Bora

“ The prospect is singularly devoid of gentle and pleasing features, and looking at those rugged acclivities, with their aspect of continual bleakness, you readily believe all the stories you have ever heard of that fierce wind called the Bora, which sweeps from them through Trieste at certain seasons. While it blows, ladies walking near the quays are sometimes caught up and set afloat, involuntary Galateas, in the bay, and people keep in-doors as much as possible. ”

“ They station a man on one of the mountain-tops, and when he feels the first breath of the Bora, he sounds a horn, which is a signal for all within hearing to lay hold of something that cannot be blown away, and cling to it till the wind falls. This may happen [Pg 343] in three days or in nine, according to the popular proverbs. "The spectacle of the sea," says Dall' Ongaro, in a note to one of his ballads, "while the Bora blows, is sublime, and when it ceases the prospect of the surrounding hills is delightful. ”

“ We were already learning that it is not wise or fair to form judgments in advance so, in spite of Charles Brotherson’s dire predictions—and his tempting offers of expeditions to fabulous marae on the far side of Raïatéa if we would only remain a few more days—we decided we must push on.
With Jessica very proudly manning the tiller, we edged cautiously out Paipai Pass through the Tahaa reef. Bora Bora, its distinctive rocky pinnacles rising through the early-morning mists, could be seen to the west, its distinctive profile like a giant molar making a sharp break in the horizon. ”

“ The whole region is swept by the Bora, a wind which is the enemy alike of plant and man. Save for the lizards that bask upon its furnace-like floors, the Carso is as lifeless as it is treeless and waterless. ”

“ The abandoned dock where we tied up during our stay in Bora Bora was a relic of the war. Here, during the late unpleasantness, several thousand American troops had directed round-the-clock activity, a state of affairs that remains a highlight in the memory of many on this island. As one of them expressed it, “Maybe everybody have another war pretty quick, yeah? Maitai!—Good! Then maybe more soldiers come—we work like hell all day, all night—see plenty movies—eat plenty ice cream—get plenty American babies!” ”

“ The Bora is a great educational institution for the admission of the youths of the tribe to the privileges, duties, and obligations of manhood. The ceremonies are apparently intended to strengthen the authority of the elder men over the younger, and to impress in an indelible manner those rules of conduct which form the moral and civil law of the tribe. ”

“ On the day of sailing, the natives tried to outdo all their previous generosity, piling the Snark knee-deep with abundance of fruit, chickens, vegetables, fish, and other good things. There were yams, taro, cocoanuts, limes, bananas, papaias, pineapples and pomegranates. The life-boat, the launch, and the deck were piled full. And when, at one o'clock on the afternoon of April 15, 1908, we set sail from Bora Bora, hundreds of natives came to the beach to shake our hands, and to wish us a safe voyage and a quick return. ”

“ And so passed Otoo, who saved me and made me a man, and who saved me in the end. We met in the maw of a hurricane and parted in the maw of a shark, with seventeen intervening years of comradeship the like of which I dare to assert have never befallen two men, the one brown and the other white. If Jehovah be from his high place watching every sparrow fall, not least in His Kingdom shall be Otoo, the one heathen of Bora Bora. ”

“ But we always headed in the direction of Nanao, and the shores floated by through the long spring afternoon. At last they began to contract upon us till, by virtue of narrowing, they shot us through the straits in water clear as crystal, and then widening again, dropped us adrift in Wakura bay. Though not so beloved of bora, the bay was most popular with other fish. Schools of porpoises turned cart-wheels for our amusement, and in spots the water was fairly alive with baby jelly-fish. ”

“ It was not so far away but that cutters made the passage back and forth between it and Raiatea. So I invited Tehei to go that far with us on the Snark. Then I learned that his wife had been born on Bora Bora and still owned a house there. She likewise was invited, and immediately came the counter invitation to stay with them in their house in Born Bora. It was Monday. Tuesday we would go fishing and return to Raiatea. Wednesday we would sail by Tahaa and off a certain point, a mile away, pick up Tehei and Bihaura and go on to Bora Bora. ”

“ We were in despair, when Abiram Hills said—
"Baal bora ground been sit down along of Hinchinbrook, Lizzie?"
A "bora ground" is a particular place to which the blacks are in the habit of resorting at certain seasons of the year, to hold "corroborries" or dances, and also to perform divers mysterious rites on the young people of both sexes attaining the marriageable age. What these solemnities really are, is but little known, and they seem to differ widely in each tribe. In some, the young girls have a couple of front teeth knocked out; in others they lose a joint of the little finger ”

“ The consciousness of danger impels all to silent prayer.
At any time the passage between these dark precipices, towering on either hand, might give the sensation of being ferried along under the walls of one's own tomb; but what must it be when that supreme terror of the sailor, the Bora, sweeps down! A continuous and ever-increasing gale, which at certain seasons makes the Iron Gate impassable.
If there were only one cliff it would be a protection from the wind ”

“ Enter Borachio. 035 What news, Borachio?
036 Bora. I came yonder from a great supper: the prince your brother is royally entertained by Leonato; and I can give you intelligence of an intended marriage.
D. John. Will it serve for any model to build mischief 040 on? What is he for a fool that betroths himself to unquietness?
Bora. Marry, it is your brother’s right hand.
D. John. Who? the most exquisite Claudio?
Bora. Even he.
045 D. John. A proper squire! And who, and who? which way looks he?
047 Bora. Marry, on Hero, the daughter and heir of Leonato. ”

“ The very thought of the effort to swim over was nauseating. So I called to the kanaka to come to me, and proceeded to share the hatch cover with him. Otoo, he told me his name was (pronounced ō-tō-ō ) ; also, he told me that he was a native of Bora Bora, the most westerly of the Society Group. As I learned afterward, he had got the hatch cover first, and, after some time, encountering Captain Oudouse, had offered to share it with him, and had been kicked off for his pains.
And that was how Otoo and I first came together. He was no fighter. ”

“ When it has been determined to call the people together for the purpose of celebrating the rites connected with the Bora, messengers are despatched to the different sections of the community informing them of the time and place of the intended gathering. ”

“ The devotee presented his naked posterior before the altar and relieved his entrails, making an offering to the idol of the foul emanations. [50] Dung gods are also mentioned as having been known to the chosen people during the time of their idolatry. [51]
Mr. John Frazer, LL.D., describing the ceremony of initiation, known to the Australians as the “Bora,” and which he defines to be “certain ceremonies of initiation through which a youth passes when he reaches the age of puberty to qualify him for a place among the men of the tribe and for the privileges of manhood. ”

“ Festival songs and war-dances, with kaluri accompaniment, followed. When the jars of Borak were drained to the dregs, one by one the exhausted warriors crept to bed, saturated with the serene joy of duty done, glory gained, and honour paid to their departed Chief.
Even after all these ceremonies and the feast, the house is not utterly free from taboo: for ten days no work may be done in the clearings, nor may the men go for rattans or any jungle product. ”

“ After a time, which may be of some months' duration, the boys are brought nearer and nearer the men's quarters, until they are eventually allowed to camp amongst the other young men of the tribe. It is necessary that each neophyte must participate in one or more gatherings before he is fully qualified to take his place as a man of the tribe. The reason of this is evident when it is remembered that at the first Bora which a novice attends, he is prevented from seeing the whole of the ceremonial in consequence of having to keep his eyes cast down during some of the most important parts of it. ”

“ Borabora, or Bolabola, whose inhabitants in Cook’s time had been the fiercest warriors of the neighbouring islands, yielded to the benign influence of the Gospel. The history of the last island visited by the great navigator before he left the eastern side of the Pacific for New Zealand, called by him Oheteroa, but known generally as Rurutu, is of great interest. It is situated about two hundred and fifty miles to the south of Raiatea. ”

“ After some days the Wirreenun told the men of the tribes that they were going to hold a borah. But on no account must the innerh, or women, know. Day by day they must all go forth as if to hunt and then prepare in secret the borah ground. Out went the men each day. ”

“ What the prophet said: “I saw “Borák upon the footsteps of Jabrííl,” signifies, the practical reason which triumphs by means of the power of sanctity, and by its assistance gains the ascendancy over this world of corruption: for 181 from the heavenly intelligences proceeds practical reason, which is the supreme king and assistant of the soul, at any time when it may be required. It is to be compared to Borak for this reason, because it was the illuminator of the night, and the vehicle of the protector, who on that journey wanted it: on that account the prophet called it Borák. ”

“ The tribes all travel together there, camp, and have a corrobboree. The young women are sent to bed early, and the old women stay until the time when the boys bade farewell to them at the big borah, at which hour the boys are brought into the little borah and allowed to say a last good-bye to the old women. Then they are taken away by the men who have charge of them together. They stay together for a short time, then probably separate, each man with his one boy going in a different direction. ”

“ In some months' time they might see their boys return minus, perhaps, a front tooth, and with some extra scarifications on their bodies, but beyond that, and a knowledge of the fact that they had not been allowed to look on the face of woman since their disappearance into the scrub, they were never enlightened.
The next day the tribes made ready to travel to the place of the little borah, which would be held in about four days' time, at about ten or twelve miles distance from the scene of the big borah.
At the place of the little borah a ring of grass is made instead of one of earth. ”

“ The inside of a Borah's box is like that of an English country shop, spelling-books, prayer-books, lavender water, eau de luce, soap, tapes, scissors, knives, needles, and thread make but a small part of the variety."—Maria Graham, 33.
1825.—"The Boras (at Broach) in general are unpopular, and held in the same estimation for parsimony that the Jews are in England."—Heber, ed. 1844, ii. 119; also see 72.
1853.—"I had the pleasure of baptizing Ismail Ibraim, the first Bohorá who, as far as we know, has yet embraced Christianity in India.... ”

“ BOLLOXIMIAN:
My prick, Borastus, thy judgement and thy care Requires, in a nice juncture of affair. BORASTUS:
My duty's still my service to prepare. BOLLOXIMIAN:
Ye are my council all. POCKENELLO:
The bliss we own BOLLOXIMIAN:
But this advice belongs to you alone Borastus. No longer I my cunts admire, The drudgery has worn out my desire. BORASTUS:
Your grace may soon to human arse retire. BOLLOXIMIAN:
My pleasures for new cunts I will uphold, And have reserves of kindness for the old. I grant in absence dildo may be used With milk of goats, when once our seed's infused. ”

“ Boro Boedor is most mysterious and impressive in the gray of dawn, in the unearthly light and stillness [212] of that eerie hour. Sunrise touches the old walls and statues to something of life; and sunset, when all the palms are silhouetted against skies of tenderest rose, and the warm light flushes the hoary gray pile, is the time when the green valley of Eden about the temple adds all of charm and poetic suggestion. ”

“ Life goes on in placidity, endless quiet, and routine at Boro Boedor. Visitors come rarely; they most often stop only for riz tavel, and drive on; and not a half-dozen American names appear in the visitors’ book, the first entry in which is dated 1869.
I remember the first still, long lotus afternoon in the passagrahan’s portico, when my companions napped, and not a sound broke the stillness save the slow, occasional rustle of palm-branches and the whistle of birds. ”

“ The snow-white cap shone pleasantly above Glasha’s fresh, sunburnt face.
In the garden, on a form just under the terrace, sat Borya’s old nurse, dressed in a dark lavender blouse, black skirt, with a dark blue kerchief over her head. She was warming her old bones in the sun, and listening to the conversation on the terrace; now she grumbled, now she dozed.
Broad-boned and stout, she had a round, amiable face, and even through the compact network of wrinkles there were palpable suggestions of former beauty. Her eyes were clear. The grey hair was flatly combed down. ”

“ Nothing from the outer world disturbed the peace of our Nirvana. No solitary horseman bringing reprieve was ever descried from the summit dagoba. No file of soldiers grounded arms and demanded us for Dutch dungeons. Life held every tropic charm, and Boro Boedor constituted an ideal world entirely our own. The sculptured galleries drew us to them at the beginning and end of every stroll, and demanded always another and another look. ”