they were
shameless little rakes. Oft would they return to their sweethearts,
sporting musky girdles of sea-kelp, tasseled with green little
pouches of grass, brimful of seed-pearls; and jingling their coin in
the ears of the damsels, throw out inuendoes about the beautiful and
bountiful mermaids: how wealthy and amorous they were, and how they
delighted in the company of the brave gallants of Tupia. Ah! at such
heartless bravadoes, how mourned the poor little nymphs. Deep into
their arbors they went; and their little hearts burst like
rose-buds, and filled the whole air with an odorous grief. But when
their lovers were gentle and true, no happier maidens haunted the
lilies than they. By some mystical process they wrought minute balls
of light: touchy, mercurial globules, very hard to handle; and with
these, at pitch and toss, they played in the groves. Or mischievously
inclined, they toiled all night long at braiding the moon-beams
together, and entangling the plaited end to a bough; so that at
night, the poor planet had much ado to set."

Here Yoomy once more was mute.

"Pause you to invent as you go on?" said old Mohi, elevating his
chin, till his beard was horizontal.

Yoomy resumed.

"Little or nothing more, my masters, is extant of the legend; only it
must be mentioned, that these little people were very tasteful in
their personal adornings; the manikins wearing girdles of fragrant
leaves, and necklaces of aromatic seeds; and the little damsels, not
content with their vines, and their verdure, sporting pearls in their
ears; bracelets of wee little porpoise teeth; and oftentimes dancing
with their mates in the moonlit glades, coquettishly fanned
themselves with the transparent wings of the flying fish."

"Now, I appeal to you, royal Media; to you, noble Taji; to you,
Babbalanja;" said the chronicler, with an impressive gesture,
"whether this seems a credible history: Yoomy has invented."

"But perhaps he has entertained, old Mohi," said Babbalanja.

"He has not spoken the truth," persisted the chronicler.

"Mohi," said Babbalanja, "truth is in things, and not in words: truth
is voiceless; so at least saith old Bardianna. And I, Babbalanja,
assert, that what are vulgarly called fictions are as much realities
as the gross mattock of Dididi, the digger of trenches; for things
visible are but conceits of the eye: things imaginative, conceits of
the fancy. If duped by one, we are equally duped by the other."

"Clear as this water," said Yoomy.

"Opaque as this paddle," said Mohi, "But, come now, thou oracle, if
all things are deceptive, tell us what is truth?"

"The old interrogatory; did they not ask it when the world began? But
ask it no more. As old Bardianna hath it, that question is more final
than any answer."



CHAPTER XCIV
Of That Jolly Old Lord, Borabolla; And That Jolly Island Of His,
Mondoldo; And Of The Fish-Ponds, And The Hereafters Of Fish


Drawing near Mondoldo, our next place of destination, we were greeted
by six fine canoes, gayly tricked out with streamers, and all alive
with the gestures of their occupants. King Borabolla and court were
hastening to welcome our approach; Media, unbeknown to all, having
notified him at the Banquet of the Five-and-Twenty Kings, of our
intention to visit his dominions.

Soon, side by side, these canoes floated with ours; each barge of Odo
courteously flanked by those of Mondoldo.

Not long were we in identifying Borabolla: the portly, pleasant old
monarch, seated cross-legged upon a dais, projecting over the bow of
the largest canoe of the six, close-grappling to the side of the Sea
Elephant.

Was he not a goodly round sight to behold? Round all over; round of
eye and of head; and like the jolly round Earth, roundest and biggest
about the Equator. A girdle of red was his Equinoctial Line, giving a
compactness to his plumpness.

This old Borabolla permitted naught to come between his head and the
sun; not even gray hairs. Bald as a gourd, right down on his brazen
skull, the rays of the luminary converged.

He was all hilarity; full of allusions to the feast at Willamilla,
where he had done royal execution. Rare old Borabolla! thou wert made
for dining out; thy ample mouth an inlet for good cheer, and a
sally-port for good humor.

Bustling about on his dais, he now gave orders for the occupants of
our canoes to be summarily emptied into his own; saying, that in that
manner only did he allow guests to touch the beach of Mondoldo.

So, with no little trouble--for the waves were grown somewhat
riotous--we proceeded to comply; bethinking ourselves all the while,
how annoying is sometimes an over-strained act of hospitality.

We were now but little less than a mile from the shore. But what of
that? There was plenty of time, thought Borabolla, for a hasty lunch,
and the getting of a subsequent appetite ere we effected a landing.
So viands were produced; to which the guests were invited to pay
heedful attention; or take the consequences, and famish till the long
voyage in prospect was ended.

Soon the water shoaled (approaching land is like nearing truth in
metaphysics), and ere we yet touched the beach, Borabolla declared,
that we were already landed. Which paradoxical assertion implied,
that the hospitality of Mondoldo was such, that in all directions it
radiated far out upon the lagoon, embracing a great circle; so that
no canoe could sail by the island, without its occupants being so
long its guests.

In most hospitable vicinity to the water, was a fine large structure,
inclosed by a stockade; both rather dilapidated; as if the cost of
entertaining its guests, prevented outlays for repairing the place.
But it was one of Borabolla's maxims, that generally your tumble-down
old homesteads yield the most entertainment; their very dilapidation
betokening their having seen good service in hospitality; whereas,
spruce-looking, finical portals, have a phiz full of meaning; for
niggards are oftentimes neat.

Now, after what has been said, who so silly as to fancy, that because
Borabolla's mansion was inclosed by a stockade, that the same
was intended as a defense against guests? By no means. In the
palisade was a mighty breach, not an entrance-way, wide enough to
admit six Daniel Lamberts abreast.

"Look," cried Borabolla, as landing we stepped toward the place.
"Look Media! look all. These gates, you here see, lashed back with
osiers, have been so lashed during my life-time; and just where they
stand, shall they rot; ay, they shall perish wide open."

"But why have them at all?" inquired Media.

"Ah! there you have old Borabolla," cried the other.

"No," said Babbalanja, "a fence whose gate is ever kept open, seems
unnecessary, I grant; nevertheless, it gives a notable hint,
otherwise not so aptly conveyed; for is not the open gate the sign of
the open heart?"

"Right, right," cried Borabolla; "so enter both, cousin Media;" and
with one hand smiting his chest, with the other he waved us on.

But if the stockade seemed all open gate, the structure within seemed
only a roof; for nothing but a slender pillar here and there,
supported it.

"This is my mode of building," said Borabolla; "I will have no
outside to my palaces. Walls are superfluous. And to a high-minded
guest, the entering a narrow doorway is like passing under a yoke;
every time he goes in, or comes out, it reminds him, that he is being
entertained at the cost of another. So storm in all round."

Within, was one wide field-bed; where reclining, we looked up to
endless rows of brown calabashes, and trenchers suspended along the
rafters; promissory of ample cheer as regiments of old hams in a
baronial refectory.

They were replenished with both meat and drink; the trenchers readily
accessible by means of cords; but the gourds containing arrack,
suspended neck downward, were within easy reach where they swung.

Seeing all these indications of hard roystering; like a
cautious young bridegroom at his own marriage merry-making, Taji
stood on his guard. And when Borabolla urged him to empty a gourd or
two, by way of making room in him for the incidental repast about to
be served, Taji civilly declined; not wishing to cumber the floor,
before the cloth was laid.

Jarl, however, yielding to importunity, and unmindful of the unities
of time and place, went freely about, from gourd to gourd, concocting
in him a punch. At which, Samoa expressed much surprise, that he
should be so unobservant as not to know, that in Mardi, guests might
be pressed to demean themselves, without its being expected that so
they would do. A true toss-pot himself, he bode his time.

The second lunch over, Borabolla placed both hands to the ground, and
giving the sigh of the fat man, after three vigorous efforts,
succeeded in gaining his pins; which pins of his, were but small for
his body; insomuch that they hugely staggered about, under the fine
old load they carried.

The specific object of his thus striving after an erect posture, was
to put himself in motion, and conduct us to his fish-ponds, famous
throughout the Archipelago as the hobby of the king of Mondoldo.
Furthermore, as the great repast of the day, yet to take place, was
to be a grand piscatory one, our host was all anxiety, that we should
have a glimpse of our fish, while yet alive and hearty.

We were alarmed at perceiving, that certain servitors were preparing
to accompany us with trenchers of edibles. It begat the notion, that
our trip to the fish-ponds was to prove a long journey. But they were
not three hundred yards distant; though Borabolla being a veteran
traveler, never stirred from his abode without his battalion of butlers.

The ponds were four in number, close bordering the water, embracing
about an acre each, and situated in a low fen, draining several
valleys. The excavated soil was thrown up in dykes, made tight by
being beaten all over, while in a soft state, with the heavy, flat
ends of Palm stalks. Lving side by side, by three connecting
trenches, these ponds could be made to communicate at pleasure; while
two additional canals afforded means of letting in upon them the salt
waters of the lagoon on one hand, or those of an inland stream on the
other. And by a third canal with four branches, together or
separately, they could be partially drained. Thus, the waters could
be mixed to suit any gills; and the young fish taken from the sea,
passed through a stated process of freshening; so that by the time
they graduated, the salt was well out of them, like the brains out of
some diplomaed collegians.

Fresh-water fish are only to be obtained in Mondoldo by the
artificial process above mentioned; as the streams and brooks abound
not in trout or other Waltonian prey.

Taken all floundering from the sea, Borabolla's fish, passing through
their regular training for the table, and daily tended by their
keepers, in course of time became quite tame and communicative. To
prove which, calling his Head Ranger, the king bade him administer
the customary supply of edibles.

Accordingly, mouthfuls were thrown into the ponds.  Whereupon, the
fish darted in a shoal toward the margin; some leaping out of the
water in their eagerness. Crouching on the bank, the Ranger now
called several by name, patted their scales, carrying on some
heathenish nursery-talk, like St. Anthony, in ancient Coptic,
instilling virtuous principles into his finny flock on the sea shore.

But alas, for the hair-shirted old dominie's backsliding disciples.
For, of all nature's animated kingdoms, fish are the most
unchristian, inhospitable, heartless, and cold-blooded of creatures.
At least, so seem they to strangers; though at bottom, somehow, they
must be all right. And truly it is not to be wondered at, that the
very reverend Anthony strove after the conversion of fish. For, whoso
shall Christianize, and by so doing, humanize the sharks, will do a
greater good, by the saving of human life in all time to come,
than though he made catechumens of the head-hunting Dyaks of Borneo,
or the blood-bibbing Battas of Sumatra. And are these Dyaks and
Battas one whit better than tiger-sharks? Nay, are they so good? Were
a Batta your intimate friend, you would often mistake an orang-outang
for him; and have orang-outangs immortal souls? True, the Battas
believe in a hereafter; but of what sort? Full of Blue-Beards and
bloody bones. So, also, the sharks; who hold that Paradise is one
vast Pacific, ploughed by navies of mortals, whom an endless gale
forever drops into their maws.

Not wholly a surmise. For, does it not appear a little unreasonable
to imagine, that there is any creature, fish, flesh, or fowl, so
little in love with life, as not to cherish hopes of a future state?
Why does man believe in it? One reason, reckoned cogent, is, that he
desires it. Who shall say, then, that the leviathan this day
harpooned on the coast of Japan, goes not straight to his ancestor,
who rolled all Jonah, as a sweet morsel, under his tongue?

Though herein, some sailors are slow believers, or at best hold
themselves in a state of philosophical suspense. Say they--"That
catastrophe took place in the Mediterranean; and the only whales
frequenting the Mediterranean, are of a sort having not a swallow
large enough to pass a man entire; for those Mediterranean whales
feed upon small things, as horses upon oats." But hence, the sailors
draw a rash inference. Are not the Straits of Gibralter wide enough
to admit a sperm-whale, even though none have sailed through, since
Nineveh and the gourd in its suburbs dried up?

As for the possible hereafter of the whales; a creature eighty feet
long without stockings, and thirty feet round the waist before
dinner, is not inconsiderately to be consigned to annihilation.



CHAPTER XCV
That Jolly Old Lord Borabolla Laughs On Both Sides Of His Face


"A very good palace, this, coz, for you and me," said waddling old
Borabolla to Media, as, returned from our excursion, he slowly
lowered himself down to his mat, sighing like a grampus.

By this, he again made known the vastness of his hospitality, which
led him for the nonce to parcel out his kingdom with his guests.

But apart from these extravagant expressions of good feeling,
Borabolla was the prince of good fellows. His great tun of a person
was indispensable to the housing of his bullock-heart; under which,
any lean wight would have sunk. But alas! unlike Media and Taji,
Borabolla, though a crowned king, was accounted no demi-god; his
obesity excluding him from that honor. Indeed, in some quarters of
Mardi, certain pagans maintain, that no fat man can be even immortal.
A dogma! truly, which should be thrown to the dogs. For fat men are
the salt and savor of the earth; full of good humor, high spirits,
fun, and all manner of jollity. Their breath clears the atmosphere:
their exhalations air the world. Of men, they are the good measures;
brimmed, heaped, pressed down, piled up, and running over. They are
as ships from Teneriffe; swimming deep, full of old wine, and twenty
steps down into their holds. Soft and susceptible, all round they are
easy of entreaty. Wherefore, for all their rotundity, they are too
often circumnavigated by hatchet-faced knaves. Ah! a fat uncle, with
a fat paunch, and a fat purse, is a joy and a delight to all
nephews; to philosophers, a subject of endless speculation, as to how
many droves of oxen and Lake Eries of wine might have run through his
great mill during the full term of his mortal career. Fat men not
immortal! This very instant, old Lambert is rubbing his jolly abdomen
in Paradise.

Now, to the fact of his not being rated a demi-god, was perhaps
ascribable the circumstance, that Borabolla comported himself with
less dignity, than was the wont of their Mardian majesties. And truth
to say, to have seen him regaling himself with one of his favorite
cuttle-fish, its long snaky arms and feelers instinctively twining
round his head as he ate; few intelligent observers would have opined
that the individual before them was the sovereign lord of Mondoldo.

But what of the banquet of fish? Shall we tell how the old king
ungirdled himself thereto; how as the feast waxed toward its close,
with one sad exception, he still remained sunny-sided all round; his
disc of a face joyous as the South Side of Madeira in the hilarious
season of grapes? Shall we tell how we all grew glad and frank; and
how the din of the dinner was heard far into night?

We will.

When Media ate slowly, Borabolla took him to task, bidding him
dispatch his viands more speedily.

Whereupon said Media "But Borabolla, my round fellow, that would
abridge the pleasure."

"Not at all, my dear demi-god; do like me: eat fast and eat long."

In the middle of the feast, a huge skin of wine was brought in. The
portly peltry of a goat; its horns embattling its effigy head; its
mouth the nozzle; and its long beard flowed to its jet-black hoofs.
With many ceremonial salams, the attendants bore it along, placing it
at one end of the convivial mats, full in front of Borabolla; where
seated upon its haunches it made one of the party.

Brimming a ram's horn, the mellowest of bugles, Borabolla bowed to
his silent guest, and thus spoke--"In this wine, which yet smells of
the grape, I pledge you my reverend old toper, my lord Capricornus;
you alone have enough; and here's full skins to the rest!"

"How jolly he is," whispered Media to Babbalanja.

"Ay, his lungs laugh loud; but is laughing, rejoicing?"

"Help! help!" cried Borabolla "lay me down! lay me down! good gods,
what a twinge!"

The goblet fell from his hand; the purple flew from his wine to his
face; and Borabolla fell back into the arms of his servitors. "That
gout! that gout!" he groaned. "Lord! lord! no more cursed wine will I
drink!"

Then at ten paces distant, a clumsy attendant let fall a trencher--
"Take it off my foot, you knave!"

Afar off another entered gallanting a calabash--"Look out for my toe,
you hound!"

During all this, the attendants tenderly nursed him. And in good
time, with its thousand fangs, the gout-fiend departed for a while.

Reprieved, the old king brightened up; by degrees becoming jolly
as ever.

"Come! let us be merry again," he cried, "what shall we eat? and what
shall we drink? that infernal gout is gone; come, what will your
worships have?"

So at it once more we went.

But of our feast, little more remains to be related than this;--that
out of it, grew a wondrous kindness between Borabolla and Jarl.
Strange to tell, from the first our fat host had regarded my Viking
with a most friendly eye. Still stranger to add, this feeling was
returned. But though they thus fancied each other, they were very
unlike; Borabolla and Jarl. Nevertheless, thus is it ever. And as the
convex fits not into the convex, but into the concave; so do men fit
into their opposites; and so fitted Borabolla's arched paunch into
Jarl's, hollowed out to receive it.

But how now? Borabolla was jolly and loud: Jarl demure and silent;
Borabolla a king: Jarl only a Viking;--how came they together? Very
plain, to repeat:--because they were heterogeneous; and hence the
affinity. But as the affinity between those chemical opposites
chlorine and hydrogen, is promoted by caloric; so the affinity
between Borabolla and Jarl was promoted by the warmth of the wine
that they drank at this feast. For of all blessed fluids, the juice
of the grape is the greatest foe to cohesion. True, it tightens the
girdle; but then it loosens the tongue, and opens the heart.

In sum, Borabolla loved Jarl; and Jarl, pleased with this sociable
monarch, for all his garrulity, esteemed him the most sensible old
gentleman and king he had as yet seen in Mardi. For this reason,
perhaps; that his talkativeness favored that silence in listeners,
which was my Viking's delight in himself.

Repeatedly during the banquet, our host besought Taji to allow his
henchman to remain on the island, after the rest of our party should
depart; and he faithfully promised to surrender Jarl, whenever we
should return to claim him.

But though I harbored no distrust of Borabolla's friendly intentions,
I could not so readily consent to his request; for with Jarl for my
one only companion, had I not both famished and feasted? was he not
my only link to things past?

Things past!--Ah Yillah! for all its mirth, and though we hunted
wide, we found thee not in Mondoldo.



CHAPTER XCVI
Samoa A Surgeon


The second day of our stay in Mondoldo was signalized by a noteworthy
exhibition of the surgical skill of Samoa; who had often boasted,
that though well versed in the science of breaking men's heads, he
was equally an adept in mending their crockery.

Overnight, Borabolla had directed his corps of sea-divers to repair
early on the morrow, to a noted section of the great Mardian reef,
for the purpose of procuring for our regalement some of the fine
Hawk's-bill turtle, whose secret retreats were among the cells and
galleries of that submerged wall of coral, from whose foamy coping no
plummet dropped ever yet touched bottom.

These turtles were only to be obtained by diving far down under the
surface; and then swimming along horizontally, and peering into the
coral honeycomb; snatching at a flipper when seen, as at a pinion in
a range of billing dove-cotes.

As the king's divers were thus employed, one of them, Karhownoo by
name, perceived a Devil-shark, so called, swimming wistfully toward
him from out his summer grotto in the reef. No way petrified by the
sight, and pursuing the usual method adopted by these divers in such
emergencies, Karhownoo, splashing the water, instantly swam toward
the stranger. But the shark, undaunted, advanced: a thing so unusual,
and fearful, that, in an agony of fright, the diver shot up for the
surface. Heedless, he looked not up as he went; and when within a few
inches of the open air, dashed his head against a projection of the
reef. He would have sank into the live tomb beneath, were it
not that three of his companions, standing on the brink, perceived
his peril, and dragged him into safety.

Seeing the poor fellow was insensible, they endeavored,
ineffectually, to revive him; and at last, placing him in their
canoe, made all haste for the shore. Here a crowd soon gathered, and
the diver was borne to a habitation, close adjoining Borabolla's;
whence, hearing of the disaster, we sallied out to render assistance.

Upon entering the hut, the benevolent old king commanded it to be
cleared; and then proceeded to examine the sufferer.

The skull proved to be very badly fractured; in one place, splintered.

"Let me mend it," said Samoa, with ardor.

And being told of his experience in such matters, Borabolla
surrendered the patient.

With a gourd of water, and a tappa cloth, the one-armed Upoluan
carefully washed the wound; and then calling for a sharp splinter of
bamboo, and a thin, semi-transparent cup of cocoa-nut shell, he went
about the operation: nothing less than the "Tomoti" (head-mending),
in other words the trepan.

The patient still continuing insensible, the fragments were
disengaged by help of a bamboo scalpel; when a piece of the drinking
cup--previously dipped in the milk of a cocoanut--was nicely fitted
into the vacancy, the skin as nicely adjusted over it, and the
operation was complete.

And now, while all present were crying out in admiration of Samoa's
artistic skill, and Samoa himself stood complacently regarding his
workmanship, Babbalanja suggested, that it might be well to ascertain
whether the patient survived. When, upon sounding his heart, the
diver was found to be dead.

The bystanders loudly lamented; but declared the surgeon a man of
marvelous science.

Returning to Borabolla's, much conversation ensued, concerning the
sad scene we had witnessed, which presently branched into a learned
discussion upon matters of surgery at large.

At length, Samoa regaled the company with a story; for the truth of
which no one but him can vouch, for no one but him was by, at the
time; though there is testimony to show that it involves nothing at
variance with the customs of certain barbarous tribes.

Read on.



CHAPTER XCVII
Faith And Knowledge


A thing incredible is about to be related; but a thing may be
incredible and still be true; sometimes it is incredible because it
is true. And many infidels but disbelieve the least incredible
things; and many bigots reject the most obvious. But let us hold fast
to all we have; and stop all leaks in our faith; lest an opening, but
of a hand's breadth, should sink our seventy-fours. The wide Atlantic
can rush in at one port-hole; and if we surrender a plank, we
surrender the fleet. Panoplied in all the armor of St. Paul, morion,
hauberk, and greaves, let us fight the Turks inch by inch, and yield
them naught but our corpse.

But let us not turn round upon friends, confounding them with foes.
For dissenters only assent to more than we. Though Milton was a
heretic to the creed of Athanasius, his faith exceeded that of
Athanasius himself; and the faith of Athanasius that of Thomas, the
disciple, who with his own eyes beheld the mark of the nails. Whence
it comes that though we be all Christians now, the best of us had
perhaps been otherwise in the days of Thomas.

The higher the intelligence, the more faith, and the less credulity:
Gabriel rejects more than we, but out-believes us all. The greatest
marvels are first truths; and first truths the last unto which we
attain. Things nearest are furthest off. Though your ear be next-door
to your brain, it is forever removed from your sight. Man has a more
comprehensive view of the moon, than the man in the moon himself. We
know the moon is round; he only infers it. It is because we
ourselves are in ourselves, that we know ourselves not. And it is
only of our easy faith, that we are not infidels throughout; and only
of our lack of faith, that we believe what we do.

In some universe-old truths, all mankind are disbelievers. Do you
believe that you lived three thousand years ago? That you were at the
taking of Tyre, were overwhelmed in Gomorrah? No. But for me, I was
at the subsiding of the Deluge, and helped swab the ground, and build
the first house. With the Israelites, I fainted in the wilderness;
was in court, when Solomon outdid all the judges before him. I, it
was, who suppressed the lost work of Manetho, on the Egyptian
theology, as containing mysteries not to be revealed to posterity,
and things at war with the canonical scriptures; I, who originated
the conspiracy against that purple murderer, Domitian; I, who in the
senate moved, that great and good Aurelian be emperor. I instigated
the abdication of Diocletian, and Charles the Fifth; I touched
Isabella's heart, that she hearkened to Columbus. I am he, that from
the king's minions hid the Charter in the old oak at Hartford; I
harbored Goffe and Whalley: I am the leader of the Mohawk masks, who
in the Old Commonwealth's harbor, overboard threw the East India
Company's Souchong; I am the Vailed Persian Prophet; I, the man in
the iron mask; I, Junius.



CHAPTER XCVIII
The Tale Of A Traveler


It was Samoa, who told the incredible tale; and he told it as a
traveler. But stay-at-homes say travelers lie. Yet a voyage to
Ethiopia would cure them of that; for few skeptics are travelers;
fewer travelers liars, though the proverb respecting them lies. It is
false, as some say, that Bruce was cousin-german to Baron Munchausen;
but true, as Bruce said, that the Abysinnians cut live steaks from
their cattle. It was, in good part, his villainous transcribers, who
made monstrosities of Mandeville's travels. And though all liars go
to Gehenna; yet, assuming that Mandeville died before Dante; still,
though Dante took the census of Hell, we find not Sir John, under the
likeness of a roasted neat's tongue, in that infernalest of infernos,
The Inferno.

But let not the truth be postponed. To the stand, Samoa, and through
your interpreter, speak.

Once upon a time, during his endless sea-rovings, the Upoluan was
called upon to cobble the head of a friend, grievously hurt in a
desperate fight of slings.

Upon examination, that part of the brain proving as much injured as
the cranium itself, a young pig was obtained; and preliminaries being
over, part of its live brain was placed in the cavity, the trepan
accomplished with cocoanut shell, and the scalp drawn over and secured.

This man died not, but lived. But from being a warrior of great sense
and spirit, he became a perverse-minded and piggish fellow, showing
many of the characteristics of his swinish grafting. He survived the
operation more than a year; at the end of that period, however, going
mad, and dying in his delirium.

Stoutly backed by the narrator, this anecdote was credited by some
present. But Babbalanja held out to the last.

"Yet, if this story be true," said he, "and since it is well settled,
that our brains are somehow the organs of sense; then, I see not why
human reason could not be put into a pig, by letting into its cranium
the contents of a man's. I have long thought, that men, pigs, and
plants, are but curious physiological experiments; and that science
would at last enable philosophers to produce new species of beings,
by somehow mixing, and concocting the essential ingredients of
various creatures; and so forming new combinations. My friend
Atahalpa, the astrologer and alchymist, has long had a jar, in which
he has been endeavoring to hatch a fairy, the ingredients being
compounded according to a receipt of his own."

But little they heeded Babbalanja. It was the traveler's tale that
most arrested attention.

Tough the thews, and tough the tales of Samoa.



CHAPTER XCIX
"Marnee Ora, Ora Marnee"

During the afternoon of the day of the diver's decease, preparations
were making for paying the last rites to his remains, and carrying
them by torch-light to their sepulcher, the sea; for, as in Odo, so
was the custom here.

Meanwhile, all over the isle, to and fro went heralds, dismally
arrayed, beating shark-skin drums; and, at intervals, crying--"A man
is dead; let no fires be kindled; have mercy, oh Oro!--Let no canoes
put to sea till the burial. This night, oh Oro!--Let no food be cooked."

And ever and anon, passed and repassed these, others in brave attire;
with castanets of pearl shells, making gay music; and these sang--

    Be merry, oh men of Mondoldo,
      A maiden this night is to wed:
    Be merry, oh damsels of Mardi,--
      Flowers, flowers for the bridal bed.

Informed that the preliminary rites were about being rendered, we
repaired to the arbor, whither the body had been removed.

Arrayed in white, it was laid out on a mat; its arms mutely crossed,
between its lips an asphodel; at the feet, a withered hawthorn bough.

The relatives were wailing, and cutting themselves with shells, so
that blood flowed, and spotted their vesture.

Upon remonstrating with the most abandoned of these mourners, the
wife of the diver, she exclaimed, "Yes; great is the pain, but
greater my affliction."

Another, the deaf sire of the dead, went staggering about, and
groping; saying, that he was now quite blind; for some months
previous he had lost one eye in the death of his eldest son and now
the other was gone.

"I am childless," he cried; "henceforth call me Roi Mori," that is,
Twice-Blind.

While the relatives were thus violently lamenting, the rest of the
company occasionally scratched themselves with their shells; but very
slightly, and mostly on the soles of their feet; from long exposure,
quite callous. This was interrupted, however, when the real mourners
averted their eyes; though at no time was there any deviation in the
length of their faces.

But on all sides, lamentations afresh broke forth, upon the
appearance of a person who had been called in to assist in
solemnizing the obsequies, and also to console the afflicted.

In rotundity, he was another Borabolla. He puffed and panted.

As he approached the corpse, a sobbing silence ensued; when holding
the hand of the dead, between his, the stranger thus spoke:--

"Mourn not, oh friends of Karhownoo, that this your brother lives
not. His wounded head pains him no more; he would not feel it, did a
javelin pierce him. Yea; Karhownoo is exempt from all the ills and
evils of this miserable Mardi!"

Hereupon, the Twice-Blind, who being deaf, heard not what was said,
tore his gray hair, and cried, "Alas! alas! my boy; thou wert the
merriest man in Mardi, and now thy pranks are over!"

But the other proceeded--"Mourn not, I say, oh friends of Karhownoo;
the dead whom ye deplore is happier than the living; is not his
spirit in the aerial isles?"

"True! true!" responded the raving wife, mingling her blood with her
tears, "my own poor hapless Karhownoo is thrice happy in
Paradise!" And anew she wailed, and lacerated her cheeks.

"Rave not, I say."

But she only raved the more.

And now the good stranger departed; saying, he must hie to a wedding,
waiting his presence in an arbor adjoining.

Understanding that the removal of the body would not take place till
midnight, we thought to behold the mode of marrying in Mondoldo.

Drawing near the place, we were greeted by merry voices, and much
singing, which greatly increased when the good stranger was
perceived.

Gayly arrayed in fine robes, with plumes on their heads, the bride
and groom stood in the middle of a joyous throng, in readiness for
the nuptial bond to be tied.

Standing before them, the stranger was given a cord, so bedecked with
flowers, as to disguise its stout fibers; and taking: the bride's
hands, he bound them together to a ritual chant; about her neck, in
festoons, disposing the flowery ends of the cord. Then turning to the
groom, he was given another, also beflowered; but attached thereto
was a great stone, very much carved, and stained; indeed, so every
way disguised, that a person not knowing what it was, and lifting it,
would be greatly amazed at its weight. This cord being attached to
the waist of the groom, he leaned over toward the bride, by reason of
the burden of the drop.

All present now united in a chant, and danced about the happy pair,
who meanwhile looked ill at ease; the one being so bound by the
hands, and the other solely weighed down by his stone.

A pause ensuing, the good stranger, turning them back to back, thus
spoke:--

"By thy flowery gyves, oh bride, I make thee a wife; and by thy
burdensome stone, oh groom, I make thee a husband. Live and be happy,
both; for the wise and good Oro hath placed us in Mardi to be glad.
Doth not all nature rejoice in her green groves and her
flowers? and woo and wed not the fowls of the air, trilling their
bliss in their bowers? Live then, and be happy, oh bride and groom;
for Oro is offended with the unhappy, since he meant them to be gay."

And the ceremony ended with a joyful feast.

But not all nuptials in Mardi were like these. Others were wedded
with different rites; without the stone and flowery gyves. These were
they who plighted their troth with tears not smiles, and made
responses in the heart.

Returning from the house of the merry to the house of the mournful,
we lingered till midnight to witness the issuing forth of the body.

By torch light, numerous canoes, with paddlers standing by, were
drawn up on the beach, to accommodate those who purposed following
the poor diver to his home.

The remains embarked, some confusion ensued concerning the occupancy
of the rest of the shallops. At last the procession glided off, our
party included. Two by two, forming a long line of torches trailing
round the isle, the canoes all headed toward the opening in the reef.

For a time, a decorous silence was preserved; but presently, some
whispering was heard; perhaps melancholy discoursing touching the
close of the diver's career. But we were shocked to discover, that
poor Karhownoo was not much in their thoughts; they were conversing
about the next bread-fruit harvest, and the recent arrival of King
Media and party at Mondoldo. From far in advance, however, were heard
the lamentations of the true mourners, the relatives of the diver.

Passing the reef, and sailing a little distance therefrom, the canoes
were disposed in a circle; the one bearing the corpse in the center.
Certain ceremonies over, the body was committed to the waves; the
white foam lighting up the last, long plunge of the diver, to see
sights more strange than ever he saw in the brooding cells of the
Turtle Reef.

And now, while in the still midnight, all present were gazing down
into the ocean, watching the white wake of the corpse, ever and anon
illuminated by sparkles, an unknown voice was heard, and all started
and vacantly stared, as this wild song was sung:--

    We drop our dead in the sea,
      The bottomless, bottomless sea;
    Each bubble a hollow sigh,
      As it sinks forever and aye.

    We drop our dead in the sea,--
      The dead reek not of aught;
    We drop our dead in the sea,--
      The sea ne'er gives it a thought.

    Sink, sink, oh corpse, still sink,
      Far down in the bottomless sea,
    Where the unknown forms do prowl,
      Down, down in the bottomless sea.

    'Tis night above, and night all round,
      And night will it be with thee;
    As thou sinkest, and sinkest for aye,
      Deeper down in the bottomless sea.

The mysterious voice died away; no sign of the corpse was now seen;
and mute with amaze, the company long listed to the low moan of the
billows and the sad sough of the breeze.

At last, without speaking, the obsequies were concluded by sliding
into the ocean a carved tablet of Palmetto, to mark the place of the
burial. But a wave-crest received it, and fast it floated away.

Returning to the isle, long silence prevailed. But at length, as if
the scene in which they had just taken part, afresh reminded them of
the mournful event which had called them together, the company again
recurred to it; some present, sadly and incidentally alluding to
Borabolla's banquet of turtle, thereby postponed.



CHAPTER C
The Pursuer Himself Is Pursued


Next morning, when much to the chagrin of Borabolla we were preparing
to quit his isle, came tidings to the palace, of a wonderful event,
occurring in one of the "Motoos," or little islets of the great reef;
which "Motoo" was included in the dominions of the king.

The men who brought these tidings were highly excited; and no sooner
did they make known what they knew, than all Mondoldo was in a tumult
of marveling.

Their story was this.

Going at day break to the Motoo to fish, they perceived a strange
proa beached on its seaward shore; and presently were hailed by
voices; and saw among the palm trees, three specter-like men, who
were not of Mardi.

The first amazement of the fishermen over, in reply to their eager
questions, the strangers related, that they were the survivors of a
company of men, natives of some unknown island to the northeast;
whence they had embarked for another country, distant three days'
sail to the southward of theirs. But falling in with a terrible
adventure, in which their sire had been slain, they altered their
course to pursue the fugitive who murdered him; one and all vowing,
never more to see home, until their father's fate was avenged. The
murderer's proa outsailing theirs, soon ran out of sight; yet after
him they blindly steered by day and by night: steering by the blood-
red star in Bootes. Soon, a violent gale overtook them; driving them
to and fro; leaving them they knew not where. But still struggling
against strange currents, at times counteracting their sailing, they
drifted on their way; nigh to famishing for water; and no shore in
sight. In long calms, in vain they held up their dry gourds to heaven,
and cried "send us a breeze, sweet gods!" The calm still brooded; and
ere it was gone, all but three gasped; and dead from thirst, were
plunged into the sea. The breeze which followed the calm, soon brought
them in sight of a low, uninhabited isle; where tarrying many days,
they laid in good store of cocoanuts and water, and again embarked.

The next land they saw was Mardi; and they landed on the Motoo, still
intent on revenge.

This recital filled Taji with horror.

Who could these avengers be, but the sons of him I had slain. I had
thought them far hence, and myself forgotten; and now, like adders,
they started up in my path, as I hunted for Yillah.

But I dissembled my thoughts.

Without waiting to hear more, Borabolla, all curiosity to behold the
strangers, instantly dispatched to the Motoo one of his fleetest
canoes, with orders to return with the voyagers.

Ere long they came in sight; and perceiving that strange pros in tow
of the king's, Samoa cried out: "Lo! Taji, the canoe that was going
to Tedaidee!"

Too true; the same double-keeled craft, now sorely broken, the fatal
dais in wild disarray: the canoe, the canoe of Aleema! And with it
came the spearmen three, who, when the Chamois was fleeing from their
bow, had poised their javelins. But so wan their aspect now, their
faces looked like skulls.

Then came over me the wild dream of Yillah; and, for a space, like a
madman, I raved. It seemed as if the mysterious damsel must still be
there; the rescue yet to be achieved. In my delirium I rushed upon
the skeletons, as they landed--"Hide not the maiden!" But
interposing, Media led me aside; when my transports abated.

Now, instantly, the strangers knew who I was; and, brandishing their
javelins, they rushed upon me, as I had on them, with a yell. But
deeming us all mad, the crowd held us apart; when, writhing in the
arms that restrained them, the pale specters foamed out their curses
again and again: "Oh murderer! white curses upon thee! Bleached be
thy soul with our hate! Living, our brethren cursed thee; and dying,
dry-lipped, they cursed thee again. They died not through famishing
for water, but for revenge upon thee! Thy blood, their thirst would
have slaked!"

I lay fainting against the hard-throbbing heart of Samoa, while they
showered their yells through the air. Once more, in my thoughts, the
green corpse of the priest drifted by.

Among the people of Mondoldo, a violent commotion now raged. They
were amazed at Taji's recognition by the strangers, and at the deadly
ferocity they betrayed.

Rallying upon this, and perceiving that by divulging all they knew,
these sons of Aleema might stir up the Islanders against me, I
resolved to anticipate their story; and, turning to Borabolla, said--
"In these strangers, oh, king! you behold the survivors of a band we
encountered on our voyage. From them I rescued a maiden, called
Yillah, whom they were carrying captive. Little more of their history
do I know."

"Their maledictions?" exclaimed Borabolla.

"Are they not delirious with suffering?" I cried. "They know not what
they say."

So, moved by all this, he commanded them to be guarded, and conducted
within his palisade; and having supplied them with cheer, entered
into earnest discourse. Yet all the while, the pale strangers on me
fixed their eyes; deep, dry, crater-like hollows, lurid with flames,
reflected from the fear-frozen glacier, my soul.

But though their hatred appalled, spite of that spell, again the
sweet dream of Yillah stole over me, with all the mysterious
things by her narrated, but left unexplained. And now, before me were
those who might reveal the lost maiden's whole history, previous to
the fatal affray.

Thus impelled, I besought them to disclose what they knew.

But, "Where now is your Yillah?" they cried. "Is the murderer wedded
and merry? Bring forth the maiden!"

Yet, though they tore out my heart's core, I told them not of my loss.

Then, anxious, to learn the history of Yillah, all present commanded
them to divulge it; and breathlessly I heard what follows.

"Of Yillah, we know only this:--that many moons ago, a mighty canoe,
full of beings, white, like this murderer Taji, touched at our island
of Amma. Received with wonder, they were worshiped as gods; were
feasted all over the land. Their chief was a tower to behold; and
with him, was a being, whose cheeks were of the color of the red
coral; her eye, tender as the blue of the sky. Every day our people
brought her offerings of fruit and flowers; which last she would not
retain for herself; but hung them round the neck of her child,
Yillah; then only an infant in her mother's arms; a bud, nestling
close to a flower, full-blown. All went well between our people and
the gods, till at last they slew three of our countrymen, charged
with stealing from their great canoe. Our warriors retired to the
hills, brooding over revenge. Three days went by; when by night,
descending to the plain, in silence they embarked; gained the great
vessel, and slaughtered every soul but Yillah. The bud was torn from
the flower; and, by our father Aleema, was carried to the Valley of
Ardair; there set apart as a sacred offering for Apo, our deity. Many
moons passed; and there arose a tumult, hostile to our sire's longer
holding custody of Yillah; when, foreseeing that the holy glen would
ere long be burst open, he embarked the maiden in yonder canoe, to
accelerate her sacri flee at the great shrine of Apo, in
Tedaidee.--The rest thou knowest, murderer!"

"Yillah! Yillah!" now hunted again that sound through my soul. "Oh,
Yillah! too late, too late have I learned what thou art!"

Apprised of the disappearance of their former captive, the meager
strangers exulted; declaring that Apo had taken her to himself. For
me, ere long, my blood they would quaff from my skull.

But though I shrunk from their horrible threats, I dissembled anew;
and turning, again swore that they raved.

"Ay!" they retorted, "we rave and raven for you; and your white heart
will we have!"

Perceiving the violence of their rage, and persuaded from what I
said, that much suffering at sea must have maddened them; Borabolla
thought fit to confine them for the present; so that they could not
molest me.



CHAPTER CI
The Iris


That evening, in the groves, came to me three gliding forms:--Hautia's
heralds: the Iris mixed with nettles. Said Yoomy, "A cruel message!"

With the right hand, the second syren presented glossy, green wax-
myrtle berries, those that burn like tapers; the third, a lily of the
valley, crushed in its own broad leaf.

This done, they earnestly eyed Yoomy; who, after much pondering,
said--"I speak for Hautia; who by these berries says, I will
enlighten you."

"Oh, give me then that light! say, where is Yillah?" and I rushed
upon the heralds.

But eluding me, they looked reproachfully at Yoomy; and seemed
offended.

"Then, I am wrong," said Yoomy. "It is thus:--Taji, you have been
enlightened, but the lily you seek is crushed."

Then fell my heart, and the phantoms nodded; flinging upon me
bilberries, like rose pearls, which bruised against my skin,
left stains.

Waving oleanders, they retreated.

"Harm! treachery! beware!" cried Yoomy.

Then they glided through the wood: one showering dead leaves along
the path I trod, the others gayly waving bunches of spring-crocuses,
yellow, white, and purple; and thus they vanished.

Said Yoomy, "Sad your path, but merry Hautia's."

"Then merry may she be, whoe'er she is; and though woe be mine, I
turn not from that to Hautia; nor ever will I woo her, though she woo
me till I die;--though Yillah never bless my eyes."



CHAPTER CII
They Depart From Mondoldo


Night passed; and next morning we made preparations for leaving
Mondoldo that day.

But fearing anew, lest after our departure, the men of Amma might
stir up against me the people of the isle, I determined to yield to
the earnest solicitations of Borabolla, and leave Jarl behind, for a
remembrance of Taji; if necessary, to vindicate his name. Apprised
hereof, my follower was loth to acquiesce. His guiltless spirit
feared not the strangers: less selfish considerations prevailed. He
was willing to remain on the island for a time, but not without me.
Yet, setting forth my reasons; and assuring him, that our tour would
not be long in completing, when we would not fail to return, previous
to sailing for Odo, he at last, but reluctantly, assented.

At Mondoldo, we also parted with Samoa. Whether it was, that he
feared the avengers, whom he may have thought would follow on my
track; or whether the islands of Mardi answered not in attractiveness
to the picture his fancy had painted; or whether the restraint put
upon him by the domineering presence of King Media, was too irksome
withal; or whether, indeed, he relished not those disquisitions with
which Babbalanja regaled us: however it may have been, certain it
was, that Samoa was impatient of the voyage. He besought permission
to return to Odo, there to await my return; and a canoe of Mondoldo
being about to proceed in that direction, permission was granted; and
departing for the other side of the island, from thence he embarked.

Long after, dark tidings came, that at early dawn he had been found
dead in the canoe: three arrows in his side.

Yoomy was at a loss to account for the departure of Samoa; who, while
ashore, had expressed much desire to roam.

Media, however, declared that he must be returning to some inamorata.

But Babbalanja averred, that the Upoluan was not the first man, who
had turned back, after beginning a voyage like our own.

To this, after musing, Yoomy assented. Indeed, I had noticed, that
already the Warbler had abated those sanguine assurances of success,
with which he had departed from Odo. The futility of our search thus
far, seemed ominous to him, of the end.

On the eve of embarking, we were accompanied to the beach by
Borabolla; who, with his own hand, suspended from the shark's mouth
of Media's canoe, three red-ripe bunches of plantains, a farewell
gift to his guests.

Though he spoke not a word, Jarl was long in taking leave. His eyes
seemed to say, I will see you no more.

At length we pushed from the strand; Borabolla waving his adieus with
a green leaf of banana; our comrade ruefully eyeing the receding
canoes; and the multitude loudly invoking for us a prosperous voyage.

But to my horror, there suddenly dashed through the crowd, the three
specter sons of Aleema, escaped from their prison. With clenched
hands, they stood in the water, and cursed me anew. And with that
curse in our sails, we swept off.



CHAPTER CIII
As They Sail


As the canoes now glided across the lagoon, I gave myself up to
reverie; and revolving over all that the men of Amma had rehearsed of
the history of Yillah, I one by one unriddled the mysteries, before
so baffling. Now, all was made plain: no secret remaining, but the
subsequent event of her disappearance. Yes, Hautia! enlightened I had
been but where was Yillah?

Then I recalled that last interview with Hautia's messengers, so full
of enigmas; and wondered, whether Yoomy had interpreted aright.
Unseen, and unsolicited; still pursuing me with omens, with taunts,
and with wooings, mysterious Hautia appalled me. Vaguely I began to
fear her. And the thought, that perhaps again and again, her heralds
would haunt me, filled me with a nameless dread, which I almost
shrank from acknowledging. Inwardly I prayed, that never more they
might appear.

While full of these thoughts, Media interrupted them by saying, that
the minstrel was about to begin one of his chants, a thing of his own
composing; and therefore, as he himself said, all critics must be
lenient; for Yoomy, at times, not always, was a timid youth,
distrustful of his own sweet genius for poesy.

The words were about a curious hereafter, believed in by some people
in Mardi: a sort of nocturnal Paradise, where the sun and its heat
are excluded: one long, lunar day, with twinkling stars to keep
company.

THE SONG
    Far off in the sea is Marlena,
    A land of shades and streams,
    A land of many delights.
    Dark and bold, thy shores,
    Marlena; But green, and timorous, thy soft knolls,
    Crouching behind the woodlands.
    All shady thy hills; all gleaming thy springs,
    Like eyes in the earth looking at you.
    How charming thy haunts Marlena!--
    Oh, the waters that flow through Onimoo:
    Oh, the leaves that rustle through Ponoo:
    Oh, the roses that blossom in Tarma:
    Come, and see the valley of Vina:
    How sweet, how sweet, the Isles from Hind:
    'Tis aye afternoon of the full, full moon,
    And ever the season of fruit,
    And ever the hour of flowers,
    And never the time of rains and gales,
    All in and about Marlena.
    Soft sigh the boughs in the stilly air,
    Soft lap the beach the billows there;
    And in the woods or by the streams,
    You needs must nod in the Land of Dreams.

"Yoomy," said old Mohi with a yawn, "you composed that song, then,
did you?"

"I did," said Yoomy, placing his turban a little to one side.

"Then, minstrel, you shall sing me to sleep every night, especially
with that song of Marlena; it is soporific as the airs of Nora-Bamma."

"Mean you, old man, that my lines, setting forth the luxurious repose
to be enjoyed hereafter, are composed with such skill, that the
description begets the reality; or would you ironically suggest, that
the song is a sleepy thing itself?"

"An important discrimination," said Media; "which mean you, Mohi?"

"Now, are you not a silly boy," said Babbalanja, "when from the
ambiguity of his speech, you could so easily have derived
something flattering, thus to seek to extract unpleasantness from it?
Be wise, Yoomy; and hereafter, whenever a remark like that seems
equivocal, be sure to wrest commendation from it, though you torture
it to the quick."

"And most sure am I, that I would ever do so; but often I so incline
to a distrust of my powers, that I am far more keenly alive to
censure, than to praise; and always deem it the more sincere of the
two; and no praise so much elates me, as censure depresses."



CHAPTER CIV
Wherein Babbalanja Broaches A Diabolical Theory, And, In His Own
Person, Proves It


"A truce!" cried Media, "here comes a gallant before the wind.--
Look, Taji!"

Turning, we descried a sharp-prowed canoe, dashing on, under the
pressure of an immense triangular sail, whose outer edges were
streaming with long, crimson pennons. Flying before it, were several
small craft, belonging to the poorer sort of Islanders.

"Out of his way there, ye laggards," cried Media, "or that mad
prince, Tribonnora, will ride over ye with a rush!"

"And who is Tribonnora," said Babbalanja, "that he thus bravely
diverts himself, running down innocent paddlers?"

"A harum-scarum young chief," replied Media, "heir to three islands;
he likes nothing better than the sport you now see see him at."

"He must be possessed by a devil," said Mohi.

Said Babbalanja, "Then he is only like all of us." "What say you?"
cried Media.

"I say, as old Bardianna in the Nine hundred and ninety ninth book of
his immortal Ponderings saith, that all men--"

"As I live, my lord, he has swamped three canoes," cried Mohi,
pointing off the beam.

But just then a fiery fin-back whale, having broken into the paddock
of the lagoon, threw up a high fountain of foam, almost under
Tribonnora's nose; who, quickly turning about his canoe, cur-like
slunk off; his steering-paddle between his legs.

Comments over; "Babbalanja, you were going to quote," said Media.
"Proceed."

"Thank you, my lord. Says old Bardianna, 'All men are possessed by
devils; but as these devils are sent into men, and kept in them, for
an additional punishment; not garrisoning a fortress, but limboed in
a bridewell; so, it may be more just to say, that the devils
themselves are possessed by men, not men by them.'"

"Faith!" cried Media, "though sometimes a bore, your old Bardianna is
a trump."

"I have long been of that mind, my lord. But let me go on. Says
Bardianna, 'Devils are divers;--strong devils, and weak devils;
knowing devils, and silly devils; mad devils, and mild devils;
devils, merely devils; devils, themselves bedeviled; devils, doubly
bedeviled."

"And in the devil's name, what sort of a devil is yours?" cried Mohi.

"Of him anon; interrupt me not, old man. Thus, then, my lord, as
devils are divers, divers are the devils in men. Whence, the wide
difference we see. But after all, the main difference is this:--that
one man's devil is only more of a devil than another's; and be
bedeviled as much as you will; yet, may you perform the most
bedeviled of actions with impunity, so long as you only bedevil
yourself. For it is only when your deviltry injures another, that the
other devils conspire to confine yours for a mad one. That is to say,
if you be easily handled. For there are many bedeviled Bedlamites in
Mardi, doing an infinity of mischief, who are too brawny in the arms
to be tied."

"A very devilish doctrine that," cried Mohi. "I don't believe it."

 "My lord," said Babbalanja, "here's collateral proof;--the sage
lawgiver Yamjamma, who flourished long before Bardianna, roundly
asserts, that all men who knowingly do evil are bedeviled; for good
is happiness; happiness the object of living; and evil is not good."

"If the sage Yamjamma said that," said old Mohi, "the sage Yamjamma
might have bettered the saying; it's not quite so plain as it might be."

"Yamjamma disdained to be plain; he scorned to be fully comprehended
by mortals. Like all oracles, he dealt in dark sayings. But old
Bardianna was of another sort; he spoke right out, going straight to
the point like a javelin; especially when he laid it down for a
universal maxim, that minus exceptions, all men are bedeviled."

"Of course, then," said Media, "you include yourself among the number."

"Most assuredly; and so did old Bardianna; who somewhere says, that
being thoroughly bedeviled himself, he was so much the better
qualified to discourse upon the deviltries of his neighbors. But in
another place he seems to contradict himself, by asserting, that he
is not so sensible of his own deviltry as of other people's."

"Hold!" cried Media, "who have we here?" and he pointed ahead of our
prow to three men in the water, urging themselves along, each with a
paddle.

We made haste to overtake them.

"Who are you?" said Media, "where from, and where bound?"

"From Variora," they answered, "and bound to Mondoldo." "And did that
devil Tribonnora swamp your canoe?" asked Media, offering to help
them into ours.

"We had no such useless incumbrance to lose," they replied, resting
on their backs, and panting with their exertions. "If we had had a
canoe, we would have had to paddle it along with us; whereas we have
only our bodies to paddle."

"You are a parcel of loons," exclaimed Media. "But go your ways, if
you are satisfied with your locomotion, well and good."

"Now, it is an extreme case, I grant," said Babbalanja, "but those
poor devils there, help to establish old Bardianna's position.
They belong to that species of our bedeviled race, called simpletons;
but their devils harming none but themselves, are permitted to be at
large with the fish. Whereas, Tribonnora's devil, who daily runs down
canoes, drowning their occupants, belongs to the species of out and
out devils; but being high in station, and strongly backed by kith
and kin, Tribonnora can not be mastered, and put in a strait jacket.
For myself, I think my devil is some where between these two
extremes; at any rate, he belongs to that class of devils who harm
not other devils."

"I am not so sure of that," retorted Media. "Methinks this doctrine
of yours, about all mankind being bedeviled, will work a deal of
mischief; seeing that by implication it absolves you mortals from
moral accountability. Further-more; as your doctrine is exceedingly
evil, by Yamjamma's theory it follows, that you must be
proportionably bedeviled; and since it harms others, your devil is of
the number of those whom it is best to limbo; and since he is one of
those that can be limboed, limboed he shall be in you."

And so saying, he humorously commanded his attendants to lay hands
upon the bedeviled philosopher, and place a bandage upon his mouth,
that he might no more disseminate his devilish doctrine.

Against this, Babbalanja demurred, protesting that he was no orang-
outang, to be so rudely handled.

"Better and better," said Media, "you but illustrate Bardianna's
theory; that men are not sensible of their being bedeviled."

Thus tantalized, Babbalanja displayed few signs of philosophy.

Whereupon, said Media, "Assuredly his devil is foaming; behold his
mouth!" And he commanded him to be bound hand and foot.

At length, seeing all resistance ineffectual, Babbalanja submitted;
but not without many objurgations.

Presently, however, they released him; when Media inquired,
how he relished the application of his theory; and whether he was
still' of old Bardianna's mind?

To which, haughtily adjusting his robe, Babbalanja replied, "The
strong arm, my lord, is no argument, though it overcomes all logic."

END OF VOL. I.





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