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One object of interest in Ohonoo was the original image of Keevi the god of Thieves; hence, from time immemorial, the tutelar deity of the isle. His shrine was a natural niche in a cliff, walling in the valley of Monlova And here stood Keevi, with his five eyes, ten hands, and three pair of legs, equipped at all points for the vocation over which he presided.
And then is it, that the swimmers of Ohonoo most delight to gambol in the surf. For this sport, a surf-board is indispensable: some five feet in length; the width of a man's body; convex on both sides; highly polished; and rounded at the ends. It is held in high estimation; invariably oiled after use; and hung up conspicuously in the dwelling of the owner.
Embarking from Ohonoo, we at length found ourselves gliding by the pleasant shores of Tupia, an islet which according to Braid-Beard had for ages remained uninhabited by man.
But how came the Ohonoose by their name? Listen, and Braid-Beard, our Herodotus, will tell. Long and long ago, there were banished to Ohonoo all the bucaniers, flibustiers, thieves, and malefactors of the neighboring islands; who, becoming at last quite a numerous community, resolved to make a stand for their dignity, and number one among the nations of Mardi.
"It would seem, then, my lord," said Babbalanja, reclining, "as if these men of Ohonoo had canonized the derelictions of their progenitors, though the same traits are deemed scandalous among themselves. But it is time that makes the difference.
Surely, oh, surely, if I live till Mardi be forgotten by Mardi, I shall not forget the sight that greeted us, as we drew nigh the shores of this same island of Ohonoo; for was not all Ohonoo bathing in the surf of the sea? But let the picture be painted.
Nothing less than bodily to remove Ohonoo to the center of the lagoon, in fulfillment of an old prophecy running thus When a certain island shall stir from its foundations and stand in the middle of the still water, then shall the ruler of that island be ruler of all Mardi." The task was hard, but how glorious the reward! So at it he went, and all Ohonoo helped him.
Where eastward the ocean rolls surging against the outer reef of Mardi, there, facing a flood-gate in the barrier, stands cloven Ohonoo; her plains sloping outward to the sea, her mountains a bulwark behind.
Approached from the northward, Ohonoo, midway cloven down to the sea, one half a level plain; the other, three mountain terraces Ohonoo looks like the first steps of a gigantic way to the sun. And such, if Braid-Beard spoke truth, it had formerly been. "Ere Mardi was made," said that true old chronicler, "Vivo, one of the genii, built a ladder of mountains whereby to go up and go down.
The test of legitimacy in the Ohonoo monarchs is to stand hereon, arms folded, and javelins darting by. And there in his youth Uhia stood. "How felt you, cousin?" asked Media. "Like the King of Ohonoo," he replied. "As I shall again feel; when King of all Mardi."
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