Some Of
The Songs, Or Himines, Were Religious, And They Were Especially
Beautiful, The Deep Basses Of The Men Mingling With The Altos And
Thin Sopranos Of The Women And Forming A Combination Of Sound That
Irresistibly Reminded One Of An Organ.
In fact, "kanaka organ" is
the scoffer's description of the himine.
On the other hand, some of
the chants or ballads were very barbaric, having come down from pre-
Christian times.
And so, singing, dancing, paddling, these joyous Polynesians took us
to the fishing. The gendarme, who is the French ruler of Bora Bora,
accompanied us with his family in a double canoe of his own, paddled
by his prisoners; for not only is he gendarme and ruler, but he is
jailer as well, and in this jolly land when anybody goes fishing,
all go fishing. A score of single canoes, with outriggers, paddled
along with us. Around a point a big sailing-canoe appeared, running
beautifully before the wind as it bore down to greet us. Balancing
precariously on the outrigger, three young men saluted us with a
wild rolling of drums.
The next point, half a mile farther on, brought us to the place of
meeting. Here the launch, which had been brought along by Warren
and Martin, attracted much attention. The Bora Borans could not see
what made it go. The canoes were drawn upon the sand, and all hands
went ashore to drink cocoanuts and sing and dance. Here our numbers
were added to by many who arrived on foot from near-by dwellings,
and a pretty sight it was to see the flower-crowned maidens, hand in
hand and two by two, arriving along the sands.
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