The Works of Edgar Allan Poe — Volume 3 Read online

  CHAPTER 19

  We were nearly three hours in reaching the village, it being more thannine miles in the interior, and the path lying through a rugged country.As we passed along, the party of Too-wit (the whole hundred andten savages of the canoes) was momentarily strengthened by smallerdetachments, of from two to six or seven, which joined us, as if byaccident, at different turns of the road. There appeared so much ofsystem in this that I could not help feeling distrust, and I spoketo Captain Guy of my apprehensions. It was now too late, however,to recede, and we concluded that our best security lay in evincing aperfect confidence in the good faith of Too-wit. We accordingly wenton, keeping a wary eye upon the manoeuvres of the savages, and notpermitting them to divide our numbers by pushing in between. In thisway, passing through a precipitous ravine, we at length reached what wewere told was the only collection of habitations upon the island. As wecame in sight of them, the chief set up a shout, and frequently repeatedthe word Klock-klock, which we supposed to be the name of the village,or perhaps the generic name for villages.

  The dwellings were of the most miserable description imaginable, and,unlike those of even the lowest of the savage races with which mankindare acquainted, were of no uniform plan. Some of them (and these wefound belonged to the Wampoos or Yampoos, the great men of the land)consisted of a tree cut down at about four feet from the root, with alarge black skin thrown over it, and hanging in loose folds upon theground. Under this the savage nestled. Others were formed by meansof rough limbs of trees, with the withered foliage upon them, made torecline, at an angle of forty-five degrees, against a bank of clay,heaped up, without regular form, to the height of five or six feet.Others, again, were mere holes dug in the earth perpendicularly, andcovered over with similar branches, these being removed when the tenantwas about to enter, and pulled on again when he had entered. A few werebuilt among the forked limbs of trees as they stood, the upper limbsbeing partially cut through, so as to bend over upon the lower, thusforming thicker shelter from the weather. The greater number, however,consisted of small shallow caverns, apparently scratched in the face ofa precipitous ledge of dark stone, resembling fuller’s earth, with whichthree sides of the village were bounded. At the door of each of theseprimitive caverns was a small rock, which the tenant carefully placedbefore the entrance upon leaving his residence, for what purpose I couldnot ascertain, as the stone itself was never of sufficient size to closeup more than a third of the opening.

  This village, if it were worthy of the name, lay in a valley of somedepth, and could only be approached from the southward, the precipitousledge of which I have already spoken cutting off all access in otherdirections. Through the middle of the valley ran a brawling stream ofthe same magical-looking water which has been described. We saw severalstrange animals about the dwellings, all appearing to be thoroughlydomesticated. The largest of these creatures resembled our common hog inthe structure of the body and snout; the tail, however, was bushy, andthe legs slender as those of the antelope. Its motion was exceedinglyawkward and indecisive, and we never saw it attempt to run. We noticedalso several animals very similar in appearance, but of a greater lengthof body, and covered with a black wool. There were a great variety oftame fowls running about, and these seemed to constitute the chief foodof the natives. To our astonishment we saw black albatross among thesebirds in a state of entire domestication, going to sea periodicallyfor food, but always returning to the village as a home, and using thesouthern shore in the vicinity as a place of incubation. There they werejoined by their friends the pelicans as usual, but these latter neverfollowed them to the dwellings of the savages. Among the other kinds oftame fowls were ducks, differing very little from the canvass-back ofour own country, black gannets, and a large bird not unlike the buzzardin appearance, but not carnivorous. Of fish there seemed to be a greatabundance. We saw, during our visit, a quantity of dried salmon,rock cod, blue dolphins, mackerel, blackfish, skate, conger eels,elephantfish, mullets, soles, parrotfish, leather-jackets, gurnards,hake, flounders, paracutas, and innumerable other varieties. We noticed,too, that most of them were similar to the fish about the group of LordAuckland Islands, in a latitude as low as fifty-one degrees south. TheGallipago tortoise was also very plentiful. We saw but few wild animals,and none of a large size, or of a species with which we were familiar.One or two serpents of a formidable aspect crossed our path, but thenatives paid them little attention, and we concluded that they were notvenomous.

  As we approached the village with Too-wit and his party, a vast crowd ofthe people rushed out to meet us, with loud shouts, among which we couldonly distinguish the everlasting Anamoo-moo! and Lama-Lama! We weremuch surprised at perceiving that, with one or two exceptions, these newcomers were entirely naked, and skins being used only by the men ofthe canoes. All the weapons of the country seemed also to be in thepossession of the latter, for there was no appearance of any among thevillagers. There were a great many women and children, the former notaltogether wanting in what might be termed personal beauty. They werestraight, tall, and well formed, with a grace and freedom of carriagenot to be found in civilized society. Their lips, however, like those ofthe men, were thick and clumsy, so that, even when laughing, the teethwere never disclosed. Their hair was of a finer texture than that of themales. Among these naked villagers there might have been ten or twelvewho were clothed, like the party of Too-wit, in dresses of black skin,and armed with lances and heavy clubs. These appeared to have greatinfluence among the rest, and were always addressed by the title Wampoo.These, too, were the tenants of the black skin palaces. That of Too-witwas situated in the centre of the village, and was much larger andsomewhat better constructed than others of its kind. The tree whichformed its support was cut off at a distance of twelve feet orthereabouts from the root, and there were several branches left justbelow the cut, these serving to extend the covering, and in this wayprevent its flapping about the trunk. The covering, too, which consistedof four very large skins fastened together with wooden skewers, wassecured at the bottom with pegs driven through it and into the ground.The floor was strewed with a quantity of dry leaves by way of carpet.

  To this hut we were conducted with great solemnity, and as many of thenatives crowded in after us as possible. Too-wit seated himself on theleaves, and made signs that we should follow his example. This we did,and presently found ourselves in a situation peculiarly uncomfortable,if not indeed critical. We were on the ground, twelve in number, withthe savages, as many as forty, sitting on their hams so closelyaround us that, if any disturbance had arisen, we should have found itimpossible to make use of our arms, or indeed to have risen to our feet.The pressure was not only inside the tent, but outside, where probablywas every individual on the whole island, the crowd being prevented fromtrampling us to death only by the incessant exertions and vociferationsof Too-wit. Our chief security lay, however, in the presence of Too-withimself among us, and we resolved to stick by him closely, as thebest chance of extricating ourselves from the dilemma, sacrificing himimmediately upon the first appearance of hostile design.

  After some trouble a certain degree of quiet was restored, whenthe chief addressed us in a speech of great length, and very nearlyresembling the one delivered in the canoes, with the exception that theAnamoo-moos! were now somewhat more strenuously insisted upon than theLama-Lamas! We listened in profound silence until the conclusion of thisharangue, when Captain Guy replied by assuring the chief of his eternalfriendship and goodwill, concluding what he had to say by a present ofseveral strings of blue beads and a knife. At the former the monarch,much to our surprise, turned up his nose with some expression ofcontempt, but the knife gave him the most unlimited satisfaction, and heimmediately ordered dinner. This was handed into the tent over theheads of the attendants, and consisted of the palpitating entrails of aspecialis of unknown animal, probably one of the slim-legged hogs whichwe had observed in our approach to the village. Seeing us at a loss howto proceed, he began, by way of setting us an example, to de
vour yardafter yard of the enticing food, until we could positively stand it nolonger, and evinced such manifest symptoms of rebellion of stomach asinspired his majesty with a degree of astonishment only inferior to thatbrought about by the looking-glasses. We declined, however, partaking ofthe delicacies before us, and endeavoured to make him understand that wehad no appetite whatever, having just finished a hearty dejeuner.

  When the monarch had made an end of his meal, we commenced a series ofcross-questioning in every ingenious manner we could devise, with aview of discovering what were the chief productions of the country, andwhether any of them might be turned to profit. At length he seemed tohave some idea of our meaning, and offered to accompany us to a part ofcoast where he assured us the biche de mer (pointing to a specimen ofthat animal) was to be found in great abundance. We were glad of thisearly opportunity of escaping from the oppression of the crowd,and signified our eagerness to proceed. We now left the tent, and,accompanied by the whole population of the village, followed the chiefto the southeastern extremity of the island, nor far from the bay whereour vessel lay at anchor. We waited here for about an hour, until thefour canoes were brought around by some of the savages to our station.The whole of our party then getting into one of them, we were paddledalong the edge of the reef before mentioned, and of another stillfarther out, where we saw a far greater quantity of biche de mer thanthe oldest seamen among us had ever seen in those groups of the lowerlatitudes most celebrated for this article of commerce. We stayed nearthese reefs only long enough to satisfy ourselves that we could easilyload a dozen vessels with the animal if necessary, when we were takenalongside the schooner, and parted with Too-wit, after obtaining fromhim a promise that he would bring us, in the course of twenty-fourhours, as many of the canvass-back ducks and Gallipago tortoises as hiscanoes would hold. In the whole of this adventure we saw nothing in thedemeanour of the natives calculated to create suspicion, with the singleexception of the systematic manner in which their party was strengthenedduring our route from the schooner to the village.