第92章 HUSBAND AND WIFE(3)

Nan Tok',the husband,was young,extremely handsome,of the most approved good humour,and suffering in his precarious station from suppressed high spirits.Nei Takauti,the wife,was getting old;her grown son by a former marriage had just hanged himself before his mother's eyes in despair at a well-merited rebuke.Perhaps she had never been beautiful,but her face was full of character,her eye of sombre fire.She was a high chief-woman,but by a strange exception for a person of her rank,was small,spare,and sinewy,with lean small hands and corded neck.Her full dress of an evening was invariably a white chemise -and for adornment,green leaves (or sometimes white blossoms)stuck in her hair and thrust through her huge earring-holes.The husband on the contrary changed to view like a kaleidoscope.Whatever pretty thing my wife might have given to Nei Takauti -a string of beads,a ribbon,a piece of bright fabric -appeared the next evening on the person of Nan Tok'.It was plain he was a clothes-horse;that he wore livery;that,in a word,he was his wife's wife.They reversed the parts indeed,down to the least particular;it was the husband who showed himself the ministering angel in the hour of pain,while the wife displayed the apathy and heartlessness of the proverbial man.

When Nei Takauti had a headache Nan Tok'was full of attention and concern.When the husband had a cold and a racking toothache the wife heeded not,except to jeer.It is always the woman's part to fill and light the pipe;Nei Takauti handed hers in silence to the wedded page;but she carried it herself,as though the page were not entirely trusted.Thus she kept the money,but it was he who ran the errands,anxiously sedulous.A cloud on her face dimmed instantly his beaming looks;on an early visit to their maniap'my wife saw he had cause to be wary.Nan Tok'had a friend with him,a giddy young thing,of his own age and sex;and they had worked themselves into that stage of jocularity when consequences are too often disregarded.Nei Takauti mentioned her own name.Instantly Nan Tok'held up two fingers,his friend did likewise,both in an ecstasy of slyness.It was plain the lady had two names;and from the nature of their merriment,and the wrath that gathered on her brow,there must be something ticklish in the second.The husband pronounced it;a well-directed cocoa-nut from the hand of his wife caught him on the side of the head,and the voices and the mirth of these indiscreet young gentlemen ceased for the day.

The people of Eastern Polynesia are never at a loss;their etiquette is absolute and plenary;in every circumstance it tells them what to do and how to do it.The Gilbertines are seemingly more free,and pay for their freedom (like ourselves)in frequent perplexity.This was often the case with the topsy-turvy couple.

We had once supplied them during a visit with a pipe and tobacco;and when they had smoked and were about to leave,they found themselves confronted with a problem:should they take or leave what remained of the tobacco?The piece of plug was taken up,it was laid down again,it was handed back and forth,and argued over,till the wife began to look haggard and the husband elderly.They ended by taking it,and I wager were not yet clear of the compound before they were sure they had decided wrong.Another time they had been given each a liberal cup of coffee,and Nan Tok'with difficulty and disaffection made an end of his.Nei Takauti had taken some,she had no mind for more,plainly conceived it would be a breach of manners to set down the cup unfinished,and ordered her wedded retainer to dispose of what was left.'I have swallowed all I can,I cannot swallow more,it is a physical impossibility,'he seemed to say;and his stern officer reiterated her commands with secret imperative signals.Luckless dog!but in mere humanity we came to the rescue and removed the cup.

I cannot but smile over this funny household;yet I remember the good souls with affection and respect.Their attention to ourselves was surprising.The garlands are much esteemed,the blossoms must be sought far and wide;and though they had many retainers to call to their aid,we often saw themselves passing afield after the blossoms,and the wife engaged with her own in putting them together.It was no want of only that disregard so incident to husbands,that made Nei Takauti despise the sufferings of Nan Tok'.When my wife was unwell she proved a diligent and kindly nurse;and the pair,to the extreme embarrassment of the sufferer,became fixtures in the sick-room.This rugged,capable,imperious old dame,with the wild eyes,had deep and tender qualities:her pride in her young husband it seemed that she dissembled,fearing possibly to spoil him;and when she spoke of her dead son there came something tragic in her face.But I seemed to trace in the Gilbertines a virility of sense and sentiment which distinguishes them (like their harsh and uncouth language)from their brother islanders in the east.