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And the little one, answering his deep tones with her soft, sweet treble, would spring back to her father's side, and nestling her tender form against his gaunt frame, lay her cheek against his, and say, in the soft Tokelau tongue, "'Twas a great wave, my father!"
The sharks of Tokelau have no teeth, like the people there, for they too are eaters of fala." This evoked a sally of laughter, in which of course I joined. However, I was to have my own little joke at Viliamu's expense later on.
Meeting with Mr Tom de Wolf, the managing partner of a Liverpool firm, he took service with him as a trader in the Ellice and Tokelau Groups, finally settling down as a residential trader. He returned to Samoa and engaged as a "recruiter" in the labour trade. He got badly hurt in an encounter with some natives, and went to New Zealand to recover.
Seeing that he meant to swim off, the skipper went in as close as possible, and backed his foreyard. Watching his chance for a lull in the yet fierce breakers, the native slid over the reef and swam out to us as only a Line Islander or a Tokelau man can swim. "How's Charley?" we asked, when the dark man reached the deck. "Who? Charley? Oh, he fine, plenty copra.
Many of the Ellice and Tokelau islanders regard these young sharks as a delicacy, as their flesh is very tender, and has not the usual unpleasant smell. In one of these young sea lawyers we found no less than five hooks, with pieces of line attached; these were duly restored to their owners.
As soon as the captains had stepped out upon the beach and I had bidden the four sailors who were with me to push off to return to the ship, the trader, seeing the tatooing on my arms, gave a shout. "'Ho, he cried, turning to my captain, 'whence comes that boat-steerer of thine? By the markings on his arms and chest he should be from the isles of the Tokelau. "My captain laughed.
But, as I pondered, the girl bent forward and again her eyes smiled at me through her hair; and then it was I saw that on her head there was a narrow shaven strip from the crown backward. Now, in Tokelau, this fashion is called tu tagita, and showeth that a girl is in her virginity. When I saw this I was pleased, but to make sure I said to my friends, 'Her hair is tu tagita. Is she a virgin?
When they came back it was the same no one cared to go inside his house, and he cursed us, and said he would bring men from Tokelau to work for him. We said naught. Then in time another child was born, and it was hideous to look upon, and that also died.
"Are you ready for sea?" "I was thinking of sailing on a cruise among the Tokelau Islands in a day or two." "Then don't think of it. If you put to sea to-night for a longer voyage, I can guarantee you that you will get five hundred pounds if you will take two passengers on board, and put to sea as soon as they come alongside." "Where do they want to go?" "That I can't say.
In a quarter of an hour we had caught but four schnapper and lost a dozen or more hooks; my own line was bitten through at about five fathoms from the surface a piece of meat skin had wound itself round it and had been discovered by one of these predatory villains. No wonder that the Samoans and natives of the Tokelau Islands term the leather-jacket isumu moana the sea-rat.
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