In Truth, Much More
Wonderful; For, Notwithstanding The Devotion - Even Of Life In Some
Cases - To Which They Led, They Were Frequently Entertained At First
Sight For Some Stranger From Another Island.
Filled with love and admiration for the first whites who came among
them, the Polynesians could not testify the warmth of their emotions
more strongly than by instantaneously making their abrupt proffer of
friendship.
Hence, in old voyages we read of chiefs coming off from
the shore in their canoes, and going through with strange antics,
expressive of the desire. In the same way, their inferiors accosted
the seamen; and thus the practice has continued in some islands down
to the present day.
There is a small place, not many days' sail from Tahiti, and seldom
visited by shipping, where the vessel touched to which I then
happened to belong.
Of course, among the simple-hearted natives, We had a friend all
round. Mine was Poky, a handsome youth, who never could do enough for
me. Every morning at sunrise, his canoe came alongside loaded with
fruits of all kinds; upon being emptied, it was secured by a line to
the bowsprit, under which it lay all day long, ready at any time to
carry its owner ashore on an errand.
Seeing him so indefatigable, I told Poky one day that I was a virtuoso
in shells and curiosities of all kinds. That was enough; away he
paddled for the head of the bay, and I never saw him again for
twenty-four hours.
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