'Mikael -Kaoha,Mikael!'From the doorstep,from the cotton-patch,or out of the deep grove of island-chestnuts,these friendly cries arose,and were cheerily answered as we passed.In a sharp angle of a glen,on a rushing brook and under fathoms of cool foliage,we struck a house upon a well-built paepae,the fire brightly burning under the popoi-shed against the evening meal;and here the cries became a chorus,and the house folk,running out,obliged us to dismount and breathe.It seemed a numerous family:we saw eight at least;and one of these honoured me with a particular attention.This was the mother,a woman naked to the waist,of an aged countenance,but with hair still copious and black,and breasts still erect and youthful.On our arrival Icould see she remarked me,but instead of offering any greeting,disappeared at once into the bush.Thence she returned with two crimson flowers.'Good-bye!'was her salutation,uttered not without coquetry;and as she said it she pressed the flowers into my hand -'Good-bye!I speak Inglis.'It was from a whaler-man,who (she informed me)was 'a plenty good chap,'that she had learned my language;and I could not but think how handsome she must have been in these times of her youth,and could not but guess that some memories of the dandy whaler-man prompted her attentions to myself.Nor could I refrain from wondering what had befallen her lover;in the rain and mire of what sea-ports he had tramped since then;in what close and garish drinking-dens had found his pleasure;and in the ward of what infirmary dreamed his last of the Marquesas.But she,the more fortunate,lived on in her green island.The talk,in this lost house upon the mountains,ran chiefly upon Mapiao and his visits to the CASCO:the news of which had probably gone abroad by then to all the island,so that there was no paepae in Hiva-oa where they did not make the subject of excited comment.
第45章 IN A CANNIBAL VALLEY(3)（1 / 3）