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Updated: May 10, 2025
In good sooth, it made little matter where they were, since we were in no condition to capture them. About this time, indeed, the men came down from the mast-heads, where, until now, they had kept up the form of relieving each other every two hours. They swore they would go there no more. Thus went the world of waters with us, some four weeks or more after leaving Hannamanoo.
The small, merry laughter it is Of the sons and daughters of the tattooed." THE night we left Hannamanoo was bright and starry, and so warm that, when the watches were relieved, most of the men, instead of going below, flung themselves around the foremast. Toward morning, finding the heat of the forecastle unpleasant, I ascended to the deck where everything was noiseless.
These men generally marry well; often like Hardy of Hannamanoo into the Wood royal. Sometimes they officiate as personal attendant, or First Lord in Waiting, to the king. At Amboi, one of the Tonga Islands, a vagabond Welshman bends his knee as cupbearer to his cannibal majesty. He mixes his morning cup of "arva," and, with profound genuflections, presents it in a cocoa-nut bowl, richly carved.
On gaining the end of the channel we rounded a point, and came full upon the bay of Hannamanoo. This is the only harbour of any note about the island, though as far as a safe anchorage is concerned it hardly deserves the title. Before we held any communication with the shore, an incident occurred which may convey some further idea of the character of our crew.
Several lines were repeated to us by Hardy, some of which, in a sort of colloquial chant he translated nearly thus: "Where is that sound? In Hannamanoo. And wherefore that sound? The sound of a hundred hammers, Tapping, tapping, tapping The shark teeth." "Where is that light? Round about the king's house, And the small laughter?
By sound of conch-shell it was proclaimed before the palace, on the beach, and at the head of the valley, that Noomai, King of Hannamanoo, and friend of Hardee-Hardee, the white, kept open heart and table for all tattooers whatsoever; but to entitle themselves to this hospitality, they were commanded to practise without fee upon the meanest native soliciting their services.
The itinerants are a reproach to their profession, mere cobblers, dealing in nothing but jagged lines and clumsy patches, and utterly incapable of soaring to those heights of fancy attained by the gentlemen of the faculty. All professors of the arts love to fraternize; and so, in Hannamanoo, the tattooers came together in the chapters of their worshipful order.
All powers of persuasion being thus lost upon these foolish savages, and no hope left of holding further intercourse, the boat returned to the ship. ON the other side of the island was the large and populous bay of Hannamanoo, where the men sought might yet be found. But as the sun was setting by the time the boat came alongside, we got our offshore tacks aboard and stood away for an offing.
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