CHAPTER XIV.

A RIVAL’S STRATEGY.

A year passed away, and I was still the guest of Big-Wind, in the valley of Tivóli. I had carefully kept count of the time, by making a notch on a tree for every week. The days I recorded by means of seven pebbles, dropping one into my pocket each morning until the week was ended, and then beginning again. My wardrobe had long since been hopelessly ruined, and I was reduced to the comfortable Fijian sulu and turban, but I still preserved the European luxury of a pocket in the folds of my tapa.

The period of my indulgent captivity had been far from unpleasant to me. I did not omit to ascend the hills occasionally and scan the horizon for an English ship, but I had begun to think with less bitterness of having to pass the remainder of my life among the Fijians. As time wore on it seemed less and less likely that I should be rescued by some passing ship, as the only vessels which visited the country at this time went to Bau, and the Sandalwood coast on the island of Vanua Levu. However, a change in my circumstances was in store for me which I could not foresee.

Lolóma was now sixteen years of age, and she was claimed in marriage by Bent-Axe, to whom she had been affianced almost from her birth. The man was repulsive; the girl had the greatest possible aversion to him; and she had given abundant proofs of her attachment to me. Often had she in conversation with me wished that she lived in the white man’s country, where, as she expressed it, a girl may wed “the man to whom her spirit flies.” (She had learned that from me, and I may remark that in speaking to the savages of the institutions of my own country, I always represented them as superior to theirs, though sometimes at the sacrifice of strict accuracy.) I had not the slightest intention of surrendering her to my rival, who had treated me with ill-will from the first day of my arrival in the valley, and Lolóma said she would fly with me to another tribe to which she was vasu,[13] and where we could live in peace, if I were willing. I was quite willing, in the absence of any better plan for settling the difficulty, but I preferred defeating my hated adversary on his own ground. I accordingly made a formal proposition to Big-Wind for his daughter’s hand. The old king was pleased, but feared that the customs of his country would make our marriage an impossibility, as the girl had been publicly pledged to Bent-Axe, who was his half-brother, and there was no precedent for breaking such an engagement. I was popular with the inhabitants of the valley, and knew that if the matter were put to the vote it would be decided in my favor, as Bent-Axe was universally detested for his cruel and overbearing disposition. But there was a great difficulty in my way. Shark, the priest, looked with high disfavor upon some innovations on native custom I had attempted to introduce, and he knew that I had spoken disrespectfully of his religion, calling the whole priesthood of the country impostors. He would naturally strain every nerve to prevent me from being established with official rank at the court of Big-Wind. The proposed marriage was made the subject of many grave deliberations in council. Shark and Bent-Axe exerted all their eloquence against me, but the chief secretly leaned towards me, and he was importuned in my behalf by Lolóma, his favorite daughter, and also her mother and sisters. At length it was decided by straining an abstruse point of native etiquette, that Bent-Axe had committed an act which nullified the engagement. The day of the marriage, after many busy preparations in the village, now arrived. The previous evening the deformed suitor had had an interview with Lolóma. He had sweetened his breath with the grayish clay which Fijian swains use to make themselves attractive, and he urged his cause with all the persuasiveness of which he was capable, but without avail.

Footnote 13:

A relationship which carries with it remarkable privileges. _Vide_ p. 65.

Marriage in Fiji is a civil contract with which the priest officially has nothing to do. The customs observed on these occasions, some of which are very pretty, vary in different parts of the group. The leading idea, however, is an interchange of presents, a great feast, and a public acceptance of the woman by the man after the formal presentation. Popular opinion in the valley of Tivóli was in favor of a full-dress affair, on the pattern of a grand marriage in the family of King Finau of Tonga, in regard to which a fabulous account in a metrical form had gained currency.

The assembled multitude accordingly appeared on the village green in gala attire. All that paint, powder, oil, and floral decorations could do for the company, was done. The most striking picture in the group was old Big-Wind himself, as he advanced, erect on the green sward within the quadrangular mass of human beings sitting cross-legged, to present the bride.

His voice, gait, eyes, and dress, not to speak of his tall person and powerful limbs, singly and together proclaimed his superiority over the crowd, who, crouching at his feet, clapped their hands and uttered deep bass groans of salutation in token at once of their recognition of his high station, of their admiration of his person, and of their loyal submission to his rule. Rather more than six feet high—without shoes, of course, and exclusive of the hair which covered his head like a knoll with tall reed-grass, and which was dressed in the latest and most artistic style possible to the barbers of highest note—there he stood. Left cheek, right half of forehead, upper part of nose, and right eye surroundings deeply vermillioned; other bare portions of the face painted with lamp-black; lateral and lower features enveloped in bushy whiskers, beard, and moustache; frill of wild-boar’s tusks about his neck, making a formidable, defensive _chevaux-de-frise_ for the throat, as well as a chiefly ornament and emblem of royal courage; ponderous pine-apple club mounted on right shoulder; aloft, and carried in left hand over all, a large sunshade made of the leaf of that most beautiful of palms, the fan-palm; those muscular arms so well able to put forth destructive might in the hour of battle; a profusely-decorated native dress fastened round the body with a sash sweeping off behind in a long train of snow-white gauzy fabric, made by the ladies of his harem—a subject fit for poet’s verse, and painter’s brush and pallet.

The bride, having previously been anointed with cocoanut oil scented with sandalwood, was swathed in choice mats of fine texture and masi of the silkiest softness. She wore so many yards of this material, which hid her pretty limbs in a shameful way, that she could neither sit down nor rise up without assistance from her maids. She had on her forehead a coronet of pearly-white beads, made of the inside of nautilus shells; there lay on her bosom a necklace composed of the white-scented flowers of the vasa, and her wrists and upper-arms were decorated with curiously-wrought shell bracelets and armlets. Her ornaments glimmered bravely on her brown throat and arms. She stood radiant in the sun—a gay, glad child of Nature—beautiful as the flushed flower of the hibiscus as it flames at noon, and fresh as roses washed by rain.

The six bridesmaids were similarly attired, but with less magnificence, and each was distinguished by a red riband, made of the membrane of a fine leaf. The lady and her attendants having walked in procession to the front of the Royal house, which faced one side of the quadrangle, the King delivered a brief address, at the end of which the first bridesmaid advanced to cut off the front lock of the bride, the woolly fringe which is only worn by maidens, when the priest, accompanied by Bent-Axe, suddenly appeared upon the scene.

“I forbid this marriage in the name of the gods,” said Shark. “Last night in the temple it was revealed to me that it is not for the good of the land. Forbear, or fear the just wrath of Dengeh.”

The King demanded an omen in proof of the divine displeasure.

Shark stood up before the people, and in accordance with a practice they were familiar with, poured a few drops of water on the front of his right arm near the shoulder. Then, gently inclining his arm, the course of the water was watched. If it found its way down to the wrist, the god was favourable to the marriage; if it ran off and fell on the ground, the decision would be the other way. None of the water reached the rascal’s wrist, for he had well oiled it for the occasion.

“I fear neither Dengeh nor his priest,” I interposed. “It is a lying omen. I am not of Shark’s religion, and his priestly oracle cannot answer for me.”

Big-Wind and his chieftains, after consultation, regarded this objection to the jurisdiction as a good one, and judgment was given accordingly.

“There is another reason why this marriage cannot proceed,” shouted Bent-Axe, glaring defiantly at me. “Will the white man maintain that a chief’s daughter should be given to a leper?”

I laughed aloud. I knew that leprosy was not uncommon in the country, and elephantiasis was prevalent, but I had never so much as seen a case of the former disease, and I knew that I was in perfect health.

“Let the papalangi be examined,” continued Bent-Axe. “On his right ankle you will see the mark of the doomed.”

Then I remembered, with a start, that I had that about me, known only to Bent-Axe, Lolóma, and myself, which would betray me into the skilfully-laid trap of this relentless savage. The previous day, in cutting a kau karo or itch-wood tree, a few drops of the sap, which is just like scalding water, fell upon my right ankle. I thought nothing of it, but soon afterwards severe itching pustules arose, and Bent-Axe saw me bathing the inflamed parts at a streamlet in the evening.

Big-Wind noticed my look of dismay and hesitation, and demanded an immediate explanation. I related the circumstance and was corroborated by Lolóma; but the priest examined the marks on my leg, and pronounced it a well-defined case of leprosy. It was determined that I should submit to be cured in the Fijian fashion, or that the marriage should not be consummated.