"Haul the mainsail up! and square the main yard!" cries the old man with a desperate effort to make himself heard above the clamor and din.
The orders are repeated by the mates, and the ship is soon hove to, the canoes closing up around us. Everything of a portable nature has been picked up about the decks, and stowed away out of reach, for all savages are known to be adepts at thieving; indeed their exploits in this way would do honor to the most expert "professionals" in England or America.
Some caution against treachery is also necessary at all times in dealing with these people, though, as a general rule, where they come without arms, and accompanied by women and children, no danger is to be apprehended.
As soon as the ship's way was stopped, the islanders poured in over the rail in vast numbers, and a brisk traffic was carried on for cocoanut, mats, hats, shells, etc. Tobacco was the precious metal and root of all evil with this people. Iron they seemed to care very little for, unless an opportunity offered to steal it, but "tabahky" was the very goal of their desires, and for this they would barter soul and body. Articles of clothing were in no request; indeed they offered some for sale for bits of tobacco, having probably stolen them from previous visitors. The costumes of these natives are exceedingly light and airy, the men having absolutely no covering beyond what Nature has provided; while the females were restricted to a single garment not unlike the Highland philibeg, the material being grass or seaweed.
More canoes kept paddling up alongside, and attaching themselves to the offside of the first comers, till the ship was surrounded with them several tiers deep, extending to a considerable distance; for these crafts occupy much space in beam, not so much from the size of the boat itself, as of the bulky "outrigger" built out one side to balance her when carrying sail. These islands produce no trees suitable for making "dug-outs" of any considerable size, and the canoes are built of little pieces of wood, hundreds of pieces in a single craft, holes being made near the edges, and the pieces lashed together with innumerable little "seizings," a sort of mortar or white cement is plastered on to fill up the numerous joints, and the still more numerous little holes for the lashings. This only partially answers the purpose; for though the boats are not deficient in the qualities of speed and buoyancy, they are never tight, and one man is kept almost constantly baling. The lashings, as well as all their ropes, some of considerable size, are ingeniously twisted from the fibrous outside or husk of the cocoanut.