第106章 KING AND COMMONS(2)

The slaves are certainly not overworked -children of ten do more without fatigue -and the Apemama labourers have holidays,when the singing begins early in the afternoon.The diet is hard;copra and a sweetmeat of pounded pandanus are the only dishes I observed outside the palace;but there seems no defect in quantity,and the king shares with them his turtles.Three came in a boat from Kuria during our stay;one was kept for the palace,one sent to us,one presented to the village.It is the habit of the islanders to cook the turtle in its carapace;we had been promised the shells,and we asked a tapu on this foolish practice.The face of Tembinok'darkened and he answered nothing.Hesitation in the question of the well I could understand,for water is scarce on a low island;that he should refuse to interfere upon a point of cookery was more than I had dreamed of;and I gathered (rightly or wrongly)that he was scrupulous of touching in the least degree the private life and habits of his slaves.So that even here,in full despotism,public opinion has weight;even here,in the midst of slavery,freedom has a corner.

Orderly,sober,and innocent,life flows in the isle from day to day as in a model plantation under a model planter.It is impossible to doubt the beneficence of that stern rule.A curious politeness,a soft and gracious manner,something effeminate and courtly,distinguishes the islanders of Apemama;it is talked of by all the traders,it was felt even by residents so little beloved as ourselves,and noticeable even in the cook,and even in that scoundrel's hours of insolence.The king,with his manly and plain bearing,stood out alone;you might say he was the only Gilbert Islander in Apemama.Violence,so common in Butaritari,seems unknown.So are theft and drunkenness.I am assured the experiment has been made of leaving sovereigns on the beach before the village;they lay there untouched.In all our time on the island I was but once asked for drink.This was by a mighty plausible fellow,wearing European clothes and speaking excellent English -Tamaiti his name,or,as the whites have now corrupted it,'Tom White':one of the king's supercargoes at three pounds a month and a percentage,a medical man besides,and in his private hours a wizard.He found me one day in the outskirts of the village,in a secluded place,hot and private,where the taro-pits are deep and the plants high.Here he buttonholed me,and,looking about him like a conspirator,inquired if I had gin.

I told him I had.He remarked that gin was forbidden,lauded the prohibition a while,and then went on to explain that he was a doctor,or 'dogstar'as he pronounced the word,that gin was necessary to him for his medical infusions,that he was quite out of it,and that he would be obliged to me for some in a bottle.Itold him I had passed the king my word on landing;but since his case was so exceptional,I would go down to the palace at once,and had no doubt that Tembinok'would set me free.Tom White was immediately overwhelmed with embarrassment and terror,besought me in the most moving terms not to betray him,and fled my neighbourhood.He had none of the cook's valour;it was weeks before he dared to meet my eye;and then only by the order of the king and on particular business.

The more I viewed and admired this triumph of firm rule,the more Iwas haunted and troubled by a problem,the problem (perhaps)of to-morrow for ourselves.Here was a people protected from all serious misfortune,relieved of all serious anxieties,and deprived of what we call our liberty.Did they like it?and what was their sentiment toward the ruler?The first question I could not of course ask,nor perhaps the natives answer.Even the second was delicate;yet at last,and under charming and strange circumstances,I found my opportunity to put it and a man to reply.

It was near the full of the moon,with a delicious breeze;the isle was bright as day -to sleep would have been sacrilege;and Iwalked in the bush,playing my pipe.It must have been the sound of what I am pleased to call my music that attracted in my direction another wanderer of the night.This was a young man attired in a fine mat,and with a garland on his hair,for he was new come from dancing and singing in the public hall;and his body,his face,and his eyes were all of an enchanting beauty.Every here and there in the Gilberts youths are to be found of this absurd perfection;I have seen five of us pass half an hour in admiration of a boy at Mariki;and Te Kop (my friend in the fine mat and garland)I had already several times remarked,and long ago set down as the loveliest animal in Apemama.The philtre of admiration must be very strong,or these natives specially susceptible to its effects,for I have scarce ever admired a person in the islands but what he has sought my particular acquaintance.