voyage magnifical_
Is our wish sincere,
That you'll have from here
_Allant sur la Grande Pacifical_."

But our chief visitor was one Mapiao, a great Tahuku--which seems to
mean priest, wizard, tattooer, practiser of any art, or, in a word,
esoteric person--and a man famed for his eloquence on public occasions
and witty talk in private. His first appearance was typical of the man.
He came down clamorous to the eastern landing, where the surf was
running very high; scorned all our signals to go round the bay; carried
his point, was brought aboard at some hazard to our skiff, and set down
in one corner of the cockpit to his appointed task. He had been hired,
as one cunning in the art, to make my old men's beards into a wreath:
what a wreath for Celia's arbour! His own beard (which he carried, for
greater safety, in a sailor's knot) was not merely the adornment of his
age, but a substantial piece of property. One hundred dollars was the
estimated value; and as Brother Michel never knew a native to deposit a
greater sum with Bishop Dordillon, our friend was a rich man in virtue
of his chin. He had something of an East Indian cast, but taller and
stronger; his nose hooked, his face narrow, his forehead very high, the
whole elaborately tattooed. I may say I have never entertained a guest
so trying. In the least particular he must be waited on; he would not go
to the scuttle-butt for water; it must be given him in his hand; if aid
were denied him, he would fold his arms, bow his head, and go without;
only the work would suffer. Early the first forenoon he called aloud for
biscuit and salmon; biscuit and ham were brought; he looked on them
inscrutably, and signed they should be set aside. A number of
considerations crowded on my mind; how the sort of work on which he was
engaged was probably tapu in a higher degree; should by rights, perhaps,
be transacted on a tapu platform which no female might approach; and it
was possible that fish might be the essential diet. Some salted fish I
therefore brought him, and along with that a glass of rum: at sight of
which Mapiao displayed extraordinary animation, pointed to the zenith,
made a long speech in which I picked up _umati_--the word for the
sun--and signed to me once more to place these dainties out of reach. At
last I had understood, and every day the programme was the same. At an
early period of the morning his dinner must be set forth on the roof of
the house and a