Chapter XIV

I VISIT KABAKAUL--A LOVE STORY--AN EARTHQUAKE--GUESTS
FROM HERBERTSHÖHE--A NOCTURNAL DISTURBANCE--BISMARCK’S REMARK
TO BUSCH--CONCLUSION

The last few days I spent in New Britain were passed at the house of the New Zealand lady already mentioned in the foregoing pages.

She came to the hotel early one morning in her pony-carriage, in order that we might escape the blazing noonday sun.

The house was about ten miles away, and the plantation, named Kabakaul, of which Herr M---- was manager, was co-terminous with the boundary of the settled territory, due east of Herbertshöhe. Beyond, lay native bush, and that of the densest; within, the secrets of savagery.

Having passed the property of the Roman Catholic Mission, we entered the plantations of M. Mouton, that gentleman being the only survivor in Melanesia of the disastrous expedition of the arch-swindler, the Marquis de Rey.

Before arriving at Kabakaul, at one part our way led down a very steep hill and up a rough ascent, then on a narrow track with a steep bank on either side. I remarked to my companion:

“What a bad road on a dark night,” but she declared that she would trust her horse to take her safely home at any time of day or night. In fact, two days before, she, with the baby and native nurse, had started late in the afternoon from Herbertshöhe. They had been delayed on the road, a storm of driving rain had added to their discomfiture, the lamps had gone out, and there was nothing else to do in the pitch blackness but trust themselves to the faithful steed, which had, much to her husband’s relief, brought them safely back.

The manager’s bungalow, built on concrete blocks, stood on ground sloping to the shore, about a quarter of a mile away. It was of the usual type, a central room with a large bedroom on the right, two smaller ones to the left; the whole surrounded with a wide verandah, upon which meals were taken and business of all kinds transacted. The kitchen, bathroom, and a whole row of outbuildings were connected by a covered passage giving on to the verandah. The great feature in building dwellings for Europeans is not only to construct them in a manner best calculated to withstand the constant earthquake-shocks, an art which the Germans seem to have mastered, but to ensure a cool retreat on one side or another of the bungalow. On the evening of my arrival my hostess took me to the reef to see the natives spearing fish. On our way between the house and the shore, we passed large sheds covered with sheets of corrugated iron. In these the three hundred “boys” employed upon the plantation kept the treasures they had brought from their various island homes, and had their sleeping quarters. Close by, copra was being dried in the sun, whilst sacks were being filled with the article ready for export. Some fine men, nearly black, from the island of Buka attracted my attention.

“How well they look!” I exclaimed, comparing them mentally with some of the diseased stragglers at Herbertshöhe.

“They are in splendid condition. We have very few who have to go to the hospital,” replied she. At Ralum there are hospital-sheds where natives are constantly treated for various diseases. “They ought to be well, they get plenty of good food. Rice is imported, and we will drive you round to see our provision grounds,” she added.

It was a pretty sight on the shore; men and women were wading on the reef, whilst others fished. I saw some of the weirs already described; in fact, the place was strewn with fishing-tackle of different kinds. Looking westward across the bay, I recognised the all-powerful Mother, whose eruptive playfulness I had already experienced several times. Before I left Kabakaul I was destined to have a real fright, for the severest shaking from the volcano ever felt during German occupation took place during my visit to this lady. As we returned from our stroll I was amused to see a huge Buka islander carrying Frau M----’s baby boy, whose skin was of the fairest, as his hair was of the blondest Saxon type, so often seen in North Germany. As a study in black and white it was an artistic grouping, the native nurse-girl walking by his side.

“I will tell you about them,” my friend began. “That Buka ‘boy’ is here for his second term of three years. When he was here before he fell in love with the girl, who comes from New Ireland, and they married; at the end of his term he went back to Buka, leaving the girl here, but he was so sad without her, that he returned to Herbertshöhe to indenture himself for another term of labour.”

“Why did he not take her back to his island?” I asked innocently.

“Because they would have killed her. These people are always antagonistic to strangers,” was her explanation.

“They don’t seem to have much to say to each other,” I remarked, as the interesting couple kept in view. It was pleasing to see how gentle the big Buka was with the little child, and how supremely happy the baby of fourteen months or so looked with his little white arm round the strong black neck.

“They can only talk to each other in Pidgin-English,” she laughed as she spoke. “He is quite a superior native, we have him as house-servant. I have taught him to wait at table, and he does so quite nicely when we have guests to dinner.”

The day following, after lunch, the “boys” were paid in kind. They receive their money-wage monthly, but in the interim get loin-cloths and tobacco. The former were torn off in equal lengths, according to pattern, from a great roll of cotton stuff, and I watched this procedure from the verandah whereon the manager stood whilst he distributed their dues. The men responded to their names and came shyly forward; their behaviour throughout the transaction which occupied some time was perfect from my point of view. It was explained that the labourers were never permitted to venture upon the verandah of a planter’s house--that was _tabu_--“otherwise,” said Frau M----, “we should have them in our houses!”

She had a revolver in each room, she said, and both she and her husband slept with one close by them ready loaded, in case of emergency. So far, in her nearly three years’ residence at Kabakaul, she had never done more than fire it in the air, but in the frequent and prolonged absences of her husband it was as well to let the natives know that she had firearms (of which they stood in deadly terror), in the house, and knew how to use them.

To live without weapons of defence in such proximity to savagery would be madness, she continued. Herbertshöhe was ten miles distant, and although they had telephone connection with the head office of Forsyth’s, much might take place before help could be afforded them. Occasionally she would order one of her house servants to bring her a revolver, as she thought it was good to remind them of the presence of this much-dreaded weapon, when the answer would invariably be “Me no like!”

My host and hostess took me for long drives through the enormous plantation into the bush, on a road, the preserving of which was obligatory upon the _gunans_ living within a certain distance. It led through the magnificent tropical forest; on either side dense bush, shoulder-high, gave plenty of material to the imagination to conjure up the scenes in the lives of its denizens. Here I noticed again on two separate occasions the sign of the chiefs jurisdiction. On a plot of soil, planted equidistant, were three crotons interlaced with twigs, the centre one being considerably higher than those at either side.

Frau M----, who can talk to the kanakas, having learnt their language in the Australian mission where she worked before she was married (that ceremony having been arranged by Queen Emma), told me one day as we drove along, that she had, some time previously, been asked by a chief to ride to a certain spot in the forest whither he would guide her, to give her advice in a dispute which had arisen concerning some property. The question at issue was, whether the white man’s way of inheriting from father to son was to be adopted, or whether the ancient way from uncle to nephew was to be retained. She had ridden several miles from Kabakaul, and the chief had led her through the narrow paths of approach to the spot agreed upon. Here she had found an angry and numerous collection of natives; the pandemonium was awful, and she felt on looking round at the awful passions depicted on their hideous countenances, that hell could not produce anything much worse. For the first time she felt somewhat frightened at her rashness in coming off without saying where she was going.

I was interested to know how she got out of the situation, and remarked that, “It was one thing to go to the infernal regions, but quite another to stop there.”

The lady said she had urged them to explain the case, which they all did together, whilst she racked her brains to make the safest and the most politic reply. So when silence had been comparatively established, she explained the situation in this fashion. The white man’s ways, his spirits and his magic, were not like those of the kanakas, and that in the country over the sea, from whence he came, it worked better for the son to inherit from the father instead of from the uncle, but in this land the kanaka knew what suited his particular way of life best, and therefore it was not for her but for all of them to say which mode of heirship in this particular case would be expedient. This had seemed a satisfactory explanation to the assembly. Frau M---- had waved her hand and smilingly ridden away, hearing subsequently that after lengthy discussion the majority present had decided that the European code was preferable in this instance, to their own.

That afternoon three guests were expected to tea and to stay to dinner. They would drive out from Herbertshöhe, and preparations were being made by the servants for the evening meal to take place on the verandah overlooking the sea. We had rested after lunch, but about four o’clock were bestirring ourselves. My hostess had just gone to inspect and supervise culinary operations. Noticing how windy it had suddenly become, Herr M---- and I were standing talking together on the verandah overlooking the plantation, when suddenly the woodwork cracked, the verandah swayed, and a dull roar made us start. The noise was terrifying, but when a greater shock followed in the course of a few seconds, my host screaming out, “Dieses ist ernst, Kommen Sie schnell,” took to his heels and ran down the covered passage past the outbuildings. I followed. The oscillations, however, did not subside for some little time. Frau M---- came running out, white and trembling, demanding her child, who had been near the house playing with his nurse. The nurse-girl informed us that he had laughed, and was delighted at seeing the cocoanut-palms waving this way and that.

“I have never experienced anything like it all the time I have been here,” said the manager, as we three stood together on the grass. The ground was still trembling, and as it had a distinctly nauseating effect upon me, I sat down.

When we returned to the house after a while, the lamps suspended from the ceiling were still swinging, the floor in my bedroom was covered with water spilt out of the handbasin, a few cracks on the walls were visible, but no real damage was sustained. Very soon a telephone message was received from Herbertshöhe, wanting to know if all were safe. Everybody had been very much alarmed, and expected another severe shock to follow. Shortly after this our visitors arrived, somewhat later than they were expected. They were sure the earthquake would prove to be the severest experience during German occupation. The feeling of powerlessness in the face of nature’s outbreaks, and of insecurity, not knowing what may follow at any instant, is not exactly a happy mental condition.

Evidently the Mother was responsible for the quakes; natives who, for once, had actually been frightened at the unusual severity of the shocks, declared that they had seen the water abnormally agitated between the shore and the volcano. Had the house been built of bricks and mortar, instead of timber fitted into grooves after a special pattern in this colony, it would have collapsed. With the excitement and anticipation of more to follow, there was no lack of material for conversation at the little dinner which followed the occurrence. Allusion in these pages has already been made to the proverbial thirstiness of the German official. Before the guests left I had my eyes opened still wider as to the quantity of fluid which gentlemen in the German colonies are in the habit of imbibing, yet retaining normal conditions!

As the moon had not risen and the night was pitch black, the manager volunteered to see his guest past one or two specially dangerous parts of the road. Frau M---- was tired, and suggested retiring to rest, but warned me to be in readiness for another shock, since severe ones rarely came singly. My mental equanimity was defective that night as, with door and window wide open because of the heat, my money and my dressing-gown within reach on account of the expected recurrence of the earthquake, I laid myself down to rest. It was not calculated to improve my disturbed feelings when I thought of those three hundred “boys” whose quarters were so close to the bungalow, many of them came from, and would return to cannibalistic conditions, nor when I dwelt upon the proximity of that dense native bush, which knew so well how to conceal its ghastly secrets from the white man. I hoped the manager would be quick and return! Two white women and one helpless babe left alone at night in the midst of these savages was not exactly a situation I had ever reckoned to find myself in! I was glad I had not allowed myself to let Frau M---- see that I felt nervous. After all, was it likely that anything untoward would happen just this particular night. She had lived in these wilds without fright, or mishap, over two years. I had always reckoned on the law of chances! Why not now? Still, she had a revolver, and I had none. What a fool I was not to have provided myself with one before I set foot on this God-forsaken island. Consumed with contempt at my own stupidity, I forgot to listen for the return of Herr M---- and fell asleep.

In these out-of-the-way places the heaviest sleepers soon lose that characteristic, and metaphorically speaking, the whole time I stayed in New Britain I slept with one eye open and both ears on the alert. I found that others with far more experience of the Archipelago did the same thing. My slumbers were not of long duration before I awoke suddenly. Hurried steps were coming along the verandah. I sprang to my feet. The moon had risen. In the dim light I saw my host and hostess rush past the open doorway in night attire, both holding revolvers in their extended right hands.

“The Bukas are on the verandah,” Frau M---- shouted, disappearing round the corner of the verandah, her long hair streaming behind her.

Grabbing an umbrella with a knobby handle I sallied forth in their wake and made the circuit of the bungalow. The nurse who slept at the entrance of her mistress’s room had given the alarm, explained my friend as we met. She had seen two “boys” climbing on to the verandah by the aid afforded by two zinc tanks situated in the corner nearly opposite their bedroom. Shortly the girl’s husband appeared and explained that the nocturnal disturbance had been occasioned by a Buka who, his companions declared, always became crazed in moonlight. He was caught and they were waiting to know what was to be done with him.

Whether this version was really believed by the planter is not for me to say, but it was accepted, otherwise there would be the necessity of sending him into Herbertshöhe for an official inquiry, which meant expense and delay to his firm. The disturber of our night’s rest was produced without delay, a few impressive threats and the sight of firearms seemed not without effect, and after looking on whilst the man at this early hour was well secured to a post until he could be further admonished in daylight, we retired to our respective quarters to snatch sleep if possible.

Shortly after my exciting experience at Kabakaul I was making a round of farewell visits to those whose kindness and hospitality had rendered my stay in this remote colony one which I shall always look back upon as teeming with interest and pleasure.

Since returning to this country the question has frequently been asked, what I thought of the German colonies? I have replied that a month’s residence in the youngest of them did not enable me to form anything approaching an equitable, or adequate opinion. At the same time, it is not beside the point to remind my readers that Bismarck--Chauvinist that he was--said to Busch concerning colonial enterprise: “I will have no colonies: their only use would be to provide posts for certain people.”

Could that veteran statesman pierce the intervening space and perceive how the Germans in these days have transformed themselves into a commercial people, with limitless ambition for naval supremacy and colonial possessions, he might have further advice of similarly penetrating character to bestow upon the Kaiser’s subjects.

To return to the remote but interesting Protectorate of German New Guinea, let it be remembered that the colony is in its infancy. Who knows? It may awake one morning and find itself famous!

INDEX

A

Admiraltys, 36, 38, 39, 66, 70

„ boys, 128

Africa, South, 48

„ East, 150

Amboyna, 65

America, South, 45

Anchorites, 75

Australia, 7, 9, 138

B

Bacchanalian, 43

Baining, 51, 52, 140, 145, 175

Balboa, 62

Bantam, 65

Batavia, 65

Bavarian, 45

Benningsen, Von, 73, 127

Berlin, 21

Bismarck Archipelago, 11, 21, 23, 66

Blanche, 25, 52, 71

Bougainville, 70, 120, 176

Brown, 72, 163

Brisbane, 10

Britain, 2

Buka, 21, 69, 120, 176

Busch, 233

C

Caens, 66

Callao, 63

Carteret, 67, 69, 176

„ Islands, 121

_Challenger_, 71

_Chandernagore_, 72

Choiseul, 120

Cobdenism, 4

Collars, 46, 107

Cook, 14

Coppée, 29, 37, 83, 172

Credner, 25

Curzon, 112

D

Dane, 35

Dampier, 66, 67

„ Straits, 146

Diemen, Van, 66

Docman, 46, 47, 107

Dolphin, 68

Douro, 70–79

Dubois, 146

Duk Duk, 207

Dutch East India Company, 65

E

Endeavour, 144

Exchequer, 71, 76

F

Fead, 116, 122, 131

Fiji, 216

Fisher, 60, 167

Forsyth, 108, 130, 131, 162

French, 92

Fritsch, 142

G

Gama, Vasco de, 62

Gardner, 67, 131, 167, 175

Gazelle Peninsula, 24, 54, 152

„ Cape, 28

Germania, 43

Gerrit Denys, 66

Gisborne, 17

Green Islands, 65

H

Hahl, 73, 124, 133

Hardy, Sir C., 58, 65

Hau-Hauism, 16

Heiligen Herzen, 84

Herbertshöhe, 6, 29, 42, 57, 156

Hermits, 71, 76

Hernsheim, 130, 131, 168

Hohenzollern, 3

Holland, 65

Hope, Cape of Good, 62

Howe, Lord, Islands, 63

Hunter, 176

I

Ingiet, 208

Isabel, 120

J

Jaluit, 8, 73

Jakupia, 150

Jamaica, 162

Japan, 139

Java, 92

K

Kabakaul, 217

Kabien, 131

Kaboteron, 130, 131

Kaiser Wilhelm’s land, 21, 49, 72

Kapsu, 130, 168

Keppel, 71

Kilkil, 151

Kokorra, 207

Kot, 152

Kovangal, 151

L

_Langeoof_, 32

Le Maire, 65

Löndip, 174

Louisiades, 70

Lowell, 86

Lüschan, Von, 21, 48, 178

M

Magellan, 62, 68

Malay, 22, 176

Malira, 155

Manilla, 6, 64

Maori, 13, 19

Mariwot, 214

Massava, 141, 174, 175

Massikunabuka, 141, 175

Matankor, 39, 40

Matty, 70, 79

Matupi, 33, 71, 172, 175

Meander, 71

Melanesian, 13, 22, 50

Mendana, 63

Micronesian, 8, 73

Mioko, 71

Mlol, 151

Moánus, 39, 40

Moluccas, 62

Mortlocks, 116, 122

Mother, 67

Mouton, 218

Möwe, 90

Möwehafen, 100

N

Nakanai, 92

Napier, 17

Nares, 71

New Britain, 5, 10, 174

New Guinea, 6, 21, 63

„ (boys), 206

New Hanover, 66, 70, 131, 168

New Ireland, 10, 50, 62, 68, 70, 131, 166

„ (boys), 204

New Lauenburg, 25, 71

New Mecklenberg, 70

New Zealand, 9, 13

Nissan, 65

Nodup, 163

Nusa, 167

O

Ophir, 63

P

Pacific, 5, 8, 73

Papuan, 22, 38

Parkinson, 38, 52, 89, 91, 147

Pepe, 155

Pernambuco, 45

Pfeil, 167

Philippines, 62

Polynesians, 14

Purdy, 71

Q

Queen Emma, 61, 108, 201

Queensland, 119

R

Raluana, 163

Ralum, 163, 202

Rascher, 82

Ray, 23

Rey’s expedition, 72

Roggeveen, 68

Rook Island, 68

S

St Gabriel, 131

St George’s Channel, 10, 70

„ Cape, 67

St Maria, Cape, 62, 65, 169

St Matthias, 67, 79

Sandwich, 70, 176

Santos, 45

Schleinitz, 71

Schnee, 130, 144

Schouten, 38, 65

_Seestern_, 127

Selwyn, 16

Semitic, 92

Shortland, 120, 129

Siara, 169

Simpsonhafen, 71

Solomons, 21, 38, 63

Spain, 64

Spaniards, 62, 63

Squally Islands, 67

Stettiner Bay, 93

Storm Island, 176

Sulkas, 53, 90, 150, 175

Sumatra, 35, 36, 61

T

Tabuan, 211

Tariau, 210

Tasman, 62, 66

Tasman Island, 121

Taulils, 90, 175

Te Reinga, 15

Teuton, 3, 44, 135

Thomá, 171, 176

Thurnwald, 48, 136

Timor, 66

Tingenatabaran, 149

Tohunga, 17

Tombara, 51

Torres, 63

Tregear, 15

Trinil, 146

U

Urar, 141, 175

Usiai, 39, 40

V

Varczin, 24, 175

Vlatom, 196

Vunakokor, 24, 55

Vunapope, 29, 61

W

Waldemar, 5

Wallis, 68

Weberhafen, 207

Wesley, J., 163

Wesleyan Mission, 71

Westminster, 2

Winchelsea, 69

Y

York, Duke of, Islands, 25, 53, 70, 167, 215

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