Volcanic Island.
Ekewane looked back from where they had come so as to see how many canoes were still in sight, but to her horror she could only see the endless blue flickering sea.
“The storm must have blown them off course,” her father explained, as if reading her questioning gaze.
“They will find us again,” he continued speaking mainly to himself.
She watched him as he gave instructions to stop the canoe. “Is he waiting for the other canoes?” she thought.
“We will wait until night so that we can see if there are any fires burning, then we will know if there are people here.” Then to her surprise he slowly unwrapped his precious shell armband and fastened it around his arm.
The hours passed slowly as they drifted towards the distant land. Luckily the sea was smooth, only the ripples of the canoe disturbed the blue sheet of water. Her father took out a long rope and attached a large hook carved from the tomano tree. He then tied a stone that had a hole drilled in it, threaded some of their remaining fish on the hook, and dropped it from the side of the boat. The stone went deeper and deeper, but it did not touch the bottom.
“It’s still very deep here!” he stated excitedly.
But no sooner had he dropped the line than he felt a sharp pull. “A fish!” he exclaimed.
The other two men climbed onto the outrigger and watched as he pulled it in. It was a large tuna. Everyone forgot about the land. “Food!”
“The water here must be very rich with fish,” smiled Gaida to one of the other men.
Erangue tossed the tuna into the canoe for the women to cut up and distribute; the soft inside of the fish was given to the smaller children. No sooner had he thrown the line back, and then pulled in again another tuna. They would now all have enough to eat, and the raw fish would also help quench their thirst.
Ekewane’s father and the other men caught five more large tuna. The faraway shadow of the island did not seem so frightening now that they had eaten. But her father and the other men still wore a look of concern.
The darkness finally came. As in the tropics there is little twilight or dawn, one moment it seemed to Ekewane that she was watching the blue horizon and then it disappeared under the mantle of darkness. Her father and the other men then started to row silently towards the distant shadow. They did not have to tell anyone to be very quiet, they all knew that this should be the case; they were even too afraid to breathe out loud.
The two younger girls on the boat cradled the two remaining small piglets closely. The piglets were treated like small children; they had been fed the same amount of food as the other children, but like the rest of the people on the canoe, had grown very thin and weak during the voyage.
As they came closer to the island they could smell it. The perfume of the tomano, and other flowering trees could be smelt even from far away. It was the familiar smell of home, and for a moment they all hoped that they might be home again. But as the canoe got closer to the island, there was nothing familiar about the outline. No pale soft sandy beaches could be seen, only a wide stony dark brown reef. At the centre of the island, reaching high above its surroundings was the outline of a dark mountain. Ekewane shivered, the sinister mountain looked dangerous.
“I wish we had returned home, this place has evil spirits,” she reflected.
The canoe stopped bobbing up and down with the still water. All the occupants on the canoe were scanning the dark outline of the island, watching to see if they could see a flicker of light from a fire. But there was nothing. And still they waited.
Ekewane looked at the shadowy island and whispered, “Why aren’t we landing?”
“We are not going to land tonight, there may be sharp rocks, and the waves could crash the canoe against them. We will land as soon as there is light.” Her father’s voice replied quietly.
So once again they waited. Ekewane was too afraid to sleep, “Perhaps we will be attacked by the people on the island. They could row out into the darkness. They know the beach.”
She listened to the soft chants of her mother that soothed her, and felt the fine spray that floated off the sea which felt cool on her seared, hot skin. Finally, exhausted, she drifted off into a restless sleep. She dreamt that the island was full of the mystical beings that were often described by an elder of her tribe. She dreamt of the powerful mystical Ancient Spider, who in the beginning dwelt in darkness and was still living there in the dark mountain. The fear the mountain had instilled was now in her subconscious and fretful dreams.
Ekewane was awakened by the urgent whispers in the canoe. She sat up and saw the gold line on the horizon; it was daybreak and they had edged closer to the shore. Now she could see the outline of tall coconut trees, high pinnacles on the beach and the hovering mountain soaring above in the distance. She strained her eyes but still could not see any of the soft sandy beaches like the ones on her island; this place looked angry and jagged. She then looked around the canoe and could see a light mist enfolding it.
“It’s my mother’s magic protecting us,” she thought, somewhat feeling better.
The men rowed silently towards the small bay and got out of the canoe as they were closer to the shoreline. Ekewane knew that they did this so that they could accompany the canoe safely to shore. She could now see the bottom of the ocean; it was a cold dark brown, not like the warm yellow of her island home.
“Ekewane get out and help bring in the canoe!” called out her father above the noise of the waves.
She leaned over the side and tipped herself out of the canoe expecting to feel a hard surface beneath her feet. But her legs felt strange and did not hold her up, and she sank. She struggled to stand up, but could not, her legs felt numb and she could not feel her body below her waist. She floated down as if in slow motion and watched the bubbles of air as they rose to the surface. She felt no fear, the warm water was familiar; her last thought was that it was rather strange to come all this way, and then drown in so little water. Suddenly two strong arms lifted her up.
“Hold onto the side until you can feel your legs again!” shouted her father.
She held onto the side of the canoe and instinctively tried to move her legs. It took some distance before she could feel the sharp bottom of the seabed then with difficulty, pushed her legs forward, one in front of the other like the others that were pulling the canoe.
So engrossed in the feeling of relief being able to feel her legs again, that she had momentarily forgot about the man eating tribes, and the mystical beings she had so feared. But a sharp cry from the dense forest sent shivers throughout her body and started trembling; the warm water now felt icy cold.
The others in the canoe also heard this strange piercing scream, and looked at where it had come from. The men seemed to ignore it and continued to pull the canoe towards the dry shoreline. The waves were now crashing against the canoe as it precariously kept its balance; they were losing it against the strength of the waves.
“Everyone get out and hold on!” yelled one of the men from the water.
Every person, except the very young glided silently from the canoe and held onto its side.
It took a long time to pull the canoe up the rocky sea barrier away from the sea. When they had finally succeeded, they all sat down exhausted and looked at their bloodied feet that had been cut by the rough limestone reef. Only the men looked around alert and prepared for any sudden movement.
For a very long time they all sat there. Her father eventually stood up and broke the solemn group.
“There are many coconut trees,” he said pointing behind them, and smiled wearily “and the ground is full of coconuts. This island must not have many people living on it, because some of the coconuts are very old. We shall be able to live here; there seems plenty to eat. The sea is full of fish and there are many coconut trees.”
Ekewane like the rest of the group knew that the coconut tree was a giver of life for islanders, they depended on it to sur
vive.
“You boys climb up and cut down some fresh coconuts!” shouted one of the other men.
Ekewane did not question why the men did not climb the trees, she knew that they were still on guard; there could be some people living on this island and they did not know if they would be attacked or welcomed.
She stood up unsteadily, but did not know if her legs would be able to carry her.
Her younger brother and two of the other boys also staggered towards the high coconut trees.
Ekewane put the large clamshell axe inside her grass skirt and slowly started gathering the fallen coconuts. The ground still felt like it was moving, but she forced herself to walk and bend down. Her body at first felt stiff and painful, but after a while began to complete the action automatically.
She was halfway down in picking up a large coconut, when she froze; the high-pitched scream sounded louder. She looked over at the rest of their group to see their reaction.
Everyone had stopped what they were doing, and looked terrified. They looked in unison first at where the scream came from, and then slowly at Emanear. They all stood very still, waiting and listening attentively, but all they could hear was the sound of the waves crashing against the shoreline. They heard the scream again but further away this time, and then her mother’s voice spoke very quietly.
“The spirits have seen us, but they will not harm us and have moved away.”
Although everyone was still very fearful, Emanear’s words helped reassure them and they continued working.
The men dug sharp stakes into the ground, whilst Ekewane and the other children continued collecting the numerous fallen coconuts. The women then hulled the coarse husks from the coconuts. The husks were carefully put to one side; the fibre would be needed, it would be twisted to make strings and ropes. These would be essential to build more canoes, houses, cages, fish traps and tie a spear blade to a wooden shaft.
Everyone helped pull the canoe up to the surrounding canopy and covered it with branches and leaves. They had found a small cave amongst the high limestone pinnacles, so took out all their meagre belongings and the few animals that remained, hid quietly in the cave-like shelter and waited.
The men decided that two of them would look around whilst the others stayed with the women and children to protect them. So they set off.
Ekewane and the others felt afraid for themselves and for the men that left, what if they did not return? But everyone kept this fear to themselves and sat quietly waiting. At least they had food to eat and coconut water to drink, so they felt a little better.
The men did not stay away very long they came back very excited. “We have found some water not far from here. It is not as sweet as our water at home, but we can drink it!” exclaimed one of the men.
“Water and coconuts!” we can live here they all thought. But deep down the fear of what was out there was still very much alive. They had food and water, but would they be able to live here without being attacked by other tribes, wild animals or the dark spirits? Emanear had said that the spirits they had heard that day would not harm them, but there may be other spirits on this island that would. Ekewane remembered again the Ancient Spider and shuddered.
Most of the water containers they had taken from their island were washed overboard during the storm. So the women quickly gathered the empty coconuts, attached them with ropes, and tied them evenly to both ends of a long stick that was used as a harness on the back of the men’s necks. They had also found large empty shells along the beach, and these too were used to carry water. The containers were handed over to the men, who set off again to fill them with water.
It took only a little time before they returned again. Everyone felt some comfort knowing that there was water nearby, and took it in turns to drink the brackish water. It tasted a little salty, not sweet as the water from the rain or from the springs back on their island, but it quenched their thirst.
The day passed quickly and soon it was night again. No fires were set alight, as they were afraid to be seen.
The men again said they would go out to see if they could spot any lights.
Ekewane slept that night; there were no dreams in her sleep. So much had happened during the past few months, but now her bed was soft and cool, with the soft green leaves of the coconut tree. She could still hear the waves crashing against the shoreline, there was a cool breeze and the rocking of the canoe had finally stopped.
The men had come back during the night. They had walked a long way, always following the shoreline, but had not seen any tribes. Everyone felt better at this news. They did not know how big this island was, but there seemed to be no tribes nearby.
The following morning also brought another joyful surprise. As the people gazed out to sea they could see another canoe in the distance. The islanders recognised it as one of their own, because they could distinguish the outrigger on the right of the canoe, instead of the left side, which was more common with the other islanders.
Everyone waved and ran to the edge of the reef. Great cries of joy went up from the small group. The occupants on the canoe must have caught sight of them, and they too were overwhelmed with relief and joy.
As soon as the second canoe came closer the men swam out to help them pull it to safety. For the first time in a very long time everyone felt happier and hopeful. They would not be alone to face the mysteries the island might have.