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The Land of the Hibiscus Blossom




(1888)
Country of origin: Australia Australia
Available texts by the same author here Dokument


XXIV. Toto as a Defender.

   SOMETIMES about the very worst luck which can befall a man is to gain an advantage over his adversary.
   Our feelings may be outraged, or our contempt and indignation roused, until we rise up in our righteous wrath and strike out from the shoulder, and what is the result?--satisfaction? Yes, a brief instant of satisfaction, trailing behind it years of regret. We prate of our wrongs and no one listens, or if they do, it is only in order to mock us, or else betray us when our backs are turned. We avenge our injuries, and straightway rises up from the deed, misery or self-contempt in our hearts; the object of our wrath is invested with a halo of pathetic reproach the instant our stroke of justice has descended, because our humanity prevents us from being implacable, as stern justice must be; or else the object is too insignificant for the blow we have given to it, and so the blow recoils directly with double force upon our own heads.
   Again, no injury can be repaired by the injurer, repentance will not do it; no ocean of tears can ever wipe out the damaged spot; we are haunted for ever by another ghost who joins a vast regiment, the ghastly army of deeds, to chase us through life; it is much easier, in reality, to bear a blow of adversity than to have become the cause of another's ruin.
   Kamo, for a moment or two, as he stalked away with much majesty into the deep shadows past the tamarind-tree, felt very well satisfied with his promptitude and brave display of courage; so, also, did Rea, when she beheld her splendid young hero, with the firelight playing over his satin-like limbs, so easily overthrow and make ridiculous this very contemptible pretender to her hand; but I doubt if either of this foolish self-congratulatory young couple felt half the satisfaction that Toto did, as he picked himself up and adjusted his raumma about this same very ridiculous part which he had been brought to play in the magic ceremony.
   A thorough philosopher, he cared no more about a kick, unless when it hurt very much, than he did about any other insult, so long as it touched no more than his honour. This kick had not hurt him beyond a passing sting, whereas it placed his enemy in his merciless grasp, for by that interruption in this sacred ceremony, Kamo had broken tapu, the punishment of which was death, unless the one injured chose to interfere, the punishment and mode being entirely at his option.
   A magnificent kick for fortune-favoured Toto, who showed his ugly fangs in a more decided leer than ever as he looked towards the still animated countenance of Rea, while he turned with a hypocritical air of pity towards where the father, mother, and sisters stood, paralyzed with horror at the madness of their audacious and irreligious son and brother.
   Half a dozen steps into the blackness of the croton shadows and the truth burst upon him with the suddenness of the doom of Cain.
   "Lost, lost for ever! oh, fool! fool!! fool!!!" and, with a howl like a wild beast, he plunged his hand into his carefully-frizzed, orange-dyed hair, tearing out handfuls, as he fled frantically towards the mountains.
   Rea woke up next to the utter helplessness of her position, the folly of her budding hopes, the destruction of her love. Not a child of the company who could speak at all but knew what Kamo's kick meant inside that circle sanctified by the sacred spell of the spirit-seers, or that until his or other blood washed away the evil luck, nothing but misfortune would come to the tribe. Kamo was doomed without a chance, for what pity could any one expect from laughing Toto; and as this truth broke upon her, she laid her poor head right amongst the sand and ashes, and wept as if her little heart would have burst.
   Fortunately for the present personal safety of Kamo, the New Guinea native will not move in any matter without a great amount of discussion and tall talking, and it takes them, as a rule, like all livers in the open air, some little time to grasp a situation, otherwise the offender might have been at once secured, instead of being permitted to stalk away as he had done in full presence of the outraged assembled tribe, driving, as it were, the affronted prophetic spirits sheer out of the field.
   But now that the ghost performance was over for the present occasion, the next thing to do was to dismiss the women to bed, while the men assembled in the Dobu, or grand house of the village, to discuss the grave question, and pass judgment upon the culprit; therefore, the chief and father of Rea, Mavaraiko, gravely rising up, gave what might be termed the benediction to that meeting. At this potent signal of dismissal, against which there could be no protest, much as the women were listened to generally, Putitai, the unmarried sister of Kamo, and friend to Rea, passed over, and lifting up the afflicted girl, led her away to her father's hut.
   Meantime a guard of the youngest men left amongst them was hastily extemporized and ordered to prowl round the outskirts of the village, and watch in case of invasion from their old enemies the mountain tribes, from whom vague rumours had floated of a contemplated raid. This, indeed, had been one of the reasons why the present spirit-meeting had been convened, and now that the spirits had been driven off before they had time to come to this important portion of their warning, these simple children of nature expected nothing less than an immediate assault, all the greater reason for execrating the impious name of Kamo.
   Large fires were speedily lighted up at different portions of the village, and one in front of the Dobu, until the whole place stood out in glaring relief in the midst of the general darkness of the forest, while the women concealed themselves inside their houses, and peered out with large frightened eyes from between the crevices at the hurrying figures of their lords and masters, as they hastily armed themselves and gathered before the platform upon which Mavaraiko stood leaning upon a large black palm spear, with his shield-bearer by his side, and the spirit professor behind him; where, also, the injured Toto had been promoted, now once more adorned with his yellow and red-spotted pijamas, with his broad straw hat tilted over his left ear, in all the grandeur of his civilized garb, the personation of triumphant innocence.
   The Dubo House stood in the centre of the village, and was the only house dignified with a spire, which rose to a height of about sixty feet, with projecting poles of bamboo with fluttering grasses and palm--ribbons. The first floor was raised about six feet from the sand on many strong cotton and gum-tree posts, with a wide strong platform of tough undressed logs overlaid with coarse planks; how they ever managed to cut those planks being one of the wonders of their native ironless craft.
   Above this platform, at about eight feet, another projected, forming a second flat and a verandah-like roof for the first platform, to reach both of which rude moveable ladders were placed against the posts; this verandah was fringed, as were the eaves of the palm-thatched roof, with bleached skulls and other human remains, sombre relics of departed friends and murdered enemies; tame cockatoos and parrots swung themselves by day upon these ghastly trophies, and roosted upon them at night.
   Inside all was in deepest shadow, one large under-chamber, with the walls lined with weapons of warfare, and a small upper chamber, with funnel-like roof, reaching to the height of the spire.
   Outside, where the male portion of the assembly were squatting or standing according to pleasure while waiting on the chief to open parliament, wandered droves of pet pigs with preternaturally long snouts, rubbing up against naked legs to attract notice or get scratched by their fond owners, grunting with delight, or breaking the silence with shrill squeaks, as the likewise limitless cluster of native dogs jealously snapped at their wriggling tails when they saw that the pigs were more taken notice of than themselves.
   The leaping flames from the different fires mixed up the lights most fantastically, and threw black shadows, which seemed strangely animated, into the open space within the assembled motionless circle and up the knarled supports of the platform, so that the shadows seemed to be alive, and the waiting warriors to be carven fiends only; a weird and vivid golden effect of light burnished up the whole village, and to ships passing outside the barrier reef, far in the gulf, must have seemed ominous in the extreme in a land where fires of this extent denote carnage, intensified in horror by the awful after-effects of cannibalism.
   A short pause after the crowd had settled themselves and then Mavaraiko opened the debate with the usual highly-coloured eloquence of the savage, be he white or copper-tinted, who only recognizes the laws of self-gratification and the lust of revenge.
   He biased the court with his first words like a modern magistrate, and carried on in the same vein to the finale, demanding the one punishment--"death," which was recognized by his hearers as the punishment for almost every offence, great or trivial; in the code of the savage there are no gradations in crime, except in the case of theft, which is venal, and to be condoned by restitution.
   Kamo's crime was of greater magnitude than a single murder, for by this act of interruption he was regarded as endangering the lives of all his friends and relations; even his father could say nothing by way of extenuation; he must be slain by all the laws of procedure, and Toto should have the right of being avenger.
   It was at this juncture that Toto shone forth with extraordinary brilliancy, and proved the benefit which he had received from his communication with the civilized races. Rising gracefully to his feet, he silenced, with a gentle and oratorical wave of his hand, the very hubbub of tongues which had now broken loose, and when peace was once more restored, addressed them as follows:--
   "My friends and supporters, you all know me as well as I do myself, and what I have done for you since I was born. You know that I have brought much property amongst you, and made you all so greatly respected by other tribes by being so very rich; our Kavana is the great man, but am I not the rich one?"
   Yells of applause and cries from one and all that he was, but a slightly lowering expression on the heavy brows of Mavaraiko gathered instantly, noticing which the adroit orator resumed.
   "But what is property compared to great deeds and noble birth; is not our Kavana a mighty man?"
   Signs of clearing up of the noble visage.
   "What have I done in all my life compared to one of his fighting days? Who has done more to fill up the line of skulls which now fringe our Dobu roof?"
   Toto pointed above him, while the chief gently patted him on the shoulder--
   "You are a good boy, Toto, and are my son."
   "You all hear what our father has to-night promised me," cried Toto, exultantly.
   "You shall have my daughter Rea, directly you bring me the head of Kamo to hang up on that empty place."
   The slobbing under-lip of Toto fell limply at this condition, but recovering himself he continued,--
   "You all know how I love Rea, and also that her little heart has gone out for the present after that wicked Kamo. If I kill him, will she not hate me for ever after, and who would marry a woman to be hated?"
   Toto paused to watch the effect of his wily suggestions, but saw only contemptuous shrugs of the shoulders from his hearers; his reasons were too fine drawn for their broad comprehensions, observing which, he hastily continued in a vaunting tone,--
   "I do not fear Kamo, for I know how to kill with the white man's tube, but I want the heart of Rea, and this is the way I am going to get it. I would spare the life of Kamo, and only banish him from the tribe, which, if he ever comes near again, then I will take my man-trap and slay him, without mercy."
   The broken-hearted father of Kamo here sprang up to the platform, and with his two arms embraced the pijama-covered limbs of the merciful Toto in an cestasy of gratitude.
   "You all see how I have pleased the father, will it not also please my wife when she hears of it?"
   Signs of bewilderment in the audience; perhaps after all, the rich Toto was a better fellow than they had hitherto considered him to be. He went on more loudly than ever,--
   "The white man taught me to be merciful when my enemy is in my power, but I can be brave also, as you will find when the time comes. Place me in the front when the common enemy comes, and you shall see how I can fight--"
   At this moment there seemed to be a wild commotion from the outskirts of the village, which made the brave man pause in his boasting and look anxiously over the heads of his audience. The next instant three of the young men sent as sentinels, were seen to burst through the undergrowth with great force, and rush towards them with loud cries.
   "Quick! to arms, the enemy is upon us."
   As the men leaped to their feet with one impulse, and Mavaraiko vaulted amongst them from his lofty position, the brave defender, Toto, rolled backwards along the platform, like an highly-coloured india--rubber ball, and vanished into the dark shadows of the huts nearest the sea.


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