When I told him of my design he shook his
head. "No, no, Ralph," said he, "you must not think of running away
here. Among some of the groups of islands you might do so with safety,
but if you tried it here you would find that you had jumped out of the
fryin'-pan into the fire."
"How so, Bill?" said I; "would the natives not receive me?"
"That they would, lad; but they would eat you too."
"Eat me!" said I in surprise; "I thought the South Sea Islanders never
ate anybody except their enemies."
"Humph!" ejaculated Bill. "I s'pose 'twas yer tender-hearted friends in
England that put that notion into your head. There's a set o' soft-
hearted folk at home that I knows on who don't like to have their
feelin's ruffled, and when you tell them anything they don't like--that
shocks them, as they call it--no matter how true it be, they stop their
ears and cry out, 'Oh, that is _too_ horrible! We can't believe
that!' An' they say truth. They can't believe it 'cause they won't
believe it. Now, I believe there's thousands o' the people in England
who are sich born drivellin' _won't-believers_ that they think the
black fellows hereaways at the worst eat an enemy only now an' then,
out o' spite; whereas I know for certain, and many captains of the
British and American navies know as well as me, that the Feejee
Islanders eat not only their enemies but one another; and they do it
not for spite, but for pleasure.
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