Mead Schaeffer
Frontispiece
The first day after Fayaway’s emancipation, I had a delightful little
party on the lake—the damsel, Kory-Kory, and myself.
I found him ripe for the enterprise, and a very few
words sufficed for a mutual understanding between us
words sufficed for a mutual understanding between us
At last we gained the top of the second elevation, the loftiest of those
I have described as extending in parallel lines between us and the
valley we desired to reach.
We were soon completely
encircled by a dense throng, and in their eager desire to behold
us, they almost arrested our progress; an equal number surrounding
our youthful guides, who, with amazing volubility, appeared
to be detailing the circumstances which had attended their meeting with
us. Every item of intelligence appeared to redouble the astonishment
of the islanders, and they gazed at us with inquiring looks.
In the midst of the greatest uproar and
confusion, the body was carried into the house and laid on a mat.
Waving the natives off to give room and air, I bent eagerly over Toby,
and, laying my hand upon the breast, ascertained that the heart still
beat. Overjoyed at this, I seized a calabash of water, and dashed its
contents upon his face, then, wiping away the blood, anxiously examined
the wound. It was about three inches long, and, on removing the
clotted hair from about it, showed the skull laid completely bare.
Immediately with my knife I cut away the heavy locks, and bathed the
part repeatedly in water.
Having completed their preparations, the girls now exhibited themselves
in gala costume; the most conspicuous feature of which was a
necklace of beautiful white flowers, with the stems removed, and
strung closely together upon a single fibre of tappa. Corresponding ornaments
were inserted in their ears, and woven garlands upon their
heads. About their waist they wore a short tunic of spotless white
tappa, and some of them superadded to this a mantle of the same
material, tied in an elaborate bow upon the left shoulder, and falling
about the figure in picturesque folds.Thus arrayed, I would have matched the charming Fayaway against
any beauty in the world.
Mehevi was in fact the greatest of the chiefs—the head of his clan—the
sovereign of the valley; and the simplicity of the social institutions
of the people could not have been more completely proved than by
the fact, that after having been several weeks in the valley, and almost
in daily intercourse with Mehevi, I should have remained until
the time of the festival ignorant of his regal character. But a new
light had now broken in upon me. The Ti was the palace—and Mehevi
the king. Both the one and the other of a most simple and patriarchal
nature it must be allowed, and wholly unattended by the
ceremonious pomp which usually surrounds the purple.
About midnight, as I imagined, I
arose and drew the slide. The natives, just as I had expected, started
up, while some of them asked, “Arware poo awa, Tommo?” (where
are you going, Tommo?) “Wai,” (water,) I laconically answered,
grasping the calabash. On hearing my reply they sank back again,
and in a minute or two I returned to my mat, anxiously awaiting the
result of the experiment.
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