The Land of the Hibiscus Blossom
James Hume Nisbet (1888)
Country of origin: Australia
Available texts by the same author here
X. Hula.--A Lover's Quarrel.
ALL the names given by the natives of New Guinea are euphony itself--Elevira, Hanuabada, Aroma, Kerepuna, Piramata, &c. The Colonial Government are planning out a city at Port Moresby, i.e. Elevira or Hanuabada, which they propose to call Grenville.Hula, the native town, on the sea, where the houses stand out from the shore on their tall piles, and the highways are, like the highways of Venice, blue ocean. On shore the Sistu tribe resides, surrounded by orchards and lovely gardens, with the lofty mountains of the mainland soaring up to the clouds and hiding the vast aerial mysteries of the yet unexplored Owen Stanley ranges.
The shore tribes of Hula are hunters and gardeners, bold traders who go westward with their wares in their large trading Lakatoes, as the ancient tribes of Greece traded their merchandise, facing, like them, dangers by sea and land, from robbers, murderers, and pirates, and, like them, they are all warriors as well as workmen.
The sea tribes live by fishing, which they also barter.
Love and war mingle up with their hourly avocations, and they take their pleasures and do their work as the Jews did at the rebuilding of Jerusalem, with one hand on the spade and the other on their spear.
It is a rest-day at Hula, and they are all enjoying the glory of the sun, cooled by the strong sea-breeze, in the way they like best--wrestling, sailing their large and small vessels about, practising with the bow or spear, running races, smoking, telling tales, or making love to the girls who are cutting up the taro, yams, and bananas for the modest mid-day meal.
One youth, who has been the length of Brisbane in the bom-bom or war-sloop, tells the wonders he has seen to a group who listen open--mouthed to some of his tales or laugh incredulously at others. They have all seen a screw-steamer in Hula before, and are partly prepared for the other wonders he tells, the strange sight of houses built one above the other, and bridges crossing large rivers, of horses carrying men, and coaches, but they openly laugh to scorn his description of the trains; there, like the sailor's mother when he told her about the fish that had wings, they drew the line.
"You know the fire-ship that thump-thumps and kicks the water all white, well they have beasts the same, who puff-puff like that, and swallow up hundreds of men as they run up mountains and over the big fields, big snakes who smoke the bau-bau."
A loud burst of incredulous shouts greeted this wonderful tale, so that "Kamo," the narrator, was fain to walk off in a dignified way to console himself as best he could with the society of his future wife, who, by reason of her position as an engaged young lady, was exempt from all work, and now lay on the outside of the circle of yam-preparers basking her dainty limbs in the sun with all the abandonment of perfect idleness.
Kamo, a tall boy of about eighteen, like all the male portion of New Guinea, was perfectly naked, with the exception of the elaborate breast and nose ornaments, earrings, and armlets. His bushy and frizzed hair, standing about two feet all round his smooth, comely face, was adorned with scarlet blossoms, like the wreaths which the ancients were at their love-feasts, dyed of a golden hue by his girl, and with the long-handled comb stuck rakishly on one side--a splendid specimen of uncurbed, fresh young humanity, he strode along the sands, swinging his highly--decorated bau-bau or pipe, in his hand, and looking at the shadow which fell from his handsome limbs with evident satisfaction.
Rea, his young lady, watched his approach with half-sleepy admiration. She had picked him out from many other handsome youths, impressed by the sense of his superior knowledge, and treated him with more consideration than New Guinea girls generally display towards their expectant husbands; but, in spite of her evident awe at his fame as a traveller, she was not inclined to be too amiable, but led him an uncertain dance while he waited his appointed month of probation, it being the custom, after preliminary arrangements are got over, such as satisfying the parents as to means, &c., to put the suitor under trial, that is, the youth has to deliver himself over, body and soul, to the caprices of his intended partner, live in her father's house, and be for ever on his good behaviour.
Kamo was a very wealthy young man, according to these parts. He had much tobacco, and some pearl-shells, with other treasures gleaned in his travels, and so he was greatly respected, and, to use a vulgar expression, thought no small beer of himself.
Rea, his betrothed, was also an heiress, her father being chief of the land tribe, with an orchard all her own since her mother's death; a dainty little girl of sixteen, tattooed to the waist in beautiful designs of blue upon brown, hair cut short and curly (when she is married she will shave it all off), a pert round face, with little nose, full red lips, and teeth only as yet slightly stained with the betel-nut, large brown mischief-loving eyes, small ears, even although the lobes hung down rather far to suit European tastes, yet here it was considered a mark of beauty to have lobes hanging down and weighted with shell earrings.
Her figure was plump, although, compared with the Apollo-like proportions of her lover, somewhat undersized, yet the feet now kicking petulantly at the sands were small and beautifully formed. She had not so many ornaments about her as Kamo had--as here it is the custom of the male, like the gorgeous male birds of Paradise, to look as splendid as possible--her only dress consisting of the "Raumma," or bulky grass petticoat, which fell from her waist to her knees in many folds, giving her a bunchy appearance round the hips, and making her lower limbs appear much less than they really were.
She was gazing at Kamo with indolent admiration as he left the group of unbelievers with that lordly air of his, feeling all the pride of easy possession; but as he came nearer she drew her brows together and the corners of her little mouth down in the manner of a spoilt, petted child, which, when the young man saw, made him slacken his pace, and seemed to take a considerable lot of the swagger out of him.
He ceased to swing his bau-bau, and drew near with a conciliatory air, almost fawning in its humility.
"How much longer have I to wait for you, Kamo, while you tell lies to the men and make them laugh at you?" exclaimed this spoiled beauty in an angry voice.
"I didn't know you wanted me to come, Rea. You know you said you were tired of hearing about the white man's great places, and wanted to sleep."
"Of course I am sick of all these things. Do you think no one except you has been out of Hula?"
Kamo did not answer, being a wise youth, who could afford to wait his time.
"Well, have you nothing to tell me, Kamo, now that you are here?" she inquired, still offended, or pretending to be so, as he took his place beside her on the sands.
"Only that I wish my month was over, and I had you all to myself," replied Kamo, trying to take her hand, which she snatched from him.
"I don't; it's too pleasant to lie about and do nothing all day, and I haven't yet made up my mind whether you are worth working for. Perhaps I'll turn you over like Mea did Rika."
"No, Rea, you would not do that to me, for I know the road to the white man now, and I'd go away and never see Hula again."
"I would not care about that, you may depend, if I sent you from me; there are plenty of fine boys in Hula."
"Would you kill me, Rea?"
"I'll think about it; but you must be more amusing, or I'll not take you."
"I'll do whatever you like, Rea."
"Then carry me through the streets. I want to find out how it feels like, on the beast you call a horse."
Poor Kamo cast a rueful glance round at the other youths and maidens, for he knew how they would jeer at him if he did this, and said,--
"Wouldn't a sail be nicer, Rea? Come, we will go over the sea in my new canoe."
"No, I want a ride, and you must be my horse, and take me all round the village."
Kamo felt he must obey, so with a deep sigh of resignation he put down his bau-bau and put his arms about her to lift her up, when she stopped him.
"Not that way; I want you to go the way you showed us the horses went."
Kamo remembered, with a shudder, how he had run all-fours to illustrate the horse, one night when they were merry, and cursed his vanity when he remembered his pride at being the hero. That was weeks ago, when he first came home and his stories were listened to.
"Well, boy, are you going to do it, or must I go to my father?" cried the maiden, impatiently. And at this dire threat Kamo bent his back meekly, and went on his hands and knees, while Rea, gathering her skirts well around her and taking up the ornamented bau-bau in lieu of a whip, sat down upon him, and hitting him smartly over the shoulders, told him to "Gee up!" as he had said the white man did with his horses.
On went poor Kamo under his loved but not fairy-like load, panting and sweating with the heat of the sun and the exertion and the shame before him, while Rea sat calmly and contented with her new mode of torture.
She did not spare either his back or his shoulders, and he dared not complain. The motion pleased her, and she considered nothing about her horse except a wicked little thrill of pleasure at the thought of this novel mode of tormenting him.
And all the village men and boys left their sports and their talking to watch and laugh at this new spectacle; the old women stood up with their knives in one hand and the half-peeled yam in the other, laughing at the fun, even while they were thinking how soon Rea's reign of tyranny would be over; while the younger maidens forsook the cooking-pots altogether, and followed jeering and laughing at the fool Rea was making of her lover, and wishing the time had come when they could torment a lover also.
The father of Rea also followed, laughing like the rest, but keeping a sharp look-out on the pair, as fathers and mothers in these parts do during courting season.
And in the midst of the yelling and hooting crowd Rea sat unmoved, urging on her unlucky victim with vicious little pinches and kicks, as well as blows from the bamboo-pipe, while he groaned in spirit as he ambled on with shell-cut hands and feet, his hair filled with sand, and the hibiscus blossoms all tumbled about.
"On, beast, on!" shouted Rea, spurring up those jaded limbs until his heart was sore with the exertion, while the crowd of girls flung more sand over him and shouted,--
"Yes, on, you beast!"
How long it might have lasted, who knows--for Rea felt the heroine of the hour, and liked the motion too well for any thought of her victim to enter her curly little head--had not a lucky idea struck the throbbing brain of Kamo of a horse he had once seen throw his rider.
Perhaps it was desperation prompted the idea, for he felt he must sink down with exhaustion if he went on longer, or the sight of a nice soft green mound of grass right before him, or maybe the wicked grin on the ugly face of Toto, who stood at hand in his gay suit of orange and red, leering at the girl bestriding him; but he instantly acted upon it, kicking up his heels in the air at the moment that the smiling Rea was least expecting such a motion, and landing her unhurt, but ignominiously, right in the centre of the grass tuft.
"That is the way the horses do," gasped Kamo, getting up and shaking himself, while all the natives laughed at Rea.
Rea, who had fallen in a most ungraceful attitude, picked herself quickly up, and, first adjusting her raumma, ran up to him with blazing eves.
"And that's what I do, you beast!"
With both hands she slapped him full on each cheek, and walked off towards the gardens, leaving poor Kamo shamefaced and dejected, with smarting cheeks and a growing consciousness that it would have been better if he had played the patient instead of the kicking steed.