第41章 CHARACTERS(2)

AVOIR UNE VOYAGE MAGNIFICAL

Is our wish sincere,That you'll have from here ALLANT SUR LA GRANDE PACIFICAL.'

But our chief visitor was one Mapiao,a great Tahuku -which seems to mean priest,wizard,tattooer,practiser of any art,or,in a word,esoteric person -and a man famed for his eloquence on public occasions and witty talk in private.His first appearance was typical of the man.He came down clamorous to the eastern landing,where the surf was running very high;scorned all our signals to go round the bay;carried his point,was brought aboard at some hazard to our skiff,and set down in one corner of the cockpit to his appointed task.He had been hired,as one cunning in the art,to make my old men's beards into a wreath:what a wreath for Celia's arbour!His own beard (which he carried,for greater safety,in a sailor's knot)was not merely the adornment of his age,but a substantial piece of property.One hundred dollars was the estimated value;and as Brother Michel never knew a native to deposit a greater sum with Bishop Dordillon,our friend was a rich man in virtue of his chin.He had something of an East Indian cast,but taller and stronger:his nose hooked,his face narrow,his forehead very high,the whole elaborately tattooed.I may say I have never entertained a guest so trying.In the least particular he must be waited on;he would not go to the scuttle-butt for water;he would not even reach to get the glass,it must be given him in his hand;if aid were denied him,he would fold his arms,bow his head,and go without:only the work would suffer.

Early the first forenoon he called aloud for biscuit and salmon;biscuit and ham were brought;he looked on them inscrutably,and signed they should be set aside.A number of considerations crowded on my mind;how the sort of work on which he was engaged was probably tapu in a high degree;should by rights,perhaps,be transacted on a tapu platform which no female might approach;and it was possible that fish might be the essential diet.Some salted fish I therefore brought him,and along with that a glass of rum:at sight of which Mapiao displayed extraordinary animation,pointed to the zenith,made a long speech in which I picked up UMATI -the word for the sun -and signed to me once more to place these dainties out of reach.At last I had understood,and every day the programme was the same.At an early period of the morning his dinner must be set forth on the roof of the house and at a proper distance,full in view but just out of reach;and not until the fit hour,which was the point of noon,would the artificer partake.

This solemnity was the cause of an absurd misadventure.He was seated plaiting,as usual,at the beards,his dinner arrayed on the roof,and not far off a glass of water standing.It appears he desired to drink;was of course far too great a gentleman to rise and get the water for himself;and spying Mrs.Stevenson,imperiously signed to her to hand it.The signal was misunderstood;Mrs.Stevenson was,by this time,prepared for any eccentricity on the part of our guest;and instead of passing him the water,flung his dinner overboard.I must do Mapiao justice:all laughed,but his laughter rang the loudest.