On week days they are quite as
busy as on Sundays; to the great terror of the inhabitants, going all
over the island, and spying out the wickedness thereof.
Moreover, they are the collectors of fines - levied generally in grass
mats - for obstinate non-attendance upon divine worship, and other
offences amenable to the ecclesiastical judicature of the
missionaries.
Old Bob called these fellows "kannakippers" a corruption, I fancy, of
our word constable.
He bore them a bitter grudge; and one day, drawing near home, and
learning that two of them were just then making a domiciliary visit
at his house, he ran behind a bush; and as they came forth, two green
bread-fruit from a hand unseen took them each between the shoulders.
The sailors in the Calabooza were witnesses to this, as well as
several natives; who, when the intruders were out of sight, applauded
Captain Bob's spirit in no measured terms; the ladies present
vehemently joining in. Indeed, the kannakippers have no greater
enemies than the latter. And no wonder: the impertinent varlets,
popping into their houses at all hours, are forever prying into their
peccadilloes.
Kooloo, who at times was patriotic and pensive, and mourned the evils
under which his country was groaning, frequently inveighed against
the statute which thus authorized an utter stranger to interfere with
domestic arrangements. He himself - quite a ladies' man - had often
been annoyed thereby. He considered the kannakippers a bore.
Beside their confounded inquisitiveness, they add insult to injury, by
making a point of dining out every day at some hut within the limits
of their jurisdiction. As for the gentleman of the house, his meek
endurance of these things is amazing. But "good easy man," there is
nothing for him but to be as hospitable as possible.
These gentry are indefatigable. At the dead of night prowling round
the houses, and in the daytime hunting amorous couples in the groves.
Yet in one instance the chase completely baffled them.
It was thus.
Several weeks previous to our arrival at the island, someone's husband
and another person's wife, having taken a mutual fancy for each
other, went out for a walk. The alarm was raised, and with hue and
cry they were pursued; but nothing was seen of them again until the
lapse of some ninety days; when we were called out from the Calabooza
to behold a great mob inclosing the lovers, and escorting them for
trial to the village.
Their appearance was most singular. The girdle excepted, they were
quite naked; their hair was long, burned yellow at the ends, and
entangled with burrs; and their bodies scratched and scarred in all
directions. It seems that, acting upon the "love in a cottage"
principle, they had gone right into the interior; and throwing up a
hut in an uninhabited valley, had lived there, until in an unlucky
stroll they were observed and captured.
They were subsequently condemned to make one hundred fathoms of Broom
Road - a six months' work, if not more.
Often, when seated in a house, conversing quietly with its inmates, I
have known them betray the greatest confusion at the sudden
announcement of a kannakipper's being in sight. To be reported by one
of these officials as a "Tootai Owree" (in general, signifying a bad
person or disbeliever in Christianity), is as much dreaded as the
forefinger of Titus Gates was, levelled at an alleged papist.
But the islanders take a sly revenge upon them. Upon entering a
dwelling, the kannakippers oftentimes volunteer a pharisaical
prayer-meeting: hence, they go in secret by the name of
"Boora-Artuas," literally, "Pray-to-Gods."
CHAPTER XLVII.
HOW THEY DRESS IN TAHITI
EXCEPT where the employment of making "tappa" is inflicted as a
punishment, the echoes of the cloth-mallet have long since died away
in the listless valleys of Tahiti. Formerly, the girls spent their
mornings like ladies at their tambour frames; now, they are lounged
away in almost utter indolence. True, most of them make their own
garments; but this comprises but a stitch or two; the ladies of the
mission, by the bye, being entitled to the credit of teaching them to
sew.
The "kihee whihenee," or petticoat, is a mere breadth of white cotton,
or calico; loosely enveloping the person, from the waist to the feet.
Fastened simply by a single tuck, or by twisting the upper corners
together, this garment frequently becomes disordered; thus affording
an opportunity of being coquettishly adjusted. Over the "kihee," they
wear a sort of gown, open in front, very loose, and as negligent as
you please. The ladies here never dress for dinner.
But what shall be said of those horrid hats! Fancy a bunch of straw,
plaited into the shape of a coal-scuttle, and stuck, bolt upright, on
the crown; with a yard or two of red ribbon flying about like
kite-strings. Milliners of Paris, what would ye say to them! Though
made by the natives, they are said to have been first contrived and
recommended by the missionaries' wives; a report which, I really
trust, is nothing but scandal.
Curious to relate, these things for the head are esteemed exceedingly
becoming. The braiding of the straw is one of the few employments of
the higher classes; all of which but minister to the silliest vanity.
The young girls, however, wholly eschew the hats; leaving those dowdy
old souls, their mothers, to make frights of themselves.
As for the men, those who aspire to European garments seem to have no
perception of the relation subsisting between the various parts of a
gentleman's costume. To the wearer of a coat, for instance,
pantaloons are by no means indispensable; and a bell-crowned hat and
a girdle are full dress. The young sailor, for whom Kooloo deserted
me, presented him with a shaggy old pea-jacket; and with this buttoned
up to his chin, under a tropical sun, he promenaded the Broom Road,
quite elated.
