Three Years in Tristan da Cunha Part 9

The boat did not return till this morning. It got back to the belt of seaweed before daylight, and making fast to it waited for the dawn. The crew said the captain, a Scotchman, was so kind and let them have anything they wanted. He had his wife and little boy on board; she had been ill.

The ship was becalmed, and we hoped the other islanders would go out to her, but they didn't seem inclined to do so. Later in the afternoon we heard to our surprise that they were going. We were so glad because of the letters. The captain sent us a whole heap of magazines and papers. We sent some young lettuces, and I only regretted we had not some flowers to send to his wife. The men did not return till the early hours of the morning.

The captain sent us a bottle of lime-juice and would not take any payment for the groceries Repetto asked for. We feel much the invariable kindness of all the captains. The first boat's crew enjoyed themselves immensely on board. The captain played and sang to them. To add to his kindness he sent us a letter containing all the latest news; the first item of which was "King Teddy going strong."

Repetto has just been in to bring some white paint and oil he got for us from the ship. We want it for the house, which certainly has not seen fresh paint for many a year.

_Sat.u.r.day, December_ 15.--A ship was sighted to-day in the far distance.

_Sunday, December_ 16.--Rebekah is most good in bringing us bunches of pink roses. We have also on the table a bouquet of field-daisies which we were so pleased to find growing here. There are scarcely any wild flowers, but there is a yellow one which much resembles a hollyhock. The people think it very poisonous and never picked it. There is also a small plant which grows abundantly near this house and which they call a sunflower. It has a leaf resembling that of the woodsorrel, and a pink flower the shape of a primrose, but with smaller petals. The boys are very fond of adorning their caps on Sunday with a bunch of pink roses, which are not exactly becoming to their brown complexions.

_Monday, December_ 17.--In heavy rain and a misty sea a ship pa.s.sed close by.

_Thursday, December_ 20.--To-day Rebekah ran in in great distress: "Her brother Ben had had a fit and had not yet come to, would we go to him?"

We went off at once. When we got there he was still unconscious and was lying on the couch. The men were doing all they could for him. There was not much that could be done beyond loosening his collar. After a time he went to sleep. Every one kept flocking in, even the children. I told them he ought to be kept quiet, and gradually they went until Ellen, I, and Bill Green were the only ones left. Presently he awoke and insisted upon getting up, and seeing he was fairly himself we left. Afterwards he had two more fits, one of them on the sh.o.r.e where he had insisted upon going; fortunately Bill Green had followed him there. Two of the men will sit up with him through the night. The people are very kind to one another in sickness.

The keeping of meat is a great difficulty in the summer. We have a supply for the week and it will not keep beyond a day or two. We asked to have it twice a week, but that could not be arranged. We mean to try salting a portion. Our meat larder is the pa.s.sage as being the most airy place.

_Sunday, December 23_.--Ben is all right again. It is thought he overdid himself driving sheep. He had no dog with him and did a good deal of shouting and running. He is the man who has deformed arms. Happily he is of a cheerful disposition and is to be heard constantly whistling tunes.

The only work he can do is to drive the oxen and sheep.

It is difficult to feel we are so near Christmas since we have so few preparations to make for it. But it is not so with the people. They have been preparing for it for months. We have had constant requests for "blue"

for getting up white shirts, petticoats and children's clothes.

Preparations are also now going on in prospect of a visit from a man-of-war; houses are being whitewashed, painted, and scrubbed.

The Repettos finished theirs some time ago, and the large sitting-room is not allowed to be used, that it may be kept quite clean for the "great event," should it come off. The minds of the inhabitants are centred on the arrival of a warship; it is the great event in their lives, and they cannot yet believe one is not coming.

_Christmas Eve_.--This has been a busy day, almost as busy at it is at home, there has been so much coming and going. Many have brought offerings of fish and fruit-pies, and Rebekah as a birthday offering a nicely baked cake. I had a blouse ready for her. She stayed to supper. We have been able to give a little tea and sugar all round. I patched up an old coat for William, and as a last thing watered the garden. The nasturtiums, which I hope will run up the wall of the house, are just beginning to bloom. The sitting-room looks quite gay with daisies, gra.s.ses and pink roses.

CHAPTER XVI

_Christmas Day_.--We have had three services, and all have been well attended. To our surprise we found the church decorated. It was done delightfully simple; little bunches of geraniums, roses and green being hung from the beams and the walls. Nearly all were present in the morning, the women having got up early to prepare their dinners. Rebekah said she was up at 4.30. Our dinner was provided for us, the Greens sending stuffed sucking-pig and others crowberry open tarts. Alas! we had no plum-pudding.

The rain came down in torrents in the afternoon, and we began service with hardly any one present; but the rain abating the church gradually filled.

The singing was not good; I drew my conclusions.

This evening there has been dancing at the Hagans'. Graham has been in and is surprised how well the people dance. The men danced in their shirt-sleeves. Husbands and wives first led off, then danced with other partners. The refreshment was cold water.

_Thursday, December_ 27.--Yesterday directly after breakfast Repetto came to paint the sitting-room. The painting took all day, but the room is quite transformed. The south wall which was green from damp has been whitewashed, and now it is of an olive-green shade and looks quite artistic in contrast with the white paint, but I am afraid that hue will not long remain.

We are having a ten days' holiday. It rains almost every day, and everything is reeking with damp. The people devote themselves to festivities at this season, playing cricket in the morning and dancing in the afternoon and evening. On Boxing Day the first hour of the afternoon was given up to the children, who love dancing. About an hour later the elders began. I dressed in my best array and went to look on. They dance exceedingly well, round and backwards and forwards. I was struck by the polite manners of the men, who go up to the partner they wish to dance with, bow to her and offer their arm. The partner takes it most solemnly, waits about half a minute before she accepts, apparently quite unconscious of his presence, during which time his arm is dropped as he stands mute before her; then she quietly rises and the dance begins. The behaviour of the girls is quiet and natural with a becoming self-reserve. We were home again before six. I believe the dancers left soon after to get some food at home, and then returned and went on till eleven o'clock. We looked in again, and, seeing that the room was very poorly lighted, went back for our lamp. Some of the babies were put to bed in the adjoining room, and some were sleeping peacefully in the arms of the elders in the dancing-room.

_Friday, December 28_.--We are having a very wet week. I have been painting the bedroom and kitchen window-frames. One of our little birds died suddenly yesterday evening: we think perhaps the paint was too much for it. Happily the other one seems quite cheerful without it. As there is still a smell of paint we take his cage up to the church and hang it in the vestry as the only place of safety we can think of.

_New Year's Eve_.--In looking back over this past year we feel very thankful for the way in which we have been helped and guided.

_New Year's Day, 1907.--It is the custom here on New Year's Eve for the men to a.s.semble soon after nightfall and visit each house. Several are fantastically dressed and equipped with every available instrument-- violin, drum, concertina and accordion. And on this occasion even three old Martinis were brought into requisition and fired at frequent intervals throughout the night. Refreshment is given at each house, so we had a good brew of tea and biscuits ready for distribution at the first sound of the drum. Usually the men enter the house, but as it would have been impossible to get them all into ours, they grouped themselves round the back door. There they first sang and danced to the accompaniment of the violin and accordion, made pa.s.ses with mock swords and let off guns; then sat on the stones and enjoyed their tea. I was awakened two or three times in the night by the guns. It was daylight before they finished.

No less than four dinners were sent us today, three plates of stuffed mutton and one of sucking-pig. Our thyme and parsley had been much sought after for the stuffing.

We had service this morning at nine o'clock, at which about forty were present. One of the three hymns was the old favourite--

"O G.o.d, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come."

All the afternoon Graham was on the roof of the house mending a hole which was big enough to thrust his hand through. I watched him staggering up the ladder with a heavy roll of turf roped on to his back. When next I saw him he was sprawling on the ridge, his legs only visible. He nailed a piece of tin over the hole, cemented it, and put the turf over it. The cement is made of the ashes of the wood fire mixed with water; it is very durable, and stands heat and wet. Repetto has been painting the church. His wife came in to pay us a visit, a rather rare thing. She goes her own way. The other women live a good deal in each other's houses, but she does not believe in this, thinking there is plenty to be done at home. Her strong character comes out in dealing with her children. She is a very strict disciplinarian. If they do not do what she tells them, they get a good "hammering." She was very pleased with what Graham said in church on Sunday to the children about promptness in obeying.

_Wednesday, January 2_.--To-day we thought of going to the potato patches, but the men were playing cricket, and sent to ask Graham to join them, which he did. Afterwards he had his first bathe with them. Their bathing-place is close to the waterfall. It is not possible to go out far owing to sharks.

_Thursday, January 3_.--Graham and I started off this afternoon for the potato patches, as the people were anxious that we should see the plants in flower. It was not quite such an exertion as we expected. This time of year the plants are often covered with caterpillars, which have to be picked off. If the people would burn the old plants and the weeds each season this pest would be greatly diminished. Unfortunately there are no birds to prey upon the insects.

_Monday, January 7_.--The next day we went up what is called "Bugsby Hole," a steep mountain slope. It took us a long time to climb, for we did it bit by bit, constantly sitting down. At last we came to what one might perhaps call a pa.s.s (it was but a gap) over a narrow-backed ridge. This was the Goat Ridge which Graham had climbed from the other side on Good Friday. We had rather a difficult rock to climb up, but with a.s.sistance I managed it. Rob got frightened, and had many leaps before he got up. From this ridge such a lovely scene opened out in the evening light, lofty peaks all around, and below, gra.s.sy, fern-covered ravines. It made one almost giddy to look down. The descent appeared appalling, but the ferns were long, and we could get a good foothold in them. As we neared the bottom we picked up a quant.i.ty of wood. Some of it rolled into a gulch, and in going after it Graham got "blocked" and had to let himself slide, with the result that he rather hurt his leg. We got home just before dusk, had a supper of bread and milk and coffee, and retired to bed as soon as I had prepared the sponge for baking.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUGSBY HOLE]

We have started school again after a fortnight's holiday. It is a hot, close day, about the hottest we have had; one comfort is the houses are cool. It is such a pleasure to see the cattle looking so different, really beginning to be in good condition. Their number having been so greatly reduced, there is plenty of gra.s.s for them. We have abundance of milk now, but b.u.t.ter is a rare commodity. Some was brought us to-day, and is quite a treat.

_Wednesday, January_ 9.--This day last year we landed at Cape Town.

Yesterday evening we watched the yoking of some oxen which were driven into the yard opposite. Several were being broken in for the first time, and others had not been yoked for many months. One was quite wild, jumping over the wall into the tussock-garden. The two oxen, or steers, to be yoked together are driven into a corner, and the owner of them warily approaches and first puts on the neck of one the wooden collar. Having done this, he waits a minute or two, and then a man behind hands him the heavy cross-beam, one end of which has to be made fast to the collar. This being done, he goes through the same process with the other ox. The affair is no easy one, for any minute the ox may bolt, perhaps with the yoke dangling down over its forelegs. When they are at last ready, their heads are turned towards the entrance, for which they generally make a dash to get out on to the common. Now comes a race. The owner has hold of one of the horns and hangs on, running at topmost speed, till the oxen are out of breath and go more soberly. Some of the animals take the yoking very quietly. They are left yoked for several days; it seems rather hard upon them, but, of course, they have to be broken in.

_Friday, January_ 11.--We are going to keep fowls. I intended to buy some, and spoke to one or two people, but they quite scorned the idea of selling--they would give them. About half-a-dozen have already been promised. Tom Rogers started on the fowl-house to-day. It is to be a wooden one made out of our packing-cases and thatched with tussock.

_Wednesday, January_ 16.--Repetto has been here since Sat.u.r.day putting up a three-cornered cupboard in the sitting-room. We need it to keep daily stores in. We tried keeping them in the loft, but to run up a ladder every time you want tea, sugar or biscuits is rather tiresome, and the kitchen is too damp for stores.

We have been rearranging the sitting-room. The Indian rugs have come in most usefully; one does as a tablecloth, and the other as a cover for boxes, making a table in the part of the sitting-room we have screened off. They give such a cheerful look to the room. Two or three of the young girls come in every evening of their own accord to help Ellen to wash up.

The boys often help in the garden. Ned and little Charlie were helping this evening to shake the earth out of sods of gra.s.s. They were so comical over it, tumbling down and bursting into such merry peals of laughter. It reminded me of scenes in _Uncle Tom's Cabin_.

_Monday, January_ 2l.--We are having such peaceful days, hardly any wind, and hours of sunshine.

The fowl-house is finished, and this morning I had several gifts of hens to put into it. While we were at breakfast one small child of five, Lizzie Rogers, brought as her birthday gift a hen in a bag. One hen laid an egg an hour after its arrival! The eggs here are very small. I visit the house many times a day to show it to various visitors.

The garden is looking so bright; the zinnias have done splendidly, and some are over two feet high. Our vegetable garden now produces cabbages, turnips, and a few peas. Carrots are coming on, and the tomato plants are in blossom and look most flourishing. The ground is quite warm six or seven inches down, and is more like a hot-bed.

_Wednesday, January_ 23.--The man-of-war is daily expected; the horizon is scanned from early dawn to twilight; but after this week the people say they will have doubts about its coming. For the most part they are without tea and coffee, and are glad of our tea-leaves.

_Friday, January_ 25.--We opened our last flour tin today; we hope to eke out the flour for a month by using only half-a-pound a day and mixing with it a liberal proportion of potatoes.

Yesterday I had my first bathe. We went to a place amongst the rocks where the sea runs in and deep enough for swimming. Graham has begun bathing with the boys after school. The beautiful calm weather has gone and the wind come back again.

_Wednesday, January_ 30.--Charlotte Swain came in to tell us there was a shark on the sh.o.r.e and to ask if we would like to go and see it; so we went down. It was a small one, only six feet long. The skin is very rough, like emery paper, and is used by the people for polishing horns. The flesh is remarkably white and looks as though it would be good to eat. The liver when boiled down makes very clear oil for burning in their lamps.

This evening Rebekah brought us a well-baked loaf. We were touched by this, for flour is scarce now. She said they could do on potatoes better than we could, though we have not come to that yet. The men have been fishing and we have more fish than we can possibly eat.

There are other occupants than fowls of the fowl-house. Four big pigs find it a most comfortable place to retire into. It doesn't matter how often they are driven out. Whenever a storm comes on in they go again, and then they have the best of us.

_Sat.u.r.day, February_ 2.--This morning, though it was wet, such was our energy we went off for a bathe before breakfast, and found it most refreshing.

The Gla.s.ses have a little son, and now the population, including ourselves, is seventy-nine.

Late this afternoon there was a cry of "Sail, ho!" and on going out to look we saw a ship opposite the settlement. It was just a chance whether the men would be able to reach her. They had no time to catch any sheep, but took what they could lay hands on. As we sat on the cliff just as they were starting, Mr. Bob Green suddenly jumped up crying, "Sail, ho!" and on looking, sure enough we saw a second sail coming up. We hoped the men would try for the two, but they decided to go for the second only. The first ship stood in for a time and lowered part of her sail, and then went on. It is dark, but the boats are not yet back. I do hope the men have been able to get some tea and coffee.