Payta

“ Augustine, which lay seventeen miles from Payta. We mounted the asses and proceeded on the way. When we arrived there we were given up to the governor as deserters, and confined. The Spaniard received a reward for delivering us up to the proper authorities. This we could not approve, [87] though it was acting in conformity with the laws of his country. The next morning we were fitted out for Payta, guarded by six Spanish soldiers, all on asses. Our route lay along the coast, and was indeed very pleasant. ”

“ The inhabitants are chiefly Indians and black slaves, or of mixed breed, the whites being very few. The port of Payta, though little more than a bay, is reckoned the best on this coast, and is indeed a very secure and commodious anchorage, and is frequented by all vessels coming from the north, as here only the ships from Acapulco, Sonsonnate, Realejo, and Panama, can touch and refresh in their passage to Callao ”

“ Forty-five miles distant from Payta, in a beautiful and fertile neighbourhood, lies the town of Piura with 10,000 inhabitants, which carries on an extensive trade in fruit and vegetables along the coast, and indeed supplies Lima with its excellent produce. ”

“ Captains Davis and Swan sent our small barque to look for Captain Eaton, the isle of Plata to be the general rendezvous; and on November 2 we landed 110 men to take the small Spanish seaport town of Payta. The governor of Piura had come the night before to Payta with a hundred armed men to oppose our landing, but our men marched directly to the fort and took it without the loss of one man, whereupon the governor of Piura, with all his men, and the inhabitants of the town, ran away as fast as they could. ”

“ Towards the sea the town of Payta is strongly fortified, and almost impregnable. It is a place of some importance, having two churches, a monastery, and many good buildings; and has an excellent harbour, to which many ships resort from Panama, whence their cargoes are transmitted by land to Lima, to avoid the dangers of the wind and the seas at that place. While at the island of Lobos, the Dutch took two birds of enormous size, not unlike an eagle in beak, wings, and talons; their necks being covered with down resembling wool, and their heads having combs like those of a cock. ”

“ Payta—a matter which, Shelvocke says, had been considered in the scheme of the voyage as one of great importance. He landed there with forty-six men, to find the town almost deserted; but presently saw great bodies of men on the surrounding hills, who however, retreated before his forty-six. He demanded 10,000 pieces of eight as ransom for the town, and a small prize he had taken; the Spaniards temporised, because they could see from their look-outs that a Spanish Admiral's ship, carrying fifty guns, was just round the high bluff, and thought they had a nice rod in pickle for the English. ”

“ Being near the Saddle of Payta on the 25th November, I thought of surprising that place in the night, though our force was much diminished since our last attack; but as it grew calm while we were endeavouring to get into the harbour, we thought it better to delay till morning, as our vessel being Spanish would deceive the inhabitants, and prevent them from suspecting us. In the morning, being observed from the shore making many short trips to gain ground to windward, the Spaniards sent off a large boat full of men to assist in bringing in our ship, and to enquire the news. ”

“ Payta harbour is visited annually by from fifty to sixty whalers, who take in fresh provisions here, do their repairs, and give their crews a little repose after long and heavy labours. The climate is very healthy and exceedingly dry. At the same time there is no lack of good water, which the Indians bring to the city from the river Chirar, 18 miles distant, in casks on mule-back. This mode of transport is so cheap, that the erection of a distilling apparatus in Payta would not pay. The cargo of one mule, about 12 gallons, would sell for about 2 reals (about 1s. 5 1⁄2d.) ”

“ All next day the whirr and clatter of the steam-winches and the bang of cargo kept up and again we visited the dusty port, wading through the lines of Panama hat sellers that lined up to greet the landing of our small boat. Of hotel runners there were none, this being due to the fact that there was but one hotel to which the stray custom is bound to drift. At the hotel we saw a few palms and tropical blooms in tubs and in a carefully irrigated patio, for Payta is—like all that West Coast—rainless. As a cold matter of meteorological fact it does rain sometimes ”

“ A chance, mon ami, to have a husband like my son can only come to her once in a lifetime, n'est-ce pas?"
The eyeglass came up again as slowly and cautiously as before. "Listen, mon ami," said Payot, "Monsieur Ribout, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, is, I understand, about to raise a loan for the new Morocco-Tunisian Railway. Do you think you can get me the concession for flotation?"
"My dear Payot, you anticipate me. I have it in my portfolio?"
"What! Do you mean to say that you actually have it here, in your portfolio?" cried Payot in a shrill tremor of delight. ”

“ He seized upon the town of Paita, which he ransacked and burned, carrying off a large quantity of household goods and twenty-five pounds' weight of pieces-of-eight, or Spanish dollars. Off the island of Puna he fell in with a ship of two hundred and fifty tons; but, being disappointed at finding her empty, he sank her out of sheer spite. The inhabitants of Puna were Christians, having followed the example of their cacique, who had married a Spanish woman and had thereupon made a profession of her religion. They were rich and industrious. ”

“ I notice they stand at 50 frs. now, but to-morrow monsieur will find [Pg 250] them drop. Oh yes," he added, as Payot looked flushed and angry at the man's cynical smile, "you will see. Mark my words and you will see them drop to 30 frs. and then to 20 frs.—10 frs.—5 frs.—and then to this," and he made a circle with his forefinger and thumb, and winked his eye with a chuckle.
Payot got very red in the face, and cast a defiant glance at the Agent de Bourse.
"Has monsieur got many?" the broker enquired.
"Yes, I am the proud possessor of a million francs worth." ”

“ It is true, Paita is situated on so parched a spot that it does not itself furnish a drop of fresh water, or any kind of greens or provisions, except fish and a few goats; but there is an Indian town called Colan, about two or three leagues distant to the northward, whence water, maize, greens, fowls, etc., are brought to Paita on balsas, or floats, for the convenience of the ships that touch here; and cattle are sometimes brought from Piura, a town which lies about fourteen leagues up in the country. The town of Paita is itself an open place ”

“ There are a custom-house and government warehouse, good piers and wharves, and a passable hotel. A group of stocky soldiers, in part police and in part army, are in blue uniforms with heavy cartridge belts. All their faces are of the Indian type.
The life of Paita is seen in the market-place among the chattering women venders and their customers. All is animated, good-natured, obliging, but it is chiefly Indian with very little of the Spanish trace. The houses are of mortar, adobe, wild cane, or bamboo laths, some having mud roofs, and they are not bad dwellings. ”

“ Paita faces on the bay of Paita, and is sheltered from southerly winds by a headland called Punta Paita and by a large hill called the Silla de Paita. The water supply is brought from the river Chira (17 m. distant) . The exports include cotton, tobacco, petroleum, cattle, hides and straw hats. Paita dates from the early years of the Spanish Conquest, and was a prosperous port in colonial times. ”

“ Great was their edification at seeing how heartily she had sought baptism, and how our Lord accomplishes more in one moment than we in many days. In the village of Paet our Lord moved the hearts of two women who were a cause of offense and stumbling on account of their dissolute lives. Protected by certain profligate men, these women, although they were slaves, had become so arrogant that they despised the other women; and all the village felt ashamed to have among them so evil a company. ”

“ At last old Nouka spoke out for all and said, “Captain Paddan and all the Traders tell us that the Worship causes all our sickness and death. They will not trade with us, nor sell us tobacco, pipes, 298powder, balls, caps, and muskets, till we kill our Missi like the Erromangans, but after that they will send a Trader to live among us and give us plenty of all these things. We love Missi. But when the Traders tell us that the Worship makes us sick, and when they bribe us with tobacco and powder to kill him or drive him away, some believe them and our hearts do bad conduct to Missi. ”

“ Our gods will kill him, and we will divide all that he has amongst the men of Aniwa.' But Missi built his house on our most sacred spot. He and his people lived there, and the gods did not strike. He planted bananas there, and we said, 'Now when they eat of these they will all drop down dead, as our fathers assured us, if any one ate fruit from that ground, except only our Sacred Men themselves.' These bananas ripened. They did eat them. We kept watching for days and days, but no one died! Therefore what we say, and what our fathers have said, is not true. Our gods cannot kill them. ”

“ It will be seen that we have early Portuguese instances of the word apparently in both senses.
The most probable explanation is that the word (and I may add, the thing) originated in the Portuguese practice, and in the use of the Canarese word bhatta, Mahr. bhāt, 'rice' in 'the husk,' called by the Portuguese bate and bata, for a maintenance allowance.
The word batty, for what is more generally called paddy, is or was commonly used by the English also in S. and W. India (see Linschoten, Lucena and Fryer quoted s.v. Paddy, and Wilson's Glossary, s.v. Bhatta) . ”

“ The good old Chief now told off his men in relays to watch me, lest I should attempt to take my own life, or do anything outrageous, saying, "Poor Missi! That's the way with all who go mad. There's no driving of a notion out of their heads. We must just watch him now. He will find it harder to work with pick and spade than with his pen, and when he's tired we'll persuade him to give it up."
I did get exhausted sooner than I expected, toiling under that tropical sun; but we never own before the Natives that we are beaten ”

“ But Paquita was shy. She would not dance, for somehow she seemed to consider that this was a kind of savage entertainment, and out of place for her. She had seen just enough of civilized life . to deprive her of the pleasures of the wild and free.
There had grown a cast of care upon her lovely face of late. She was in the secret of all the Indians plans. At least she was a true Indian true to the rights of her race, and fully awake to a sense of their wrongs. ”

“ What!!! you dare to tell me that you refuse?" said Payot, his voice rising almost to a scream. "You silly child, you don't appreciate the honour he is doing you. Why, Pierre can have the pick of half the girls in Paris. A chance like this will never occur again. Consider what it means," and he marked off the points with [Pg 60] his fingers one by one. "A fine, handsome, devoted husband. A large fortune. A magnificent 'Dot.' Carriages and horses. A country chateau. A house in the Bois. Jewels. Think of it, Renée, any quantity of diamonds and pearls. Dresses and servants to your heart's content. ”

“ It was generally believed that they had gone in a canoe to Tanna or Erromanga. But one morning, as I began my work at my house alone, the brave Nelwang appeared at my side!
"Hillo!" I said, "where have you come from? and where is Yakin?"
"I must not," he replied, "tell you yet. We are hid. We have lived on cocoanuts gathered at night. Yakin is well and happy. I come now to fulfil my promise: I will help you, and Yakin will help Missi Paton the woman, and we shall be your friends. I have ground to be built upon and fenced, whenever we dare ”

“ On the birth of a son to us on the Island, the old Chief was in ecstasies. He claimed the child as his heir, his own son being dead, and brought nearly the whole inhabitants in relays to see the white Chief of Aniwa! He would have him called Namakei the Younger, an honor which I fear we did not too highly appreciate. As the child grew, he took his hand and walked about with him freely amongst the people, learning to speak their language like a Native, and not only greatly interesting them in himself, but even in us and in the work of the Lord. ”

“ It is not unlikely that Kreli has coaxed, or at least tacitly encouraged Páto into his country, with a promise of protection after passing over the Kei. Kreli may even make a merit of giving up the treacherous Páto. These, however, are merely my own surmises. One thing must be apparent to every one who has the honour of our country at heart—Páto should never be admitted to terms by our Government; he should be hunted from our borders, and made to take his chance among the other tribes eastward of the Colony. To enrol him as a British subject would be a disgrace to the name of one. ”

“ That's good enough business for one day," and so saying he took a taxi and drove off to fetch the baron to dine with him and drink the health of the New Jerusalem Mine, in a bottle of Perrier Jouet.
Early the following morning he took up the tape again. His heart thumped with excitement so much that he could hardly hold the tape steadily enough to read it.
34 francs, it began—35 francs, ah, that's better—40 francs—45 francs—50 francs. Payot actually clapped his hands with excitement, and caused several Agents de Bourse to turn round and look at what had excited him.
"What is amusing you?" ”