CHAPTER XX.

History of a day as usually spent in the Typee Valley—Dances of the
Marquesan Girls.

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Nothing can be more uniform and undiversified than the life
of the Typees; one tranquil day of ease and happiness follows
another in quiet succession; and with these unsophisticated
savages the history of a day is the history of a life. I will,
therefore, as briefly as I can, describe one of our days in the
valley.

To begin with the morning. We were not very early risers—
the sun would be shooting his golden spikes above the Happar
mountain, ere I threw aside my tappa robe, and girding my long
tunic about my waist, sallied out with Fayaway and Kory-Kory,
and the rest of the household, and bent my steps towards the
stream. Here we found congregated all those who dwelt in our
section of the valley; and here we bathed with them. The
fresh morning air and the cool flowing waters put both soul and
body in a glow, and after a half-hour employed in this recreation,
we sauntered back to the house—Tinor and Marheyo gathering
dry sticks by the way for fire-wood; some of the young men
laying the cocoa-nut trees under contribution as they passed beneath
them; while Kory-Kory played his outlandish pranks for
my particular diversion, and Fayaway and I, not arm in arm to
be sure, but sometimes hand in hand, strolled along, with feelings
of perfect charity for all the world, and especial goodwill towards
each other.

Our morning meal was soon prepared. The islanders are
somewhat abstemious at this repast; reserving the more powerful

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efforts of their appetite to a later period of the day. For my
own part, with the assistance of my valet, who, as I have before
stated, always officiated as spoon on these occasions, I ate
sparingly from one of Tinor's trenchers of poee-poee; which
was devoted exclusively for my own use, being mixed with the
milky meat of ripe cocoa-nut. A section of a roasted bread-fruit,
a small cake of “Amar,” or a mess of “Cokoo,” two or three
bananas, or a Mawmee apple; an annuee, or some other agreeable
and nutritious fruit served from day to day to diversify the
meal, which was finished by tossing off the liquid contents of a
young cocoa-nut or two.

While partaking of this simple repast, the inmates of Marheyo's
house, after the style of the ancient Romans, reclined in sociable
groups upon the divan of mats, and digestion was promoted by
cheerful conversation.

After the morning meal was concluded, pipes were lighted;
and among them my own especial pipe, a present from the noble
Mehevi. The islanders, who only smoke a whiff or two at a
time, and at long intervals, and who keep their pipes going from
hand to hand continually, regarded my systematic smoking of
four or five pipefuls of tobacco in succession, as something quite
wonderful. When two or three pipes had circulated freely, the
company gradually broke up. Marheyo went to the little hut he
was for ever building. Tinor began to inspect her rolls of tappa,
or employed her busy fingers in plaiting grass-mats. The girls
anointed themselves with their fragrant oils, dressed their hair,
or looked over their curious finery, and compared together their
ivory trinkets, fashioned out of boar's tusks or whale's teeth.
The young men and warriors produced their spears, paddles,
canoe-gear, battle-clubs, and war-conchs, and occupied themselves
in carving all sorts of figures upon them with pointed bits
of shell or flint, and adorning them, especially the war-conchs,
with tassels of braided bark and tufts of human hair. Some,

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immediately after eating, threw themselves once more upon the
inviting mats, and resumed the employment of the previous night,
sleeping as soundly as if they had not closed their eyes for a
week. Others sallied out into the groves, for the purpose of
gathering fruit or fibres of bark and leaves; the last two being
in constant requisition, and applied to a hundred uses. A few,
perhaps, among the girls, would slip into the woods after flowers,
or repair to the stream with small calabashes and cocoa-nut
shells, in order to polish them by friction with a smooth stone
in the water. In truth these innocent people seemed to be at
no loss for something to occupy their time; and it would be
no light task to enumerate all their employments, or rather
pleasures.

My own mornings I spent in a variety of ways. Sometimes I
rambled about from house to house, sure of receiving a cordial
welcome wherever I went; or from grove to grove, and from one
shady place to another, in company with Kory-Kory and Fayaway,
and a rabble rout of merry young idlers. Sometimes I
was too indolent for exercise, and accepting one of the many invitations
I was continually receiving, stretched myself out on the
mats of some hospitable dwelling, and occupied myself pleasantly
either in watching the proceedings of those around me or taking
part in them myself. Whenever I chose to do the latter, the
delight of the islanders was boundless; and there was always a
throng of competitors for the honor of instructing me in any
particular craft. I soon became quite an accomplished hand at
making tappa—could braid a grass sling as well as the best of
them—and once, with my knife, carved the handle of a javelin
so exquisitely, that I have no doubt, to this day, Karnoonoo, its
owner, preserves it as a surprising specimen of my skill. As
noon approached, all those who had wandered forth from our
habitation, began to return; and when mid-day was fairly come
scarcely a sound was to be heard in the valley: a deep sleep fell

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upon all. The luxurious siesta was hardly ever omitted, except
by old Marheyo, who was so eccentric a character, that he
seemed to be governed by no fixed principles whatever; but acting
just according to the humor of the moment, slept, eat, or
tinkered away at his little hut, without regard to the proprieties
of time or place. Frequently he might have been seen taking
a nap in the sun at noon-day, or a bath in the stream at midnight.
Once I beheld him perched eighty feet from the ground,
in the tuft of a cocoa-nut tree, smoking; and often I saw him
standing up to the waist in water, engaged in plucking out the
stray hairs of his beard, using a piece of muscle-shell for
tweezers.

The noon-tide slumber lasted generally an hour and a half;
very often longer; and after the sleepers had arisen from their
mats they again had recourse to their pipes, and then made preparations
for the most important meal of the day.

I, however, like those gentlemen of leisure who breakfast at
home and dine at their club, almost invariably, during my intervals
of health, enjoyed the afternoon repast with the bachelor
chiefs of the Ti, who were always rejoiced to see me, and lavishly
spread before me all the good things which their larder afforded.
Mehevi generally produced among other dainties a baked pig,
an article which I have every reason to suppose was provided for
my sole gratification.

The Ti was a right jovial place. It did my heart, as well as
my body, good to visit it. Secure from female intrusion, there
was no restraint upon the hilarity of the warriors, who, like the
gentlemen of Europe after the cloth is drawn and the ladies retire,
freely indulged their mirth.

After spending a considerable portion of the afternoon at the
Ti, I usually found myself, as the cool of the evening came on,
either sailing on the little lake with Fayaway, or bathing in the
waters of the stream with a number of the savages, who, at this

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hour, always repaired thither. As the shadows of night approached,
Marheyo's household were once more assembled under
his roof: tapers were lit, long and curious chants were raised,
interminable stories were told (for which one present was little
the wiser), and all sorts of social festivities served to while away
the time.

The young girls very often danced by moonlight in front of
their dwellings. There are a great variety of these dances, in
which, however, I never saw the men take part. They all consist
of active, romping, mischievous evolutions, in which every
limb is brought into requisition. Indeed, the Marquesan girls
dance all over, as it were; not only do their feet dance, but their
arms, hands, fingers, ay, their very eyes, seem to dance in their
heads.

The damsels wear nothing but flowers and their compendious
gala tunics; and when they plume themselves for the dance,
they look like a band of olive-colored Sylphides on the point of
taking wing.

Unless some particular festivity was going forward, the inmates
of Marheyo's house retired to their mats rather early in the
evening; but not for the night, since, after slumbering lightly for
a while, they rose again, relit their tapers, partook of the third
and last meal of the day, at which poee-poee alone was eaten,
and then, after inhaling a narcotic whiff from a pipe of tobacco,
disposed themselves for the great business of night, sleep. With
the Marquesans it might almost be styled the great business of
life, for they pass a large portion of their time in the arms of
Somnus. The native strength of their constitution is no way
shown more emphatically than in the quantity of sleep they can
endure. To many of them, indeed, life is little else than an
often interrupted and luxurious nap.

CHAPTER XXI.

The Spring of Arva Wai—Remarkable Monumental Remains—Some ideas
with regard to the History of the Pi-Pis found in the Valley.

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Almost every country has its medicinal springs famed for their
healing virtues. The Cheltenham of Typee is embosomed in
the deepest solitude, and but seldom receives a visitor. It is
situated remote from any dwelling, a little way up the mountain,
near the head of the valley; and you approach it by a pathway
shaded by the most beautiful foliage, and adorned with a thousand
fragrant plants.

The mineral waters of Arva Wai[1] ooze forth from the crevices
of a rock, and gliding down its mossy side, fall at last, in many
clustering drops, into a natural basin of stone fringed round with
grass and dewy-looking little violet-colored flowers, as fresh
and beautiful as the perpetual moisture they enjoy can make
them.

The water is held in high estimation by the islanders, some of
whom consider it an agreeable as well as a medicinal beverage;
they bring it from the mountain in their calabashes, and store it
away beneath heaps of leaves in some shady nook near the house.
Old Marheyo had a great love for the waters of the spring.
Every now and then he lugged off to the mountain a great round
demijohn of a calabash, and, panting with his exertions, brought
it back filled with his darling fluid.

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The water tasted like a solution of a dozen disagreeable things,
and was sufficiently nauseous to have made the fortune of the
proprietor, had the spa been situated in the midst of any civilized
community.

As I am no chemist, I cannot give a scientific analysis of the
water. All I know about the matter is, that one day Marheyo
in my presence poured out the last drop from his huge calabash,
and I observed at the bottom of the vessel a small quantity of gravelly
sediment very much resembling our common sand. Whether
this is always found in the water, and gives it its peculiar flavor
and virtues, or whether its presence was merely incidental, I was
not able to ascertain.

One day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I
came upon a scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the
architectural labors of the Druid.

At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all
sides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises,
step by step, for a considerable distance up the hill side.
These terraces cannot be less than one hundred yards in length
and twenty in width. Their magnitude, however, is less striking
than the immense size of the blocks composing them. Some
of the stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to fifteen feet
in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are quite
smooth, but though square, and of pretty regular formation,
they bear no mark of the chisel. They are laid together without
cement, and here and there show gaps between. The
topmost terrace and the lower one are somewhat peculiar in
their construction. They have both a quadrangular depression
in the centre, leaving the rest of the terrace elevated several
feet above it. In the intervals of the stones immense trees have
taken root, and their broad boughs stretching far over, and
interlacing together, support a canopy almost impenetrable to
the sun. Overgrowing the greater part of them, and climbing

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from one to another, is a wilderness of vines, in whose sinewy
embrace many of the stones lie half-hidden, while in some
places a thick growth of bushes entirely covers them. There
is a wild pathway which obliquely crosses two of these terraces;
and so profound is the shade, so dense the vegetation, that a
stranger to the place might pass along it without being aware of
their existence.

These structures bear every indication of a very high antiquity,
and Kory-Kory, who was my authority in all matters
of scientific research, gave me to understand that they were coeval
with the creation of the world; that the great gods themselves
were the builders; and that they would endure until
time shall be no more. Kory-Kory's prompt explanation, and his
attributing the work to a divine origin, at once convinced me
that neither he nor the rest of his countrymen knew anything
about them.

As I gazed upon this monument, doubtless the work of an
extinct and forgotten race, thus buried in the green nook of an
island at the end of the earth, the existence of which was yesterday
unknown, a stronger feeling of awe came over me than if I
had stood musing at the mighty base of the Pyramid of Cheops.
There are no inscriptions, no sculpture, no clue, by which to
conjecture its history: nothing but the dumb stones. How
many generations of those majestic trees which overshadow them
have grown and flourished and decayed since first they were
erected!

These remains naturally suggest many interesting reflections.
They establish the great age of the island, an opinion which the
builders of theories concerning the creation of the various groups
in the South Seas are not always inclined to admit. For my own
part, I think it just as probable that human beings were living in
the valleys of the Marquesas three thousand years ago as that
they were inhabiting the land of Egypt. The origin of the island

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of Nukuheva cannot be imputed to the coral insect: for indefatigable
as that wonderful creature is, it would be hardly muscular
enough to pile rocks one upon the other more than three
thousand feet above the level of the sea. That the land may
have been thrown up by a submarine volcano is as possible as
anything else. No one can make an affidavit to the contrary,
and therefore I will say nothing against the supposition: indeed,
were geologists to assert that the whole continent of America had
in like manner been formed by the simultaneous explosion of a
train of Etnas laid under the water all the way from the North
Pole to the parallel of Cape Horn, I am the last man in the world
to contradict them.

I have already mentioned that the dwellings of the islanders
were almost invariably built upon massive stone foundations, which
they call pi-pis. The dimensions of these, however, as well as
of the stones composing them, are comparatively small: but there
are other and larger erections of a similar description comprising
the “morais,” or burying-grounds, and festival-places, in nearly
all the valleys of the island. Some of these piles are so extensive,
and so great a degree of labor and skill must have been requisite
in constructing them, that I can scarcely believe they were built
by the ancestors of the present inhabitants. If indeed they were,
the race has sadly deteriorated in their knowledge of the mechanic
arts. To say nothing of their habitual indolence, by what contrivance
within the reach of so simple a people could such enormous
masses have been moved or fixed in their places? and how
could they with their rude implements have chiselled and hammered
them into shape?

All of these larger pi-pis—like that of the Hoolah Hoolah
Ground in the Typee valley—bore incontestible marks of great
age; and I am disposed to believe that their erection may be ascribed
to the same race of men who were the builders of the still
more ancient remains I have just described.

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According to Kory-Kory's account, the pi-pi upon which stands
the Hoolah Hoolah ground was built a great many moons ago,
under the direction of Monoo, a great chief and warrior, and, as it
would appear, master-mason among the Typees. It was erected
for the express purpose to which it is at present devoted, in the
incredibly short period of one sun; and was dedicated to the
immortal wooden idols by a grand festival, which lasted ten days
and nights.

Among the smaller pi-pis, upon which stand the dwellinghouses
of the natives, I never observed any which intimated a
recent erection. There are in every part of the valley a great
many of these massive stone foundations which have no houses
upon them. This is vastly convenient, for whenever an enterprising
islander chooses to emigrate a few hundred yards from
the place where he was born, all he has to do in order to establish
himself in some new locality, is to select one of the many unappropriated
pi-pis, and without farther ceremony pitch his bamboo
tent upon it.

eaf273v2.n1

[1] I presume this might be translated into “Strong Waters. Arva is the
name bestowed upon a root the properties of which are both inebriating and
medicinal. “Wai” is the Marquesan word for water.

CHAPTER XXII.

Preparations for a Grand Festival in the Valley—Strange doings in the
Taboo Groves—Monument of Calabashes—Gala costume of the Typee
damsels—Departure for the Festival.

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From the time that my lameness had decreased I had made a
daily practice of visiting Mehevi at the Ti, who invariably gave
me a most cordial reception. I was always accompanied in these
excursions by Fayaway and the ever-present Kory-Kory. The
former, as soon as we reached the vicinity of the Ti—which was
rigorously tabooed to the whole female sex—withdrew to a neighboring
hut, as if her feminine delicacy restrained her from
approaching a habitation which might be regarded as a sort of
Bachelor's Hall.

And in good truth it might well have been so considered. Although
it was the permanent residence of several distinguished
chiefs, and of the noble Mehevi in particular, it was still at certain
seasons the favorite haunt of all the jolly, talkative, and elderly
savages of the vale, who resorted thither in the same way that
similar characters frequent a tavern in civilized countries. There
they would remain hour after hour, chatting, smoking, eating
poee-poee, or busily engaged in sleeping for the good of their constitutions.

This building appeared to be the head-quarters of the valley,
where all flying rumors concentrated; and to have seen it filled
with a crowd of the natives, all males, conversing in animated
clusters, while multitudes were continually coming and going,
one would have thought it a kind of savage Exchange, where the
rise and fall of Polynesian Stock was discussed.

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Mehevi acted as supreme lord over the place, spending the
greater portion of his time there: and often when, at particular
hours of the day, it was deserted by nearly every one else except
the verd-antique looking centenarians, who were fixtures in the
building, the chief himself was sure to be found enjoying his
“otium cum dignitate” upon the luxurious mats which covered
the floor. Whenever I made my appearance he invariably rose,
and, like a gentleman doing the honors of his mansion, invited me
to repose myself wherever I pleased, and calling out “tammaree!”
(boy), a little fellow would appear, and then retiring for an instant,
return with some savory mess, from which the chief would press
me to regale myself. To tell the truth, Mehevi was indebted to
the excellence of his viands for the honor of my repeated visits,—
a matter which cannot appear singular, when it is borne in mind
that bachelors, all the world over, are famous for serving up unexceptionable
repasts.

One day, on drawing near to the Ti, I observed that extensive
preparations were going forward, plainly betokening some approaching
festival. Some of the symptoms reminded me of the
stir produced among the scullions of a large hotel, where a grand
jubilee dinner is about to be given. The natives were hurrying
about hither and thither, engaged in various duties; some lugging
off to the stream enormous hollow bamboos, for the purpose of
filling them with water; others chasing furious-looking hogs
through the bushes, in their endeavors to capture them; and
numbers employed in kneading great mountains of poee-poee
heaped up in huge wooden vessels.

After observing these lively indications for a while, I was
attracted to a neighboring grove by a prodigious squeaking which
I heard there. On reaching the spot I found it proceeded from a
large hog which a number of natives were forcibly holding to the
earth, while a muscular fellow, armed with a bludgeon, was
ineffectually aiming murderous blows at the skull of the

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unfortunate porker. Again and again he missed his writhing and
struggling victim, but though puffing and panting with his exertions,
he still continued them; and after striking a sufficient
number of blows to have demolished an entire drove of oxen,
with one crashing stroke he laid him dead at his feet.

Without letting any blood from the body, it was immediately
carried to a fire which had been kindled near at hand, and four
savages taking hold of the carcass by its legs, passed it rapidly to
and fro in the flames. In a moment the smell of burning bristles
betrayed the object of this procedure. Having got thus far in
the matter, the body was removed to a little distance; and, being
disembowelled, the entrails were laid aside as choice parts, and
the whole carcass thoroughly washed with water. An ample
thick green cloth, composed of the long thick leaves of a species
of palm-tree, ingeniously tacked together with little pins of bamboo,
was now spread upon the ground, in which the body being
carefully rolled, it was borne to an oven previously prepared to
receive it. Here it was at once laid upon the heated stones at
the bottom, and covered with thick layers of leaves, the whole
being quickly hidden from sight by a mound of earth raised
over it.

Such is the summary style in which the Typees convert perverse-minded
and rebellious hogs into the most docile and amiable
pork; a morsel of which placed on the tongue melts like a soft
smile from the lips of Beauty.

I commend their peculiar mode of proceeding to the consideration
of all butchers, cooks, and housewives. The hapless porker
whose fate I have just rehearsed, was not the only one who suffered
on that memorable day. Many a dismal grunt, many an imploring
squeak, proclaimed what was going on throughout the whole
extent of the valley; and I verily believe the first-born of every
litter perished before the setting of that fatal sun.

The scene around the Ti was now most animated. Hogs and

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poee-poee were baking in numerous ovens, which, heaped up with
fresh earth into slight elevations, looked like so many ant-hills.
Scores of the savages were vigorously plying their stone pestles
in preparing masses of poee-poee, and numbers were gathering
green bread-fruit and young cocoa-nuts in the surrounding groves;
while an exceeding great multitude, with a view of encouraging
the rest in their labors, stood still, and kept shouting most lustily
without intermission.

It is a peculiarity among these people, that when engaged in
an employment they always make a prodigious fuss about it. So
seldom do they ever exert themselves, that when they do work
they seen determined that so meritorious an action shall not escape
the observation of those around. If, for example, they have
occasion to remove a stone to a little distance, which perhaps
might be carried by two able-bodied men, a whole swarm gather
about it, and, after a vast deal of palavering, lift it up among them,
every one struggling to get hold of it, and bear it off yelling and
panting as if accomplishing some mighty achievement. Seeing
them on these occasions, one is reminded of an infinity of black
ants clustering about and dragging away to some hole the leg of
a deceased fly.

Having for some time attentively observed these demonstrations
of good cheer, I entered the Ti, where Mehevi sat complacently
looking out upon the busy scene, and occasionally issuing his
orders. The chief appeared to be in an extraordinary flow of
spirits, and gave me to understand that on the morrow there would
be grand doings in the Groves generally, and at the Ti in particular;
and urged me by no means to absent myself. In commemoration
of what event, however, or in honor of what distinguished
personage, the feast was to be given, altogether passed
my comprehension. Mehevi sought to enlighten my ignorance,
but he failed as signally as when he had endeavored to initiate
me into the perplexing arcana of the taboo.

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On leaving the Ti, Kory-Kory, who had as a matter of course
accompanied me, observing that my curiosity remained unabated,
resolved to make everything plain and satisfactory. With this
intent, he escorted me through the Taboo Groves, pointing out to
my notice a variety of objects, and endeavored to explain them in
such an indescribable jargon of words, that it almost put me in
bodily pain to listen to him. In particular, he led me to a remarkable
pyramidical structure some three yards square at the base,
and perhaps ten feet in height, which had lately been thrown up,
and occupied a very conspicuous position. It was composed
principally of large empty calabashes, with a few polished cocoa-nut
shells, and looked not unlike a cenotaph of skulls. My
cicerone perceived the astonishment with which I gazed at this
monument of savage crockery, and immediately addressed himself
to the task of enlightening me: but all in vain; and to this
hour the nature of the monument remains a complete mystery to
me. As, however, it formed so prominent a feature in the approaching
revels, I bestowed upon the latter, in my own mind, the
title of the “Feast of Calabashes.”

The following morning, awaking rather late, I perceived the
whole of Marheyo's family busily engaged in preparing for the
festival. The old warrior himself was arranging in round balls
the two grey locks of hair that were suffered to grow from the
crown of his head; his earrings and spear, both well polished,
lay beside him, while the highly decorative pair of shoes hung
suspended from a projecting cane against the side of the house.
The young men were similarly employed; and the fair damsels,
including Fayaway, were anointing themselves with “aka,”
arranging their long tresses, and performing other matters connected
with the duties of the toilet.

Having completed their preparations, the girls now exhibited
themselves in gala costume; the most conspicuous feature of
which was a necklace of beautiful white flowers, with the stems

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removed, and strung closely together upon a single fibre of tappa.
Corresponding ornaments were inserted in their ears, and woven
garlands upon their heads. About their waist they wore a short
tunic of spotless white tappa, and some of them superadded to this
a mantle of the same material, tied in an elaborate bow upon the
left shoulder, and falling about the figure in picturesque folds.

Thus arrayed, I would have matched the charming Fayaway
against any beauty in the world.

People may say what they will about the taste evinced by our
fashionable ladies in dress. Their jewels, their feathers, their
silks, and their furbelows, would have sunk into utter insignificance
beside the exquisite simplicity of attire adopted by the
nymphs of the vale on this festive occasion. I should like to have
seen a gallery of coronation beauties, at Westminster Abbey, confronted
for a moment by this band of Island girls; their stiffness,
formality, and affectation, contrasted with the artless vivacity and
unconcealed natural graces of these savage maidens. It would
be the Venus de' Medici placed beside a milliner's doll.

It was not long before Kory-Kory and myself were left alone in
the house, the rest of its inmates having departed for the Taboo
Groves. My valet was all impatience to follow them; and was
as fidgetty about my dilatory movements as a diner out waiting
hat in hand at the bottom of the stairs for some lagging companion.
At last, yielding to his importunities, I set out for the Ti. As we
passed the houses peeping out from the groves through which our
route lay, I noticed that they were entirely deserted by their inhabitants.

When we reached the rock that abruptly terminated the path,
and concealed from us the festive scene, wild shouts and a confused
blending of voices assured me that the occasion, whatever
it might be, had drawn together a great multitude. Kory-Kory,
previous to mounting the elevation, paused for a moment, like a
dandy at a ball-room door, to put a hasty finish to his toilet.

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During this short interval, the thought struck me that I ought
myself perhaps to be taking some little pains with my appearance.
But as I had no holiday raiment, I was not a little puzzled to devise
some means of decorating myself. However, as I felt desirous
to create a sensation, I determined to do all that lay in my
power; and knowing that I could not delight the savages more
than by conforming to their style of dress, I removed from my person
the large robe of tappa which I was accustomed to wear over
my shoulders whenever I sallied into the open air, and remained
merely girt about with a short tunic descending from my waist to
my knees.

My quick-witted attendant fully appreciated the compliment I
was paying to the costume of his race, and began more sedulously
to arrange the folds of the one only garment which remained to
me. Whilst he was doing this, I caught sight of a knot of young
lasses, who were sitting near us on the grass surrounded by heaps
of flowers, which they were forming into garlands. I motioned
to them to bring some of their handywork to me; and in an instant
a dozen wreaths were at my disposal. One of them I put
round the apology for a hat which I had been forced to construct
for myself out of palmetto-leaves, and some of the others I converted
into a splendid girdle. These operations finished, with
the slow and dignified step of a full-dressed beau I ascended the
rock.

CHAPTER XXIII.

The Feast of Calabashes

[figure description] Page 208.[end figure description]

The whole population of the valley seemed to be gathered within
the precincts of the grove. In the distance could be seen the long
front of the Ti, its immense piazza swarming with men, arrayed
in every variety of fantastic costume, and all vociferating with
animated gestures; while the whole interval between it and the
place where I stood was enlivened by groups of females fancifully
decorated, dancing, capering, and uttering wild exclamations.
As soon as they descried me they set up a shout of welcome;
and a band of them came dancing towards me, chanting as they
approached some wild recitative. The change in my garb seemed
to transport them with delight, and clustering about me on all
sides, they accompanied me towards the Ti. When however we
drew near it these joyous nymphs paused in their career, and
parting on either side, permitted me to pass on to the now densely
thronged building.

So soon as I mounted to the pi-pi I saw at a glance that the
revels were fairly under way.

What lavish plenty reigned around!—Warwick feasting his
retainers with beef and ale, was a niggard to the noble Mehevi!—
All along the piazza of the Ti were arranged elaborately carved
canoe-shaped vessels, some twenty feet in length, filled with newly
made poee-poee, and sheltered from the sun by the broad leaves
of the banana. At intervals were heaps of green bread-fruit,
raised in pyramidical stacks, resembling the regular piles of heavy
shot to be seen in the yard of an arsenal. Inserted into the

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interstices of the huge stones which formed the pi-pi were large boughs
of trees; hanging from the branches of which, and screened from
the sun by their foliage, were innumerable little packages with
leafy coverings, containing the meat of the numerous hogs which
had been slain, done up in this manner to make it more accessible
to the crowd. Leaning against the railing of the piazza were an
immense number of long, heavy bamboos, plugged at the lower
end, and with their projecting muzzles stuffed with a wad of
leaves. These were filled with water from the stream, and each
of them might hold from four to five gallons.

The banquet being thus spread, naught remained but for every
one to help himself at his pleasure. Accordingly not a moment
passed but the transplanted boughs I have mentioned were rifled
by the throng of the fruit they certainly had never borne before.
Calabashes of poee-poee were continually being replenished from
the extensive receptacle in which that article was stored, and
multitudes of little fires were kindled about the Ti for the purpose
of roasting the bread-fruit.

Within the building itself was presented a most extraordinary
scene. The immense lounge of mats lying between the parallel
rows of the trunks of cocoa-nut trees, and extending the entire
length of the house, at least two hundred feet, was covered by the
reclining forms of a host of chiefs and warriors, who were eating
at a great rate, or soothing the cares of Polynesian life in the sedative
fumes of tobacco. The smoke was inhaled from large
pipes, the bowls of which, made out of small cocoa-nut shells,
were curiously carved in strange heathenish devices. These
were passed from mouth to mouth by the recumbent smokers,
each of whom, taking two or three prodigious whiffs, handed the
pipe to his neighbor; sometimes for that purpose stretching indolently
across the body of some dozing individual whose exertions
at the dinner-table had already induced sleep.

The tobacco used among the Typees was of a very mild and

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pleasing flavor, and as I always saw it in leaves, and the natives
appeared pretty well supplied with it, I was led to believe that it
must have been the growth of the valley. Indeed Kory-Kory
gave me to understand that this was the case; but I never saw a
single plant growing on the island. At Nukuheva, and, I believe,
in all the other valleys, the weed is very scarce, being
only obtained in small quantities from foreigners, and smoking is
consequently with the inhabitants of these places a very great
luxury. How it was that the Typees were so well furnished with
it I cannot divine. I should think them too indolent to devote any
attention to its culture; and, indeed, as far as my observation
extended, not a single atom of the soil was under any other
cultivation than that of shower and sunshine. The tobacco-plant,
however, like the sugar-cane, may grow wild in some remote
part of the vale.

There were many in the Ti for whom the tobacco did not furnish
a sufficient stimulus, and who accordingly had recourse to
“arva,” as a more powerful agent in producing the desired effect.

“Arva” is a root very generally dispersed over the South Seas,
and from it is extracted a juice, the effects of which upon the system
are at first stimulating in a moderate degree; but it soon
relaxes the muscles, and exerting a narcotic influence produces a
luxurious sleep. In the valley this beverage was universally prepared
in the following way:—Some half-dozen young boys seated
themselves in a circle around an empty wooden vessel, each one
of them being supplied with a certain quantity of the roots of the
“arva,” broken into small bits and laid by his side. A cocoa-nut
goblet of water was passed around the juvenile company, who rinsing
their mouths with its contents, proceeded to the business before
them. This merely consisted in thoroughly masticating the “arva,”
and throwing it mouthful after mouthful into the receptacle provided.
When a sufficient quantity had been thus obtained water
was poured upon the mass, and being stirred about with the

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forefinger of the right-hand, the preparation was soon in readiness for
use. The “arva” has medicinal qualities.

Upon the Sandwich Islands it has been employed with no small
success in the treatment of scrofulous affections, and in combating
the ravages of a disease for whose frightful inroads the illstarred
inhabitants of that group are indebted to their foreign
benefactors. But the tenants of the Typee valley, as yet exempt
from these inflictions, generally employ the “arva” as a minister
to social enjoyment, and a calabash of the liquid circulates among
them as the bottle with us.

Mehevi, who was greatly delighted with the change in my costume,
gave me a cordial welcome. He had reserved for me a
most delectable mess of “cockoo,” well knowing my partiality
for that dish; and had likewise selected three or four young cocoa-nuts,
several roasted bread-fruit, and a magnificent bunch of bananas,
for my especial comfort and gratification. These various
matters were at once placed before me; but Kory-Kory deemed
the banquet entirely insufficient for my wants until he had supplied
me with one of the leafy packages of pork, which, notwithstanding
the somewhat hasty manner in which it had been prepared,
possessed a most excellent flavor, and was surprisingly
sweet and tender.

Pork is not a staple article of food among the people of the Marquesas,
consequently they pay little attention to the breeding of the
swine. The hogs are permitted to roam at large in the groves,
where they obtain no small portion of their nourishment from the
cocoa-nuts which continually fall from the trees. But it is only
after infinite labor and difficulty, that the hungry animal can
pierce the husk and shell so as to get at the meat. I have frequently
been amused at seeing one of them, after crunching the
obstinate nut with his teeth for a long time unsuccessfully, get
into a violent passion with it. He would then root furiously under
the cocoa-nut, and, with a fling of his snout, toss it before him on

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the ground. Following it up, he would crunch at it again savagely
for a moment, and the next knock it on one side, pausing
immediately after, as if wondering how it could so suddenly have
disappeared. In this way the persecuted cocoa-nuts were often
chased half across the valley.

The second day of the Feast of Calabashes was ushered in by still
more uproarious noises than the first. The skins of innumerable
sheep seemed to be resounding to the blows of an army of drummers.
Startled from my slumbers by the din, I leaped up, and found the
whole household engaged in making preparations for immediate
departure. Curious to discover of what strange events these novel
sounds might be the precursors, and not a little desirous to catch
a sight of the instruments which produced the terrific noise, I
accompanied the natives as soon as they were in readiness to depart
for the Taboo Groves.

The comparatively open space that extended from the Ti toward
the rock, to which I have before alluded as forming the ascent to
the place, was, with the building itself, now altogether deserted by
the men; the whole distance being filled by bands of females,
shouting and dancing under the influence of some strange excitement.

I was amused at the appearance of four or five old women who,
in a state of utter nudity, with their arms extended flatly down their
sides, and holding themselves perfectly erect, were leaping stiffly
into the air, like so many sticks bobbing to the surface, after being
pressed perpendicularly into the water. They preserved the utmost
gravity of countenance, and continued their extraordinary
movements without a single moment's cessation. They did not
appear to attract the observation of the crowd around them, but I
must candidly confess that, for my own part, I stared at them
most pertinaciously.

Desirous of being enlightened in regard to the meaning of this
peculiar diversion, I turned inquiringly to Kory-Kory; that

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learned Typee immediately proceeded to explain the whole matter
thoroughly. But all that I could comprehend from what he said
was, that the leaping figures before me were bereaved widows,
whose partners had been slain in battle many moons previously;
and who, at every festival, gave public evidence in this manner
of their calamities. It was evident that Kory-Kory considered
this an all-sufficient reason for so indecorous a custom; but I
must say that it did not satisfy me as to its propriety.

Leaving these afflicted femeles, we passed on to the Hoolah
Hoolah ground. Within the spacious quadrangle, the whole population
of the valley seemed to be assembled, and the sight presented
was truly remarkable. Beneath the sheds of bamboo
which opened towards the interior of the square, reclined the
principal chiefs and warriors, while a miscellaneous throng lay at
their ease under the enormous trees which spread a majestic
canopy overhead. Upon the terraces of the gigantic altars, at either
end, were deposited green bread-fruit in baskets of cocoa-nut
leaves, large rolls of tappa, bunches of white bananas, clusters
of mammee-apples, the golden-hued fruit of the artu-tree, and
baked hogs, laid out in large wooden trenches, fancifully decorated
with freshly plucked leaves, whilst a variety of rude implements
of war were piled in confused heaps before the ranks of hideous
idols. Fruits of various kinds were likewise suspended in leafen
baskets, from the tops of poles planted uprightly, and at regular
intervals, along the lower terraces of both altars. At their base
were arranged two parallel rows of cumbersome drums, standing
at least fifteen feet in height, and formed from the hollow
trunks of large trees. Their heads were covered with shark
skins, and their barrels were elaborately carved with various
quaint figures and devices. At regular intervals they were
bound round by a species of sinnate of various colors, and strips
of native cloth flattened upon them here and there. Behind these
instruments were built slight platforms, upon which stood a

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number of young men who, beating violently with the palms of their
hands upon the drum-heads, produced those outrageous sounds
which had awakened me in the morning. Every few minutes
these musical performers hopped down from their elevation into
the crowd below, and their places were immediately supplied by
fresh recruits. Thus an incessant din was kept up that might
have startled Pandemonium.

Precisely in the middle of the quadrangle were placed perpendicularly
in the ground, a hundred or more slender, fresh-cut poles,
stripped of their bark, and decorated at the end with a floating
pennon of white tappa; the whole being fenced about with a little
picket of canes. For what purpose these singular ornaments were
intended I in vain endeavored to discover.

Another most striking feature of the performance was exhibited
by a score of old men, who sat cross-legged in the little pulpits,
which encircled the trunks of the immense trees growing in the
middle of the enclosure. These venerable gentlemen, who I presume
were the priests, kept up an uninterrupted monotonous chant,
which was nearly drowned in the roar of drums. In the right
hand they held a finely woven grass fan, with a heavy black
wooden handle curiously chased: these fans they kept in continual
motion.

But no attention whatever seemed to be paid to the drummers
or to the old priests; the individuals who composed the vast crowd
present being entirely taken up in chatting and laughing with
one another, smoking, drinking arva, and eating. For all the
observation it attracted, or the good it achieved, the whole savage
orchestra might, with great advantage to its own members and the
company in general, have ceased the prodigious uproar they were
making.

In vain I questioned Kory-Kory and others of the natives, as to
the meaning of the strange things that were going on; all their
explanations were conveyed in such a mass of outlandish

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gibberish and gesticulation that I gave up the attempt in despair. All
that day the drums resounded, the priests chanted, and the multitude
feasted and roared till sunset, when the throng dispersed, and
the Taboo Groves were again abandoned to quiet and repose. The
next day the same scene was repeated until night, when this singular
festival terminated.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Ideas suggested by the Feast of Calabasbes—Inaccuracy of certain published
Accounts of the Islands—A Reason—Neglected State of Heathenism in
the Valley—Effigy of a dead Warrior—A singular Superstition—The
Priest Kolory and the God Moa Artua—Amazing Religious Observance—
A dilapidated Shrine—Kory-Kory and the Idol—An Inference.

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Although I had been baffled in my attempts to learn the origin
of the Feast of Calabashes, yet it seemed very plain to me that
it was principally, if not wholly of a religious character. As a
religious solemnity, however, it had not at all corresponded with
the horrible descriptions of Polynesian worship which we have
received in some published narratives, and especially in those
accounts of the evangelized islands with which the missionaries
have favored us. Did not the sacred character of these persons
render the purity of their intentions unquestionable, I should certainly
be led to suppose that they had exaggerated the evils of
Paganism, in order to enhance the merit of their own disinterested
labors.

In a certain work incidentally treating of the “Washington, or
Northern Marquesas Islands,” I have seen the frequent immolation
of human victims upon the altars of their gods, positively and
repeatedly charged upon the inhabitants. The same work gives
also a rather minute account of their religion,—enumerates a
great many of their superstitions,—and makes known the particular
designations of numerous orders of the priesthood. One
would almost imagine from the long list that is given of cannibal
primates, bishops, archdeacons, prebendaries, and other inferior

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ecclesiastics, that the sacerdotal order far outnumbered the rest
of the population, and that the poor natives were more severely
priest-ridden than even the inhabitants of the papal states. These
accounts are likewise calculated to leave upon the reader's mind
an impression that human victims are daily cooked and served
up upon the altars; that heathenish cruelties of every description
are continually practised; and that these ignorant Pagans are
in a state of the extremest wretchedness in consequence of the
grossness of their superstitions. Be it observed, however, that all
this information is given by a man who, according to his own
statement, was only at one of the islands, and remained there but
two weeks, sleeping every night on board his ship, and taking
little kid-glove excursions ashore in the daytime, attended by an
armed party.

Now, all I can say is, that in all my excursions through the
valley of Typee, I never saw any of these alleged enormities.
If any of them are practised upon the Marquesas Islands, they
must certainly have come to my knowledge while living for
months with a tribe of savages, wholly unchanged from their
original primitive condition, and reputed the most ferocious in the
South Seas.

The fact is, that there is a vast deal of unintentional humbuggery
in some of the accounts we have from scientific men concerning
the religious institutions of Polynesia. These learned
tourists generally obtain the greater part of their information from
the retired old South-Sea rovers, who have domesticated themselves
among the barbarous tribes of the Pacific. Jack, who has
long been accustomed to the long-bow, and to spin tough yarns on
a ship's forecastle, invariably officiates as showman of the island
on which he has settled, and having mastered a few dozen words of
the language, is supposed to know all about the people who speak it.
A natural desire to make himself of consequence in the eyes of
the strangers, prompts him to lay claim to a much greater

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knowledge of such matters than he actually possesses. In reply to incessant
queries, he communicates not only all he knows, but a
good deal more, and if there be any information deficient, still he
is at no loss to supply it. The avidity with which his anecdotes
are noted down tickles his vanity, and his powers of invention
increase with the credulity of his auditors. He knows just the
sort of information wanted, and furnishes it to any extent.

This is not a supposed case; I have met with several individuals
like the one described, and I have been present at two or
three of their interviews with strangers.

Now, when the scientific voyager arrives at home with his collection
of wonders, he attempts, perhaps, to give a description of
some of the strange people he has been visiting. Instead of representing
them as a community of lusty savages, who are leading a
merry, idle, innocent life, he enters into a very circumstantial and
learned narrative of certain unaccountable superstitions and practices,
about which he knows as little as the islanders do themselves.
Having had little time, and scarcely any opportunity, to become
acquainted with the customs he pretends to describe, he writes
them down one after another in an off-hand haphazard style;
and were the book thus produced to be translated into the tongue
of the people of whom it purports to give the history, it would appear
quite as wonderful to them as it does to the American public,
and much more improbable.

For my own part, I am free to confess my almost entire inability
to gratify any curiosity that may be felt with regard to the theology
of the valley. I doubt whether the inhabitants themselves
could do so. They are either too lazy or too sensible to worry
themselves about abstract points of religious belief. While I was
among them, they never held any synods or councils to settle the
principles of their faith by agitating them. An unbounded liberty
of conscience seemed to prevail. Those who pleased to do so were
allowed to repose implicit faith in an ill-favored god with a large

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bottle-nose and fat shapeless arms crossed upon his breast; whilst
others worshippod an image which, having no likeness either in
heaven or on earth, could hardly be called an idol. As the
islanders always maintained a discreet reserve with regard to my
own peculiar views on religion, I thought it would be excessively
ill-bred in me to pry into theirs.

But, although my knowledge of the religious faith of the Typees
was unavoidably limited, one of their superstitious observances
with which I became acquainted interested me greatly.

In one of the most secluded portions of the valley within a
stone's cast of Fayaway's lake—for so I christened the scene of
our island yachting—and hard by a growth of palms, which stood
ranged in order along both banks of the stream, waving their
green arms as if to do honor to its passage, was the mausoleum of
a deceased warrior chief. Like all the other edifices of any note,
it was raised upon a small pi-pi of stones, which, being of unusual
height, was a conspicuous object from a distance. A light thatching
of bleached palmetto-leaves hung over it like a self-supported
canopy; for it was not until you came very near that you saw it
was supported by four slender columns of bamboo rising at each
corner to a little more than the height of a man. A clear area of
a few yards surrounded the pi-pi, and was enclosed by four trunks
of cocoa-nut trees resting at the angles on massive blocks of stone.
The place was sacred. The sign of the inscrutable Taboo was
seen in the shape of a mystic roll of white Tappa, suspended by a
twisted cord of the same material from the top of a slight pole
planted within the enclosure.[2] The sanctity of the spot appeared
never to have been violated. The stillness of the grave was
there, and the calm solitude around was beautiful and touching.
The soft shadows of those lofty palm-trees!—I can see them now—
hanging over the little temple, as if to keep out the intrusive
sun.

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On all sides as you approached this silent spot you caught
sight of the dead chief's effigy, seated in the stern of a canoe,
which was raised on a light frame a few inches above the level
of the pi-pi. The canoe was about seven feet in length; of a
rich, dark colored wood, handsomely carved and adorned in
many places with variegated bindings of stained sinnate, into
which were ingeniously wrought a number of sparkling seashells,
and a belt of the same shells ran all round it. The body
of the figure—of whatever material it might have been made—
was effectually concealed in a heavy robe of brown tappa, revealing
only the hands and head; the latter skilfully carved in
wood, and surmounted by a superb arch of plumes. These
plumes, in the subdued and gentle gales which found access to
this sequestered spot, were never for one moment at rest, but kept
nodding and waving over the chief's brow. The long leaves of
the palmetto dropped over the eaves, and through them you saw
the warrior holding his paddle with both hands in the act of
rowing, leaning forward and inclining his head, as if eager to
hurry on his voyage. Glaring at him for ever, and face to face,
was a polished human skull, which crowned the prow of the
canoe. The spectral figurehead, reversed in its position, glancing
backwards, seemed to mock the impatient attitude of the warrior.

When I first visited this singular place with Kory-Kory, he
told me—or at least I so understood him—that the chief was
paddling his way to the realms of bliss, and bread-fruit—the
Polynesian heaven—where every moment the bread-fruit trees
dropped their ripened spheres to the ground, and where there
was no end to the cocoa-nuts and bananas; there they reposed
through the livelong eternity upon mats much finer than those
of Typee; and every day bathed their glowing limbs in rivers of
cocoa-nut oil. In that happy land there were plenty of plumes
and feathers, and boars'-tusks and sperm-whale teeth, far preferable
to all the shining trinkets and gay tappa of the white men;

[figure description] Page 221.[end figure description]

and, best of all, women far lovelier than the daughters of earth
were there in abundance. “A very pleasant place,” Kory-Kory
said it was; “but after all, not much pleasanter, he thought,
than Typee.” “Did he not then,” I asked him, “wish to accompany
the warrior?” “Oh no: he was very happy where he
was; but supposed that some time or other he would go in his
own canoe.”

Thus far, I think, I clearly comprehended Kory-Kory. But
there was a singular expression he made use of at the time, enforced
by as singular a gesture, the meaning of which I would
have given much to penetrate. I am inclined to believe it must
have been a proverb he uttered; for I afterwards heard him
repeat the same words several times, and in what appeared to me
to be a somewhat similar sense. Indeed, Kory-Kory had a great
variety of short, smart-sounding sentences, with which he frequently
enlivened his discourse; and he introduced them with an
air which plainly intimated, that in his opinion, they settled the
matter in question, whatever it might be.

Could it have been then, that when I asked him whether he
desired to go to this heaven of bread-fruit, cocoa-nuts, and young
ladies, which he had been describing, he answered by saying
something equivalent to our old adage—“A bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush?”—if he did, Kory-Kory was a discreet
and sensible fellow, and I cannot sufficiently admire his shrewdness.

Whenever, in the course of my rambles through the valley, I
happened to be near the chief's mausoleum, I always turned
aside to visit it. The place had a peculiar charm for me; I
hardly know why, but so it was. As I leaned over the railing
and gazed upon the strange effigy and watched the play of the
feathery head-dress, stirred by the same breeze which in low tones
breathed amidst the lofty palm-trees, I loved to yield myself up
to the fanciful superstition of the islanders, and could almost

[figure description] Page 222.[end figure description]

believe that the grim warrior was bound heavenward. In this
mood when I turned to depart, I bade him “God speed, and a
pleasant voyage.” Ay, paddle away, brave chieftain, to the
land of spirits! To the material eye thou makest but little progress;
but with the eye of faith, I see thy canoe cleaving the
bright waves, which die away on those dimly looming shores of
Paradise.

This strange superstition affords another evidence of the fact,
that however ignorant man may be, he still feels within him his
immortal spirit yearning after the unknown future.

Although the religious theories of the islands were a complete
mystery to me, their practical every-day operation could not be
concealed. I frequently passed the little temples reposing in the
shadows of the Taboo groves, and beheld the offerings—mouldy
fruit spread out upon a rude altar, or hanging in half-decayed
baskets around some uncouth jolly-looking images; I was present
during the continuance of the festival; I daily beheld the grinning
idols marshalled rank and file in the Hoolah Hoolah ground,
and was often in the habit of meeting those whom I supposed to
be the priests. But the temples seemed to be abandoned to solitude;
the festival had been nothing more than a jovial mingling
of the tribe; the idols were quite as harmless as any other logs
of wood; and the priests were the merriest dogs in the valley.

In fact religious affairs in Typee were at a very low ebb: all
such matters sat very lightly upon the thoughtless inhabitants;
and, in the celebration of many of their strange rites, they appeared
merely to seek a sort of childish amusement.

A curious evidence of this was given in a remarkable ceremony
in which I frequently saw Mehevi and several other chiefs and
warriors of note take part; but never a single female.

Among those whom I looked upon as forming the priesthood
of the valley, there was one in particular who often attracted my
notice, and whom I could not help regarding as the head of the

[figure description] Page 223.[end figure description]

order. He was a noble looking man, in the prime of his life, and
of a most benignant aspect. The authority this man, whose name
was Kolory, seemed to exercise over the rest, the episcopal part
he took in the Feast of Calabashes, his sleek and complacent appearance,
the mystic characters which were tattooed upon his
chest, and above all the mitre he frequently wore, in the shape
of a towering head-dress, consisting of part of a cocoa-nut branch,
the stalk planted uprightly on his brow, and the leaflets gathered
together and passed round the temples and behind the ears, all
these pointed him out as Lord Primate of Typee. Kolory was
a sort of Knight Templar—a soldier-priest; for he often wore
the dress of a Marquesan warrior, and always carried a long
spear, which, instead of terminating in a paddle at the lower end,
after the general fashion of these weapons, was curved into a heathenish-looking
little image. This instrument, however, might
perhaps have been emblematic of his double functions. With one
end in carnal combat he transfixed the enemies of his tribe; and
with the other as a pastoral crook he kept in order his spiritual
flock. But this is not all I have to say about Kolory. His martial
grace very often carried about with him what seemed to me
the half of a broken war-club. It was swathed round with ragged
bits of white tappa, and the upper part, which was intended
to represent a human head, was embellished with a strip of scarlet
cloth of European manufacture. It required little observation
to discover that this strange object was revered as a god. By the
side of the big and lusty images standing sentinel over the altars
of the Hoolah Hoolah ground, it seemed a mere pigmy in tatters.
But appearances all the world over are deceptive. Little men
are sometimes very potent, and rags sometimes cover very extensive
pretensions. In fact, this funny little image was the
“crack” god of the island; lording it over all the wooden lubbers
who looked so grim and dreadful; its name was Moa Artua.[3]

[figure description] Page 224.[end figure description]

And it was in honor of Moa Artua, and for the entertainment of
those who believe in him, that the curious ceremony I am about
to describe was observed.

Mehevi and the chieftains of the Ti have just risen from their
noontide slumbers. There are no affairs of state to dispose of;
and having eaten two or three breakfasts in the course of the
morning, the magnates of the valley feel no appetite as yet for
dinner. How are their leisure moments to be occupied? They
smoke, they chat, and at last one of their number makes a proposition
to the rest, who joyfully acquiescing, he darts out of the
house, leaps from the pi-pi, and disappears in the grove. Soon
you see him returning with Kolory, who bears the god Moa
Artua in his arms, and carries in one hand a small trough, hollowed
out in the likeness of a canoe. The priest comes along
dandling his charge as if it were a lachrymose infant he was endeavoring
to put into a good humor. Presently entering the Ti,
he seats himself on the mats as composedly as a juggler about
to perform his sleight-of-hand tricks; and with the chiefs disposed
in a circle around him, commences his ceremony.

In the first place he gives Moa Artua an affectionate hug, then
caressingly lays him to his breast, and, finally, whispers something
in his ear; the rest of the company listening eagerly for a
reply. But the baby-god is deaf or dumb,—perhaps both, for
never a word does he utter. At last Kolory speaks a little louder,
and soon growing angry, comes boldly out with what he has to
say and bawls to him. He put me in mind of a choleric fellow,
who, after trying in vain to communicate a secret to a deaf man,
all at once flies into a passion and screams it out so that every one
may hear. Still Moa Artua remains as quiet as ever; and Kolory,
seemingly losing his temper, fetches him a box over the
head, strips him of his tappa and red cloth, and laying him in a

[figure description] Page 225.[end figure description]

state of nudity in a little trough, covers him from sight. At this
proceeding all present loudly applaud and signify their approval
by uttering the adjective “motarkee” with violent emphasis.
Kolory, however, is so desirous his conduct should meet with unqualified
approbation, that he inquires of each individual separately
whether under existing circumstances he has not done perfectly
right in shutting up Moa Artua. The invariable response
is “Aa, Aa” (yes, yes), repeated over again and again in a
manner which ought to quiet the scruples of the most conscientious.
After a few moments Kolory brings forth his doll again,
and while arraying it very carefully in the tappa and red cloth,
alternately fondles and chides it. The toilet being completed, he
once more speaks to it aloud. The whole company hereupon
show the greatest interest; while the priest holding Moa Artua to
his ear interprets to them what he pretends the god is confidentially
communicating to him. Some items of intelligence appear
to tickle all present amazingly; for one claps his hands in a rapture;
another shouts with merriment; and a third leaps to his
feet and capers about like a madman.

What under the sun Moa Artua on these occasions had to say
to Kolory I never could find out; but I could not help thinking
that the former showed a sad want of spirit in being disciplined
into making those disclosures, which at first he seemed bent on
withholding. Whether the priest honestly interpreted what he
believed the divinity said to him, or whether he was not all the
while guilty of a vile humbug, I shall not presume to decide.
At any rate, whatever as coming from the god was imparted to
those present seemed to be generally of a complimentary nature;
a fact which illustrates the sagacity of Kolory, or else the timeserving
disposition of this hardly used deity.

Moa Artua having nothing more to say, his bearer goes to
nursing him again, in which occupation, however, he is soon interrupted
by a question put by one of the warriors to the god.

[figure description] Page 226.[end figure description]

Kolory hereupon snatches it up to his ear again, and after listening
attentively, once more officiates as the organ of communication.
A multitude of questions and answers having passed between the
parties, much to the satisfaction of those who propose them, the god
is put tenderly to bed in the trough, and the whole company unite
in a long chant, led off by Kolory. This ended, the ceremony
is over; the chiefs rise to their feet in high good humor, and my
Lord Archbishop, after chatting awhile, and regaling himself with
a whiff or two from a pipe of tobacco, tucks the canoe under his
arm and marches off with it.

The whole of these proceedings were like those of a parcel of
children playing with dolls and baby houses.

For a youngster scarcely ten inches high, and with so few early
advantages as he doubtless had had, Moa Artua was certainly a
precocious little fellow if he really said all that was imputed to
him; but for what reason this poor devil of a deity, thus cuffed
about, cajoled, and shut up in a box, was held in greater estimation
than the full-grown and dignified personages of the Taboo
Groves, I cannot divine. And yet Mehevi, and other chiefs of
unquestionable veracity—to say nothing of the Primate himself—
assured me over and over again that Moa Artua was the tutelary
deity of Typee, and was more to be held in honor than a whole
battalion of the clumsy idols in the Hoolah Hoolah grounds.
Kory-Kory—who seemed to have devoted considerable attention
to the study of theology, as he knew the names of all the graven
images in the valley, and often repeated them over to me—likewise
entertained some rather enlarged ideas with regard to the
character and pretensions of Moa Artua. He once gave me to
understand, with a gesture there was no misconceiving, that if he
(Moa Artua) were so minded he could cause a cocoa-nut tree to
sprout out of his (Kory-Kory's) head; and that it would be the easiest
thing in life for him (Moa Artua) to take the whole island of

[figure description] Page 227.[end figure description]

Nukuheva in his mouth and dive down to the bottom of the sea
with it.

But in sober seriousness, I hardly knew what to make of the
religion of the valley. There was nothing that so much perplexed
the illustrious Cook, in his intercourse with the South Sea
islanders, as their sacred rites. Although this prince of navigators
was in many instances assisted by interpreters in the prosecution
of his researches, he still frankly acknowledges that he
was at a loss to obtain anything like a clear insight into the puzzling
arcana of their faith. A similar admission has been made
by other eminent voyagers: by Carteret, Byron, Kotzebue, and
Vancouver.

For my own part, although hardly a day passed while I remained
upon the island that I did not witness some religious ceremony
or other, it was very much like seeing a parcel of “Freemasons”
making secret signs to each other; I saw everything, but
could comprehend nothing.

On the whole, I am inclined to believe that the islanders in the
Pacific have no fixed and definite ideas whatever on the subject
of religion. I am persuaded that Kolory himself would be effectually
posed were he called upon to draw up the articles of his
faith, and pronounce the creed by which he hoped to be saved.
In truth, the Typees, so far as their actions evince, submitted to
no laws human or divine—always excepting the thrice mysterious
Taboo. The “independent electors” of the valley were not
to be brow-beaten by chiefs, priests, idols, or devils. As for the
luckless idols, they received more hard knocks than supplications.
I do not wonder that some of them looked so grim, and
stood so bolt upright, as if fearful of looking to the right or the
left lest they should give any one offence. The fact is, they had
to carry themselves “pretty straight,” or suffer the consequences.
Their worshippers were such a precious set of fickle-minded and
irreverent heathens, that there was no telling when they might

[figure description] Page 228.[end figure description]

topple one of them over, break it to pieces, and making a fire
with it on the very altar itself, fall to roasting the offerings of
bread-fruit, and eat them in spite of its teeth.

In how little reverence these unfortunate deities were held by
the natives was on one occasion most convincingly proved to me.
Walking with Kory-Kory through the deepest recesses of the
groves, I perceived a curious looking image, about six feet in
height, which originally had been placed upright against a low
pi-pi, surmounted by a ruinous bamboo temple, but having become
fatigued and weak in the knees, was now carelessly leaning
against it. The idol was partly concealed by the foliage of a tree
which stood near, and whose leafy boughs drooped over the pile
of stones, as if to protect the rude fane from the decay to which
it was rapidly hastening. The image itself was nothing more
than a grotesquely shaped log, carved in the likeness of a portly
naked man with the arms clasped over the head, the jaws thrown
wide apart, and its thick shapeless legs bowed into an arch. It
was much decayed. The lower part was overgrown with a bright
silky moss. Thin spears of grass sprouted from the distended
mouth, and fringed the outline of the head and arms. His godship
had literally attained a green old age. All its prominent
points were bruised and battered, or entirely rotted away. The
nose had taken its departure, and from the general appearance of
the head it might have been supposed that the wooden divinity, in
despair at the neglect of its worshippers, had been trying to beat
its own brains out against the surrounding trees.

I drew near to inspect more closely this strange object of idolatry;
but halted reverently at the distance of two or three paces,
out of regard to the religious prejudices of my valet. As soon,
however, as Kory-Kory perceived that I was in one of my inquiring,
scientific moods, to my astonishment, he sprang to the side
of the idol, and pushing it away from the stones against which it
rested, endeavored to make it stand upon its legs. But the

[figure description] Page 229.[end figure description]

divinity had lost the use of them altogether; and while Kory-Kory
was trying to prop it up, by placing a stick between it and the
pi-pi, the monster fell clumsily to the ground, and would infallibly
have broken its neck had not Kory-Kory providentially broken
its fall by receiving its whole weight on his own half-crushed
back. I never saw the honest fellow in such a rage before. He
leaped furiously to his feet, and seizing the stick, began beating
the poor image; every moment or two pausing and talking to it
in the most violent manner, as if upbraiding it for the accident.
When his indignation had subsided a little he whirled the idol
about most profanely, so as to give me an opportunity of examining
it on all sides. I am quite sure I never should have presumed
to have taken such liberties with the god myself, and I
was not a little shocked at Kory-Kory's impiety.

This anecdote speaks for itself. When one of the inferior
order of natives could show such contempt for a venerable and
decrepit God of the Groves, what the state of religion must be
among the people in general is easily to be imagined. In truth,
I regard the Typees as a back-slidden generation. They are
sunk in religious sloth, and require a spiritual revival. A long
prosperity of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts has rendered them remiss
in the performance of their higher obligations. The wood-rot
malady is spreading among the idols—the fruit upon their altars
is becoming offensive—the temples themselves need re-thatching—
the tattooed clergy are altogether too light-hearted and lazy—
and their flocks are going astray.

eaf273v2.n2

[2] White appears to be the sacred color among the Marquesans.

eaf273v2.n3

[3] The word “Artua,” although having some other significations, is in
nearly all the Polynesian dialects used as the general designation of the
gods.

CHAPTER XXV.

General Information gathered at the Festival—Personal Beauty of the
Typees—Their Superiority over the Inhabitants of the other Islands—
Diversity of Complexion—A Vegetable Cosmetic and Ointment—Testimony
of Voyagers to the Uncommon Beauty of the Marquesans—Few
Evidences of Intercourse with Civilized Beings—Dilapidated Musket—
Primitive Simplicity of Government—Regal Dignity of Mehevi.

[figure description] Page 230.[end figure description]

Although I had been unable during the late festival to obtain
information on many interesting subjects which had much excited
my curiosity, still that important event had not passed by without
adding materially to my general knowledge of the islanders.

I was especially struck by the physical strength and beauty
which they displayed, by their great superiority in these respects
over the inhabitants of the neighboring bay of Nukuheva, and
by the singular contrasts they presented among themselves in
their various shades of complexion.

In beauty of form they surpassed anything I had ever seen.
Not a single instance of natural deformity was observable in all
the throng attending the revels. Occasionally I noticed among
the men the scars of wounds they had received in battle; and
sometimes, though very seldom, the loss of a finger, an eye, or
an arm, attributable to the same cause. With these exceptions,
every individual appeared free from those blemishes which sometimes
mar the effect of an otherwise perfect form. But their
physical excellence did not merely consist in an exemption from
these evils; nearly every individual of their number might have
been taken for a sculptor's model.

When I remembered that these islanders derived no advantage

[figure description] Page 231.[end figure description]

from dress, but appeared in all the naked simplicity of nature, I
could not avoid comparing them with the fine gentlemen and
dandies who promenade such unexceptionable figures in our frequented
thoroughfares. Stripped of the cunning artifices of the
tailor, and standing forth in the garb of Eden,—what a sorry set
of round-shouldered, spindle-shanked, crane-necked varlets would
civilized men appear! Stuffed calves, padded breasts, and scientifically
cut pantaloons would then avail them nothing, and the
effect would be truly deplorable.

Nothing in the appearance of the islanders struck me more
forcibly than the whiteness of their teeth. The novelist always
compares the masticators of his heroine to ivory; but I boldly
pronounce the teeth of the Typees to be far more beautiful than
ivory itself. The jaws of the oldest greybeards among them
were much better garnished than those of most of the youths of
civilized countries; while the teeth of the young and middleaged,
in their purity and whiteness, were actually dazzling to
the eye. This marvellous whiteness of the teeth is to be ascribed
to the pure vegetable diet of these people, and the uninterrupted
healthfulness of their natural mode of life.

The men, in almost every instance, are of lofty stature, scarcely
ever less than six feet in height, while the other sex are uncommonly
diminutive. The early period of life at which the human
form arrives at maturity in this generous tropical climate, likewise
deserves to be mentioned. A little creature, not more than
thirteen years of age, and who in other particulars might be
regarded as a mere child, is often seen nursing her own baby;
whilst lads who, under less ripening skies, would be still at school,
are here responsible fathers of families.

On first entering the Typee Valley, I had been struck with the
marked contrast presented by its inhabitants with those of the bay
I had previously left. In the latter place, I had not been favorably
impressed with the personal appearance of the male portion

[figure description] Page 232.[end figure description]

of the population; although with the females, excepting in some
truly melancholy instances, I had been wonderfully pleased. I
had observed that even the little intercourse Europeans had carried
on with the Nukuheva natives had not failed to leave its
traces amongst them. One of the most dreadful curses under
which humanity labors had commenced its havocs, and betrayed,
as it ever does among the South Sea islanders, the most aggravated
symptoms. From this, as from all other foreign inflictions,
the yet uncontaminated tenants of the Typee Valley were
wholly exempt; and long may they continue so. Better it will
be for them for ever to remain the happy and innocent heathens
and barbarians that they now are, than, like the wretched inhabitants
of the Sandwich Islands, to enjoy the mere name of Christians
without experiencing any of the vital operations of true
religion, whilst, at the same time, they are made the victims of
the worst vices and evils of civilized life.

Apart, however, from these considerations, I am inclined to
believe that there exists a radical difference between the two
tribes, if indeed they are not distinct races of men. To those
who have merely touched at Nukuheva Bay, without visiting
other portions of the island, it would hardly appear credible the
diversities presented between the various small clans inhabiting
so diminutive a spot. But the hereditary hostility which has
existed between them for ages, fully accounts for this.

Not so easy, however, is it to assign an adequate cause for the
endless variety of complexions to be seen in the Typee Valley.
During the festival, I had noticed several young females whose
skins were almost as white as any Saxon damsels; a slight dash
of the mantling brown being all that marked the difference.
This comparative fairness of complexion, though in a great degree
perfectly natural, is partly the result of an artificial process,
and of an entire exclusion from the sun. The juice of the
“papa” root, found in great abundance at the head of the valley,

[figure description] Page 233.[end figure description]

is held in great esteem as a cosmetic, with which many of the
females daily anoint their whole person. The habitual use of
it whitens and beautifies the skin. Those of the young girls
who resort to this method of heightening their charms, never
expose themselves to the rays of the sun; an observance, however,
that produces little or no inconvenience, since there are
but few of the inhabited portions of the vale which are not
shaded over with a spreading canopy of boughs, so that one
may journey from house to house, scarcely deviating from the
direct course, and yet never once see his shadow cast upon the
ground.

The “papa,” when used, is suffered to remain upon the skin
for several hours; being of a light green color, it consequently
imparts for the time a similar hue to the complexion.
Nothing, therefore, can be imagined more singular than the appearance
of these nearly naked damsels immediately after the
application of the cosmetic. To look at one of them you would
almost suppose she was some vegetable in an unripe state; and
that, instead of living in the shade for ever, she ought to be
placed out in the sun to ripen.

All the islanders are more or less in the habit of anointing
themselves; the women preferring the “aker” or “papa,” and
the men using the oil of the cocoa-nut. Mehevi was remarkably
fond of mollifying his entire cuticle with this ointment. Sometimes
he might be seen with his whole body fairly reeking with
the perfumed oil of the nut, looking as if he had just emerged
from a soap-boiler's vat, or had undergone the process of dipping
in a tallow-chandlery. To this cause perhaps, united to their
frequent bathing and extreme cleanliness, is ascribable, in a great
measure, the marvellous purity and smoothness of skin exhibited
by the natives in general.

The prevailing tint among the women of the valley was a
light olive, and of this style of complexion Fayaway afforded

[figure description] Page 234.[end figure description]

the most beautiful example. Others were still darker, while
not a few were of a genuine golden color, and some of a swarthy
hue.

As agreeing with much previously mentioned in this narrative,
I may here observe, that Mendanna, their discoverer, in his account
of the Marquesas, described the natives as wondrously
beautiful to behold, and as nearly resembling the people of southern
Europe. The first of these islands seen by Mendanna was La
Madelena, which is not far distant from Nukuheva; and its inhabitants
in every respect resemble those dwelling on that and
the other islands of the group. Figneroa, the chronicler of Mendanna's
voyage, says, that on the morning the land was descried,
when the Spaniards drew near the shore, there sallied forth, in
rude procession, about seventy canoes, and at the same time
many of the inhabitants (females I presume) made towards the
ships by swimming. He adds, that “in complexion they were
nearly white; of good stature, and finely formed; and on their
faces and bodies were delineated representations of fishes and
other devices.” The old Don then goes on to say, “There came,
among others, two lads paddling their canoe, whose eyes were
fixed on the ship; they had beautiful faces and the most promising
animation of countenance; and were in all things so becoming,
that the pilot-mayor Quiros affirmed, nothing in his life ever
caused him so much regret as the leaving such fine creatures to
be lost in that country.”[4] More than two hundred years have
gone by since the passage of which the above is a translation
was written; and it appears to me now, as I read it, as fresh

[figure description] Page 235.[end figure description]

and true as if written but yesterday. The islanders are still the
same; and I have seen boys in the Typee Valley of whose
“beautiful faces and promising animation of countenance” no
one who has not beheld them can form any adequate idea. Cook,
in the account of his voyages, pronounces the Marquesans as by
far the most splendid islanders in the South Seas. Stewart, the
chaplain of the U. S. ship Vincennes, in his “Scenes in the
South Seas,” expresses, in more than one place, his amazement
at the surpassing loveliness of the women; and says that many
of the Nukuheva damsels reminded him forcibly of the most
celebrated beauties in his own land. Fanning, a Yankee mariner
of some reputation, likewise records his lively impressions of
the physical appearance of these people; and Commodore David
Porter of the U. S. frigate Essex, is said to have been vastly
smitten by the beauty of the ladies. Their great superiority
oyer all other Polynesians cannot fail to attract the notice of those
who visit the principal groups in the Pacific. The voluptuous
Tahitians are the only people who at all deserve to be compared
with them; while the dark-hued Hawiians and the woolly-headed
Feegees are immeasurably inferior to them. The distinguishing
characteristic of the Marquesan islanders, and that which at
once strikes you, is the European cast of their features—a peculiarity
seldom observable among other uncivilized people. Many
of their faces present a profile classically beautiful, and in the
valley of Typee I saw several who, like the stranger Marnoo,
were in every respect models of beauty.

Some of the natives present at the Feast of Calibashes had
displayed a few articles of European dress; disposed, however,
about their persons after their own peculiar fashion. Among
these I perceived the two pieces of cotton-cloth which poor Toby
and myself had bestowed upon our youthful guides the afternoon
we entered the valley. They were evidently reserved for gala
days; and during those of the festival they rendered the young

[figure description] Page 236.[end figure description]

islanders who wore them very distinguished characters. The
small number who were similarly adorned, and the great value
they appeared to place upon the most common and most trivial
articles, furnished ample evidence of the very restricted intercourse
they held with vessels touching at the island. A few cotton
handkerchiefs, of a gay pattern, tied about the neck, and suffered
to fall over the shoulders; strips of fanciful calico, swathed
about the loins, were nearly all I saw.

Indeed, throughout the valley, there were few things of any
kind to be seen of European origin. All I ever saw, besides the
articles just alluded to, were the six muskets preserved in the
Ti, and three or four similar implements of warfare hung up
in other houses; some small canvas bags, partly filled with bullets
and powder, and half a dozen old hatchet-heads, with the
edges blunted and battered to such a degree as to render them
utterly worthless. These last seemed to be regarded as nearly
worthless by the natives; and several times they held up one of
them before me, and throwing it aside with a gesture of disgust,
manifested their contempt for anything that could so soon become
unserviceable.

But the muskets, the powder, and the bullets were held in
most extravagant esteem. The former, from their great age and
the peculiarities they exhibited, were well worthy a place in any
antiquarian's armory. I remember in particular one that hung
in the Ti, and which Mehevi—supposing as a matter of course
that I was able to repair it—had put into my hands for that purpose.
It was one of those clumsy, old-fashioned, English pieces
known generally as Tower Hill muskets, and, for aught I know,
might have been left on the island by Wallace, Carteret, Cook,
or Vancouver. The stock was half rotten and worm-eaten; the
lock was as rusty and about as well adapted to its ostensible purpose
as an old door-hinge; the threading of the screws about the
trigger was completely worn away; while the barrel shook in

[figure description] Page 237.[end figure description]

the wood. Such was the weapon the chief desired me to restore
to its original condition. As I did not possess the accomplishments
of a gunsmith, and was likewise destitute of the necessary
tools, I was reluctantly obliged to signify my inability to perform
the task. At this unexpected communication Mehevi regarded
me, for a moment, as if he half suspected I was some inferior
sort of white man, who after all did not know much more than a
Typee. However, after a most labored explanation of the matter,
I succeeded in making him understand the extreme difficulty
of the task. Scarcely satisfied with my apologies, however, he
marched off with the superannuated musket in something of a
huff, as if he would no longer expose it to the indignity of being
manipulated by such unskilful fingers.

During the festival I had not failed to remark the simplicity
of manner, the freedom from all restraint, and, to a certain degree,
the equality of condition manifested by the natives in
general. No one appeared to assume any arrogant pretensions.
There was little more than a slight difference in costume to distinguish
the chiefs from the other natives. All appeared to mix
together freely, and without any reserve; although I noticed
that the wishes of a chief, even when delivered in the mildest
tone, received the same immediate obedience which elsewhere
would have been only accorded to a peremptory command.
What may be the extent of the authority of the chiefs over the
rest of the tribe, I will not venture to assert; but from all I saw
during my stay in the valley, I was induced to believe that in
matters concerning the general welfare it was very limited.
The required degree of deference towards them, however, was
willingly and cheerfully yielded; and as all authority is transmitted
from father to son, I have no doubt that one of the effects
here, as elsewhere, of high birth, is to induce respect and
obedience.

The civil institutions of the Marquesas Islands appear to be

[figure description] Page 238.[end figure description]

in this, as in other respects, directly the reverse of those of the
Tahitian and Hawiian groups, where the original power of the
king and chiefs was far more despotic than that of any tyrant in
civilized countries. At Tahiti it used to be death for one of the
inferior orders to approach, without permission, under the shadow
of the king's house; or to fail in paying the customary reverence
when food destined for the king was borne past them by his messengers.
At the Sandwich Islands, Kaahumanu, the gigantic
old dowager queen—a woman of nearly four hundred pounds
weight, and who is said to be still living at Mowee—was accustomed,
in some of her terrific gusts of temper, to snatch up an
ordinary sized man who had offended her, and snap his spine
across her knee. Incredible as this may seem, it is a fact.
While at Lahainaluna—the residence of this monstrous Jezebel—
a humpbacked wretch was pointed out to me, who, some twenty-five
years previously, had had the vertebræ of his back-bone
very seriously discomposed by his gentle mistress.

The particular grades of rank existing among the chiefs of
Typee, I could not in all cases determine. Previous to the Feast
of Calabashes I had been puzzled what particular station to assign
to Mehevi. But the important part he took upon that occasion
convinced me that he had no superior among the inhabitants of
the valley. I had invariably noticed a certain degree of deference
paid to him by all with whom I had ever seen him brought in
contact; but when I remembered that my wanderings had been
confined to a limited portion of the valley, and that towards the
sea a number of distinguished chiefs resided, some of whom had
separately visited me at Marheyo's house, and whom, until the
Festival, I had never seen in the company of Mehevi, I felt disposed
to believe that his rank after all might not be particularly
elevated.

The revels, however, had brought together all the warriors
whom I had seen individually and in groups at different times

[figure description] Page 239.[end figure description]

and places. Among them Mehevi moved with an easy air of
superiority which was not to be mistaken; and he whom I had
only looked at as the hospitable host of the Ti, and one of the
military leaders of the tribe, now assumed in my eyes the dignity
of royal station. His striking costume, no less than his naturally
commanding figure, seemed indeed to give him pre-eminence over
the rest. The towering helmet of feathers that he wore raised
him in height above all who surrounded him; and though some
others were similarly adorned, the length and luxuriance of their
plumes were far inferior to his.

Mehevi was in fact the greatest of the chiefs—the head of his
clan—the sovereign of the valley; and the simplicity of the social
institutions of the people could not have been more completely
proved than by the fact, that after having been several weeks in
the valley, and almost in daily intercourse with Mehevi, I should
have remained until the time of the festival ignorant of his regal
character. But a new light had now broken in upon me. The
Ti was the palace—and Mehevi the king. Both the one and the
other of a most simple and patriarchal nature it must be allowed,
and wholly unattended by the ceremonious pomp which usually
surrounds the purple.

After having made this discovery I could not avoid congratulating
myself that Mehevi had from the first taken me as it were
under his royal protection, and that he still continued to entertain
for me the warmest regard, as far at least as I was enabled to
judge from appearances. For the future I determined to pay
most assiduous court to him, hoping that eventually through his
kindness I might obtain my liberty.

eaf273v2.n4

[4] This passage, which is cited as an almost literal translation from the
original, I found in a small volume entitled “Circumnavigation of the
Globe,” in which volume are several extracts from “Dalrymple's Historical
Collections.” The last-mentioned work I have never seen, but it is said to
contain a very correct English version of great part of the learned Doctor
Christoval Suaverde de Figneroa's History of Mendanna's Voyage, published
at Madrid, A.D. 1613

CHAPTER XXVI.

King Mehevi—Allusion to his Hawiian Majesty—Conduct of Marheyo and
Mehevi in certain delicate matters—Peculiar system of Marriage—Number
of Population—Uniformity—Embalming—Places of Sepulture—
Funeral obsequies at Nukuheva—Number of Inhabitants in Typee—Location
of the Dwellings—Happiness enjoyed in the Valley—A Warning—
Some ideas with regard to the Civilisation of the Islands—Reference to
the present state of the Hawiians—Story of a Missionary's Wife—Fashionable
Equipages at Oahu—Reflections.

[figure description] Page 240.[end figure description]

King Mehevi!—A goodly sounding title!—and why should I not
bestow it upon the foremost man in the valley of Typee? The
republican missionaries of Oahu cause to be gazetted in the
Court Journal, published at Honolula, the most trivial movement
of “his gracious majesty” King Kammehammaha III.,
and “their highnesses the princes of the blood royal.”[5]—And

[figure description] Page 241.[end figure description]

who is his “gracious majesty,” and what the quality of this
“blood royal?”—His “gracious majesty” is a fat, lazy, negrolooking
blockhead, with as little character as power. He has
lost the noble traits of the barbarian, without acquiring the
redeeming graces of a civilized being; and, although a member
of the Hawiian Temperance Society, is a most inveterate dramdrinker.

The “blood royal” is an extremely thick, depraved fluid;
formed principally of raw fish, bad brandy, and European sweetmeats,
and is charged with a variety of eruptive humors, which
are developed in sundry blotches and pimples upon the august
face of “majesty itself,” and the angelic countenances of the
“princes and princesses of the blood-royal!”

Now, if the farcical puppet of a chief magistrate in the Sandwich
Islands be allowed the title of King, why should it be withheld
from the noble savage Mehevi, who is a thousand times
more worthy of the appellation? All hail, therefore, Mehevi,
King of the Cannibal Valley, and long life and prosperity to his
Typeean majesty! May Heaven for many a year preserve him,
the uncompromising foe of Nukuheva and the French, if a hostile
attitude will secure his lovely domain from the remorseless inflictions
of South Sea civilisation.

Previously to seeing the Dancing Widows I had little idea
that there were any matrimonial relations subsisting in Typee,
and I should as soon have thought of a Platonic affection being
cultivated between the sexes, as of the solemn connexion of man
and wife. To be sure, there were old Marheyo and Tinor, who
seemed to have a sort of nuptial understanding with one another;
but for all that, I had sometimes observed a comical-looking old
gentleman dressed in a suit of shabby tattooing, who had the

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audacity to take various liberties with the lady, and that too in
the very presence of the old warrior her husband, who looked on
as good-naturedly as if nothing was happening. This behavior,
until subsequent discoveries enlightened me, puzzled me more
than anything else I witnessed in Typee.

As for Mehevi, I had supposed him a confirmed bachelor, as
well as most of the principal chiefs. At any rate, if they had
wives and families, they ought to have been ashamed of themselves;
for sure I am, they never troubled themselves about any
domestic affairs. In truth, Mehevi seemed to be the president
of a club of hearty fellows, who kept “Bachelor's Hall” in fine
style at the Ti. I had no doubt but that they regarded children
as odious incumbrances; and their ideas of domestic felicity were
sufficiently shown in the fact, that they allowed no meddlesome
housekeepers to turn topsy-turvy those snug little arrangements
they had made in their comfortable dwelling. I strongly suspected,
however, that some of these jolly bachelors were carrying
on love intrigues with the maidens of the tribe; although they
did not appear publicly to acknowledge them. I happened to
pop upon Mehevi three or four times when he was romping—in a
most undignified manner for a warrior king—with one of the
prettiest little witches in the valley. She lived with an old
woman and a young man, in a house near Marheyo's; and although
in appearance a mere child herself, had a noble boy about
a year old, who bore a marvellous resemblance to Mehevi, whom
I should certainly have believed to have been the father, were it
not that the little fellow had no triangle on his face—but on
second thoughts, tattooing is not hereditary. Mehevi, however,
was not the only person upon whom the damsel Moonoony smiled—
the young fellow of fifteen, who permanently resided in the
house with her, was decidedly in her good graces. I sometimes
beheld both him and the chief making love at the same time. Is
it possible, thought I, that the valiant warrior can consent to give

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up a corner in the thing he loves? This too was a mystery
which, with others of the same kind, was afterwards satisfactorily
explained.

During the second day of the Feast of Calabashes, Kory-Kory—
being determined that I should have some understanding on
these matters—had, in the course of his explanations, directed
my attention to a peculiarity I had frequently remarked among
many of the females;—principally those of a mature age and
rather matronly appearance. This consisted in having the right
hand and the left foot most elaborately tattooed; while the rest
of the body was wholly free from the operation of the art, with
the exception of the minutely dotted lips and slight marks on the
shoulders, to which I have previously referred as comprising the
sole tattooing exhibited by Fayaway, in common with other young
girls of her age. The hand and foot thus embellished were, according
to Kory-Kory, the distinguishing badge of wedlock, so far
as that social and highly commendable institution is known among
these people. It answers, indeed, the same purpose as the plain
gold ring worn by our fairer spouses.

After Kory-Kory's explanation of the subject, I was for some
time studiously respectful in the presence of all females thus distinguished,
and never ventured to indulge in the slightest approach
to flirtation with any of their number. Married women, to be
sure!—I knew better than to offend them.

A further insight, however, into the peculiar domestic customs
of the inmates of the valley did away in a measure with the
severity of my scruples, and convinced me that I was deceived
in some at least of my conclusions. A regular system of polygamy
exists among the islanders; but of a most extraordinary
nature,—a plurality of husbands, instead of wives; and this solitary
fact speaks volumes for the gentle disposition of the male
population. Where else, indeed, could such a practice exist, even
for a single day?—Imagine a revolution brought about in a

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Turkish seraglio, and the harem rendered the abode of bearded
men; or conceive some beautiful woman in our own country running
distracted at the sight of her numerous lovers murdering one
another before her eyes, out of jealousy for the unequal distribution
of her favors!—Heaven defend us from such a state of
things!—We are scarcely amiable and forbearing enough to submit
to it.

I was not able to learn what particular ceremony was observed
in forming the marriage contract, but am inclined to think that
it must have been of a very simple nature. Perhaps the mere
“popping the question,” as it is termed with us, might have been
followed by an immediate nuptial alliance. At any rate, I have
more than one reason to believe that tedious courtships are unknown
in the valley of Typee.

The males considerably outnumber the females. This holds
true of many of the islands of Polynesia, although the reverse of
what is the case in most civilized countries. The girls are first
wooed and won, at a very tender age, by some stripling in the
household in which they reside. This, however, is a mere frolic
of the affections, and no formal engagement is contracted. By
the time this first love has a little subsided, a second suitor presents
himself, of graver years, and carries both boy and girl away
to his own habitation. This disinterested and generous-hearted
fellow now weds the young couple—marrying damsel and lover
at the same time—and all three thenceforth live together as
harmoniously as so many turtles. I have heard of some men
who in civilized countries rashly marry large families with their
wives, but had no idea that there was any place where people married
supplementary husbands with them. Infidelity on either
side is very rare. No man has more than one wife, and no wife
of mature years has less than two husbands,—sometimes she has
three, but such instances are not frequent. The marriage tie,
whatever it may be, does not appear to be indissoluble; for

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separations occasionally happen. These, however, when they do
take place, produce no unhappiness, and are preceded by no
bickerings; for the simple reason, that an ill-used wife or a henpecked
husband is not obliged to file a bill in Chancery to obtain
a divorce. As nothing stands in the way of a separation, the
matrimonial yoke sits easily and lightly, and a Typee wife lives
on very pleasant and sociable terms with her husbands. On the
whole, wedlock, as known among these Typees, seems to be of
a more distinct and enduring nature than is usually the case with
barbarous people. A baneful promiscuous intercourse of the sexes
is hereby avoided, and virtue, without being clamorously invoked,
is, as it were, unconsciously practised.

The contrast exhibited between the Marquesas and other
islands of the Pacific in this respect, is worthy of being
noticed. At Tahiti the marriage tie was altogether unknown;
and the relation of husband and wife, father and son, could
hardly be said to exist. The Arreory Society—one of the most
singular institutions that ever existed in any part of the world—
spread universal licentiousness over the island. It was the voluptuous
character of these people which rendered the disease introduced
among them by De Bougainville's ships, in 1768, doubly
destructive. It visited them like a plague, sweeping them off by
hundreds.

Notwithstanding the existence of wedlock among the Typees,
the Scriptural injunction to increase and multiply seems to be
but indifferently attended to. I never saw any of those large
families in arithmetical or step-ladder progression which one often
meets with at home. I never knew of more than two youngsters
living together in the same home, and but seldom even that number.
As for the women, it was very plain that the anxieties of
the nursery but seldom disturbed the serenity of their souls; and
they were never seen going about the valley with half a score of

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little ones tagging at their apronstrings, or rather at the breadfruit-leaf
they usually wore in the rear.

The ratio of increase among all the Polynesian nations is
very small; and in some places as yet uncorrupted by intercourse
with Europeans, the births would appear but very little
to outnumber the deaths; the population in such instances remaining
nearly the same for several successive generations, even
upon those islands seldom or never desolated by wars, and among
people with whom the crime of infanticide is altogether unknown.
This would seem expressly ordained by Providence to
prevent the overstocking of the islands with a race too indolent
to cultivate the ground, and who, for that reason alone, would,
by any considerable increase in their numbers, be exposed to the
most deplorable misery. During the entire period of my stay in
the valley of Typee, I never saw more than ten or twelve children
under the age of six months, and only became aware of two
births.

It is to the looseness of the marriage tie that the late rapid
decrease of the population of the Sandwich Islands and of Tahiti
is in part to be ascribed. The vices and diseases introduced
among these unhappy people annually swell the ordinary mortality
of the islands, while, from the same cause, the originally small
number of births is proportionally decreased. Thus the progress
of the Hawiians and Tahitians to utter extinction is accelerated
in a sort of compound ratio.

I have before had occasion to remark that I never saw any of
the ordinary signs of a place of sepulture in the valley, a circumstance
which I attributed, at the time, to my living in a particular
part of it, and being forbidden to extend my ramble to any
considerable distance towards the sea. I have since thought it
probable, however, that the Typees, either desirous of removing
from their sight the evidences of mortality, or prompted by a taste
for rural beauty, may have some charming cemetery situated in

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the shadowy recesses along the base of the mountains. At
Nukuheva, two or three large quadrangular “pi-pis,” heavily
flagged, enclosed with regular stone walls, and shaded over and
almost hidden from view by the interlacing branches of enormous
trees, were pointed out to me as burial-places. The bodies, I
understood, were deposited in rude vaults beneath the flagging,
and were suffered to remain there without being disinterred.
Although nothing could be more strange and gloomy than the
aspect of these places, where the lofty trees threw their dark
shadows over rude blocks of stone, a stranger looking at them
would have discerned none of the ordinary evidences of a place
of sepulture.

During my stay in the valley, as none of its inmates were so
accommodating as to die and be buried in order to gratify my
curiosity with regard to their funeral rites, I was reluctantly
obliged to remain in ignorance of them. As I have reason to
believe, however, that the observances of the Typees in these
matters are the same with those of all the other tribes on the
island, I will here relate a scene I chanced to witness at
Nukuheva.

A young man had died, about daybreak, in a house near the
beach. I had been sent ashore that morning, and saw a good
deal of the preparations they were making for his obsequies.
The body, neatly wrapped in new white tappa, was laid out in
an open shed of cocoa-nut boughs, upon a bier constructed of
elastic bamboos ingeniously twisted together. This was supported,
about two feet from the ground, by large canes planted
uprightly in the earth. Two females, of a dejected appearance,
watched by its side, plaintively chanting and beating the air with
large grass fans whitened with pipe-clay. In the dwelling-house
adjoining a numerous company were assembled, and various articles
of food were being prepared for consumption. Two or three individuals,
distinguished by head-dresses of beautiful tappa, and

[figure description] Page 248.[end figure description]

wearing a great number of ornaments, appeared to officiate as
masters of the ceremonies. By noon the entertainment had fairly
begun, and we were told that it would last during the whole of
the two following days. With the exception of those who mourned
by the corpse, every one seemed disposed to drown the sense of
the late bereavement in convivial indulgence. The girls, decked
out in their savage finery, danced; the old men chanted; the
warriors smoked and chatted; and the young and lusty, of both
sexes, feasted plentifully, and seemed to enjoy themselves as pleasantly
as they could have done had it been a wedding.

The islanders understand the art of embalming, and practise
it with such success, that the bodies of their great chiefs are frequently
preserved for many years in the very houses where they
died. I saw three of these in my visit to the Bay of Tior. One
was enveloped in immense folds of tappa, with only the face exposed,
and hung erect against the side of the dwelling. The others
were stretched out upon biers of bamboo, in open, elevated temples,
which seemed consecrated to their memory. The heads of enemies
killed in battle are invariably preserved and hung up as trophies
in the house of the conqueror. I am not acquainted with the
process which is in use, but believe that fumigation is the principal
agency employed. All the remains which I saw presented the
appearance of a ham after being suspended for some time in a
smoky chimney.

But to return from the dead to the living. The late festival
had drawn together, as I had every reason to believe, the whole
population of the vale, and consequently I was enabled to make
some estimate with regard to its numbers. I should imagine
that there were about two thousand inhabitants in Typee; and
no number could have been better adapted to the extent of the
valley. The valley is some nine miles in length, and may average
one in breadth; the houses being distributed at wide intervals
throughout its whole extent, principally, however, towards the

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head of the vale. There are no villages: the houses stand here
and there in the shadow of the groves, or are scattered along
the banks of the winding stream; their golden-hued bamboo
sides and gleaming white thatch forming a beautiful contrast to
the perpetual verdure in which they are embowered. There
are no roads of any kind in the valley. Nothing but a labyrinth
of foot-paths twisting and turning among the thickets without
end.

The penalty of the Fall presses very lightly upon the valley of
Typee; for, with the one solitary exception of striking a light, I
scarcely saw any piece of work performed there which caused the
sweat to stand upon a single brow. As for digging and delving for a
livelihood, the thing is altogether unknown. Nature has planted
the bread-fruit and the banana, and in her own good time she brings
them to maturity, when the idle savage stretches forth his hand,
and satisfies his appetite.

Ill-fated people! I shudder when I think of the change a few
years will produce in their paradisaical abode; and probably when
the most destructive vices, and the worst attendances on civilisation,
shall have driven all peace and happiness from the valley,
the magnanimous French will proclaim to the world that the
Marquesas Islands have been converted to Christianity! and this
the Catholic world will doubtless consider as a glorious event.
Heaven help the “Isles of the Sea!”—The sympathy which
Christendom feels for them, has, alas! in too many instances proved
their bane.

How little do some of these poor islanders comprehend when
they look around them, that no inconsiderable part of their disasters
originates in certain tea-party excitements, under the influence
of which benevolent-looking gentlemen in white cravats
solicit alms, and old ladies in spectacles, and young ladies in
sober russet gowns, contribute sixpences towards the creation of a
fund, the object of which is to ameliorate the spiritual condition

[figure description] Page 250.[end figure description]

of the Polynesians, but whose end has almost invariably been to
accomplish their temporal destruction!

Let the savages be civilized, but civilize them with benefits,
and not with evils; and let heathenism be destroyed, but not by
destroying the heathen. The Anglo-Saxon hive have extirpated
Paganism from the greater part of the North American continent;
but with it they have likewise extirpated the greater portion of the
Red race. Civilisation is gradually sweeping from the earth the
lingering vestiges of Paganism, and at the same time the shrinking
forms of its unhappy worshippers.

Among the islands of Polynesia, no sooner are the images
overturned, the temples demolished, and the idolators converted
into nominal Christians, than disease, vice, and premature death
make their appearance. The depopulated land is then recruited
from the rapacious hordes of enlightened individuals who settle
themselves within its borders, and clamorously announce the
progress of the Truth. Neat villas, trim gardens, shaven lawns,
spires, and cupolas arise, while the poor savage soon finds himself
an interloper in the country of his fathers, and that too on the
very site of the hut where he was born. The spontaneous fruits
of the earth, which God in his wisdom had ordained for the support
of the indolent natives, remorselessly seized upon and appropriated
by the stranger, are devoured before the eyes of the starving inhabitants,
or sent on board the numerous vessels which now touch
at their shores.

When the famished wretches are cut off in this manner from
their natural supplies, they are told by their benefactors to work
and earn their support by the sweat of their brows! But to no
fine gentleman born to hereditary opulence does this manual labor
come more unkindly than to the luxurious Indian when thus robbed
of the bounty of heaven. Habituated to a life of indolence, he
cannot and will not exert himself; and want, disease, and vice, all
evils of foreign growth, soon terminate his miserable existence.

[figure description] Page 251.[end figure description]

But what matters all this? Behold the glorious result!—The
abominations of Paganism have given way to the pure rites of
the Christian worship,—the ignorant savage has been supplanted
by the refined European! Look at Honolulu, the metropolis of
the Sandwich Islands!—A community of disinterested merchants,
and devoted self-exiled heralds of the Cross, located on the very
spot that twenty years ago was defiled by the presence of idolatry.
What a subject for an eloquent Bible-meeting orator! Nor has
such an opportunity for a display of missionary rhetoric been
allowed to pass by unimproved!—But when these philanthropists
send us such glowing accounts of one half of their labors, why
does their modesty restrain them from publishing the other half
of the good they have wrought?—Not until I visited Honolulu
was I aware of the fact that the small remnant of the natives had
been civilized into draught-horses, and evangelized into beasts of
burden. But so it is. They have been literally broken into the
traces, and are harnessed to the vehicles of their spiritual instructors
like so many dumb brutes!

Among a multitude of similar exhibitions that I saw, I shall
never forget a robust, red-faced, and very lady-like personage, a
missionary's spouse, who day after day for months together took
her regular airings in a little go-cart drawn by two of the
islanders, one an old grey-headed man, and the other a rogueish
stripling, both being, with the exception of the fig-leaf, as naked
as when they were born. Over a level piece of ground this pair
of draught bipeds would go with a shambling, unsightly trot, the
youngster hanging back all the time like a knowing horse, while
the old hack plodded on and did all the work.

Rattling along through the streets of the town in this stylish
equipage, the lady looks about her as magnificently as any queen
driven in state to her coronation. A sudden elevation, and a
sandy road, however, soon disturb her serenity. The small
wheels become embedded in the loose soil,—the old stager stands

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tugging and sweating, while the young one frisks about and does
nothing; not an inch does the chariot budge. Will the tenderhearted
lady, who has left friends and home for the good of the
souls of the poor heathen, will she think a little about their
bodies and get out, and ease the wretched old man until the
ascent is mounted? Not she; she could not dream of it. To
be sure, she used to think nothing of driving the cows to pasture
on the old farm in New England; but times have changed since
then. So she retains her seat and bawls out, “Hookee! hookee!”
(pull, pull.) The old gentleman, frightened at the sound, labors
away harder than ever; and the younger one makes a great show
of straining himself, but takes care to keep one eye on his mistress,
in order to know when to dodge out of harm's way. At
last the good lady loses all patience; “Hookee! hookee!” and
rap goes the heavy handle of her huge fan over the naked skull
of the old savage; while the young one shies to one side and
keeps beyond its range. “Hookee! hookee!” again she cries—
“Hookee tata kannaka!” (pull strong, men,)—but all in vain,
and she is obliged in the end to dismount, and, sad necessity,
actually to walk to the top of the hill.

At the town where this paragon of humility resides, is a
spacious and elegant American chapel, where divine service is
regularly performed. Twice every Sabbath towards the close of
the exercises may be seen a score or two of little wagons ranged
along the railing in front of the edifice, with two squalid native
footmen in the livery of nakedness standing by each, and waiting
for the dismissal of the congregation to draw their superiors
home.

Lest the slightest misconception should arise from anything
thrown out in this chapter, or indeed in any other part of the
volume, let me here observe, that against the cause of missions in
the abstract no Christian can possibly be opposed: it is in truth a
just and holy cause. But if the great end proposed by it be

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spiritual, the agency employed to accomplish that end is purely
earthly; and, although the object in view be the achievement of
much good, that agency may nevertheless be productive of evil.
In short, missionary undertaking, however it may be blessed of
Heaven, is in itself but human; and subject, like everything else,
to errors and abuses. And have not errors and abuses crept into
the most sacred places, and may there not be unworthy or incapable
missionaries abroad, as well as ecclesiastics of a similar character
at home? May not the unworthiness or incapacity of those who
assume apostolic functions upon the remote islands of the sea more
easily escape detection by the world at large than if it were displayed
in the heart of a city? An unwarranted confidence in the
sanctity of its apostles—a proneness to regard them as incapable
of guile—and an impatience of the least suspicion as to their
rectitude as men or Christians, have ever been prevailing faults
in the Church. Nor is this to be wondered at: for subject as
Christianity is to the assaults of unprincipled foes, we are naturally
disposed to regard everything like an exposure of ecclesiastical
misconduct as the offspring of malevolence or irreligious feeling.
Not even this last consideration, however, shall deter me from the
honest expression of my sentiments.

There is something apparently wrong in the practical operations
of the Sandwich Islands Mission. Those who from pure religious
motives contribute to the support of this enterprise, should take
care to ascertain that their donations, flowing through many devious
channels, at last effect their legitimate object, the conversion of
the Hawiians. I urge this, not because I doubt the moral probity
of those who disburse these funds, but because I know that they
are not rightly applied. To read pathetic accounts of missionary
hardships, and glowing descriptions of conversions, and baptisms
taking place beneath palm-trees, is one thing; and to go to the
Sandwich Islands and see the missionaries dwelling in picturesque
and prettily-furnished coral-rock villas, whilst the miserable

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natives are committing all sorts of immorality around them, is
quite another.

In justice to the missionaries, however, I will willingly admit,
that whatever evils may have resulted from their collective mismanagement
of the business of the mission, and from the want of
vital piety evinced by some of their number, still the present deplorable
condition of the Sandwich Islands is by no means wholly
chargeable against them. The demoralizing influence of a dissolute
foreign population, and the frequent visits of all descriptions
of vessels, have tended not a little to increase the evils alluded to.
In a word, here, as in every case where civilisation has in any way
been introduced among those whom we call savages, she has
scattered her vices, and withheld her blessings.

As wise a man as Shakspeare has said, that the bearer of evil
tidings hath but a losing office; and so I suppose will it prove
with me, in communicating to the trusting friends of the Hawiian
Mission what has been disclosed in various portions of this narrative.
I am persuaded, however, that as these disclosures will by
their very nature attract attention, so they will lead to something
which will not be without ultimate benefit to the cause of Christianity
in the Sandwich Islands.

I have but one thing more to add in connection with this subject—
those things which I have stated as facts will remain facts,
in spite of whatever the bigoted or incredulous may say or write
against them. My reflections, however, on those facts may not
be free from error. If such be the case, I claim no further indulgence
than should be conceded to every man whose object is to
do good.

eaf273v2.n5

[5] Accounts like these are sometimes copied into English and American
journals. They lead the reader to infer that the arts and customs of civilized
life are rapidly refining the natives of the Sandwich Islands. But let
no one be deceived by these accounts. The chiefs swagger about in gold
lace and broadcloth, while the great mass of the common people are nearly
as primitive in their appearance as in the days of Cook. In the progress
of events at these islands, the two classes are receding from each other:
the chiefs are daily becoming more luxurious and extravagant in their style
of living, and the common people more and more destitute of the necessaries
and decencies of life. But the end to which both will arrive at last
will be the same: the one are fast destroying themselves by sensual indulgences,
and the other are fast being destroyed by a complication of disorders,
and the want of wholesome food. The resources of the domineering
chiefs are wrung from the starving serfs, and every additional bauble with
which they bedeck themselves is purchased by the sufferings of their bondsmen;
so that the measure of gew-gaw refinement attained by the chiefs is
only an index to the actual state of degradation in which the greater portion
of the population lie grovelling

CHAPTER XXVII.

The Social Condition and general Character of the Typees.

[figure description] Page 255.[end figure description]

I have already mentioned that the influence exerted over the
people of the valley by their chiefs was mild in the extreme; and
as to any general rule or standard of conduct by which the commonalty
were governed in their intercourse with each other, so
far as my observation extended, I should be almost tempted to say,
that none existed on the island, except, indeed, the mysterious
“Taboo” be considered as such. During the time I lived among
the Typees, no one was ever put upon his trial for any offence
against the public. To all appearance there were no courts of
law or equity. There was no municipal police for the purpose
of apprehending vagrants and disorderly characters. In short,
there were no legal provisions whatever for the well-being and
conservation of society, the enlightened end of civilized legislation.
And yet everything went on in the valley with a harmony and
smoothness unparalleled, I will venture to assert, in the most
select, refined, and pious associations of mortals in Christendom.
How are we to explain this enigma? These islanders were
heathens! savages! ay, cannibals! and how came they, without
the aid of established law, to exhibit, in so eminent a degree, that
social order which is the greatest blessing and highest pride of
the social state?

It may reasonably be inqdired, how were these people governed?
how were their passions controlled in their everyday transactions?
It must have been by an inherent principle of honesty and charity
towards each other. They seemed to be governed by that sort of

[figure description] Page 256.[end figure description]

tacit common-sense law which, say what they will of the inborn
lawlessness of the human race, has its precepts graven on every
breast. The grand principles of virtue and honor, however they
may be distorted by arbitrary codes, are the same all the world
over: and where these principles are concerned, the right or
wrong of any action appears the same to the uncultivated as to the
enlightened mind. It is to this indwelling, this universally diffused
perception of what is just and noble, that the integrity of the
Marquesans in their intercourse with each other, is to be attributed.
In the darkest nights they slept securely, with all their
worldly wealth around them, in houses the doors of which were
never fastened. The disquieting ideas of theft or assassination
never disturbed them. Each islander reposed beneath his own
palmetto thatching, or sat under his own bread-fruit tree, with
none to molest or alarm him. There was not a padlock in the
valley, nor anything that answered the purpose of one: still there
was no community of goods. This long spear, so elegantly
carved and highly polished, belongs to Wormoonoo: it is far
handsomer than the one which old Marheyo so greatly prizes; it
is the most valuable article belonging to its owner. And yet I
have seen it leaning against a cocoa-nut tree in the grove, and
there it was found when sought for. Here is a sperm-whale
tooth, graven all over with cunning devices: it is the property of
Karluna: it is the most precious of the damsel's ornaments. In
her estimation its price is far above rubies—and yet there hangs
the dental jewel by its cord of braided bark, in the girl's house,
which is far back in the valley; the door is left open, and all the
inmates have gone off to bathe in the stream.[6]

[figure description] Page 257.[end figure description]

So much for the respect in which “personal property” is held
in Typee; how secure an investment of “real property” may be,
I cannot take upon me to say. Whether the land of the valley
was the joint property of its inhabitants, or whether it was parcelled
out among a certain number of landed proprietors who
allowed everybody to “squat” and “poach” as much as he or
she pleased, I never could ascertain. At any rate, musty parchments
and title-deeds there were none on the island; and I am
half inclined to believe that its inhabitants hold their broad valleys
in fee simple from nature herself; to have and to hold, so long as
grass grows and water runs; or until their French visitors, by a
summary mode of conveyance, shall appropriate them to their own
benefit and behoof.

Yesterday I saw Kory-Kory hie him away, armed with a long
pole, with which, standing on the ground, he knocked down the
fruit from the topmost boughs of the trees, and brought them home
in his basket of cocoa-nut leaves. To-day I see an islander,
whom I know to reside in a distant part of the valley, doing the
self-same thing. On the sloping bank of the stream are a number
of banana-trees. I have often seen a score or two of young people
making a merry foray on the great golden clusters, and bearing
them off, one after another, to different parts of the vale, shouting
and tramping as they went. No churlish old curmudgeon could
have been the owner of that grove of bread-fruit trees, or of these
gloriously yellow bunches of bananas.

From what I have said it will be perceived that there is a vast
difference between “personal property” and “real estate” in the
valley of Typee. Some individuals, of course, are more wealthy

[figure description] Page 258.[end figure description]

than others. For example: the ridge-pole of Marheyo's house
bends under the weight of many a huge packet of tappa; his
long couch is laid with mats placed one upon the other seven
deep. Outside, Tinor has ranged along in her bamboo cupboard—
or whatever the place may be called—a goodly array of calabashes
and wooden trenchers. Now, the house just beyond the
grove, and next to Marheyo's, occupied by Ruaruga, is not quite
so well furnished. There are only three moderate-sized packages
swinging overhead: there are only two layers of mats beneath;
and the calabashes and trenchers are not so numerous, nor
so tastefully stained and carved. But then, Ruaruga has a house—
not so pretty a one, to be sure—but just as commodious as Marheyo's;
and, I suppose, if he wished to vie with his neighbor's
establishment, he could do so with very little trouble. These, in
short, constituted the chief differences perceivable in the relative
wealth of the people in Typee.

Civilisation does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she
has not even her full share of them. They flourish in greater
abundance and attain greater strength among many barbarous
people. The hospitality of the wild Arab, the courage of the
North American Indian, and the faithful friendships of some of
the Polynesian nations, far surpass anything of a similar kind
among the polished communities of Europe. If truth and justice,
and the better principles of our nature, cannot exist unless enforced
by the statute-book, how are we to account for the social
condition of the Typees? So pure and upright were they in all
the relations of life, that entering their valley, as I did, under the
most erroneous impressions of their character, I was soon led to
exclaim in amazement: “Are these the ferocious savages, the
blood-thirsty cannibals of whom I have heard such frightful tales!
They deal more kindly with each other, and are more humane
than many who study essays on virtue and benevolence, and who
repeat every night that beautiful prayer breathed first by the lips

[figure description] Page 259.[end figure description]

of the divine and gentle Jesus.” I will frankly declare, that
after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas, I
formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever before
entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew
of a man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men
has nearly overturned all my previous theories.

There was one admirable trait in the general character of the
Typees which, more than anything else, secured my admiration:
it was the unanimity of feeling they displayed on every occasion.
With them there hardly appeared to be any difference of opinion
upon any subject whatever. They all thought and acted alike.
I do not conceive that they could support a debating society for
a single night: there would be nothing to dispute about; and
were they to call a convention to take into consideration the state
of the tribe, its session would be a remarkably short one. They
showed this spirit of unanimity in every action of life; everything
was done in concert and good fellowship. I will give an
instance of this fraternal feeling.

One day, in returning with Kory-Kory from my accustomed
visit to the Ti, we passed by a little opening in the grove; on
one side of which, my attendant informed me, was that afternoon
to be built a dwelling of bamboo. At least a hundred of the
natives were bringing materials to the ground, some carrying in
their hands one or two of the canes which were to form the sides,
others slender rods of the habiscus, strung with palmetto leaves,
for the roof. Every one contributed something to the work; and
by the united, but easy, and even indolent, labors of all, the entire
work was completed before sunset. The islanders, while employed
in erecting this tenement, reminded me of a colony of
beavers at work. To be sure, they were hardly as silent and
demure as those wonderful creatures, nor were they by any
means as diligent. To tell the truth, they were somewhat inclined
to be lazy, but a perfect tumult of hilarity prevailed; and

[figure description] Page 260.[end figure description]

they worked together so unitedly, and seemed actuated by such
an instinct of friendliness, that it was truly beautiful to behold.

Not a single female took part in this employment: and if the
degree of consideration in which the ever-adorable sex is held by
the men be—as the philosophers affirm—a just criterion of the
degree of refinement among a people, then I may truly pronounce
the Typees to be as polished a community as ever the sun shone
upon. The religious restrictions of the taboo alone excepted,
the women of the valley were allowed every possible indulgence.
Nowhere are the ladies more assiduously courted; nowhere are
they better appreciated as the contributors to our highest enjoyments;
and nowhere are they more sensible of their power. Far
different from their condition among many rude nations, where
the women are made to perform all the work while their ungallant
lords and masters lie buried in sloth, the gentle sex in the
valley of Typee were exempt from toil, if toil it might be called
that, even in the tropical climate, never distilled one drop of perspiration.
Their light household occupations, together with the
manufacture of tappa, the platting of mats, and the polishing of
drinking-vessels, were the only employments pertaining to the
women. And even these resembled those pleasant avocations
which fill up the elegant morning leisure of our fashionable
ladies at home. But in these occupations, slight and agreeable
though they were, the giddy young girls very seldom engaged.
Indeed these wilful, care-killing damsels were averse to all useful
employment. Like so many spoiled beauties, they ranged
through the groves—bathed in the stream—danced—flirted—
played all manner of mischievous pranks, and passed their days
in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.

During my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a single
quarrel, nor anything that in the slightest degree approached
even to a dispute. The natives appeared to form one household,
whose members were bound together by the ties of strong

[figure description] Page 261.[end figure description]

affection. The love of kindred I did not so much perceive, for it
seemed blended in the general love; and where all were treated
as brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell who were actually
related to each other by blood.

Let it not be supposed that I have overdrawn this picture. I
have not done so. Nor let it be urged, that the hostility of this
tribe to foreigners, and the hereditary feuds they carry on against
their fellow-islanders beyond the mountains, are facts which contradict
me. Not so; these apparent discrepancies are easily
reconciled. By many a legendary tale of violence and wrong,
as well as by events which have passed before their eyes, these
people have been taught to look upon white men with abhorrence.
The cruel invasion of their country by Porter has alone furnished
them with ample provocation; and I can sympathize in the spirit
which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to his
valley with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon the
beach, with his back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay
the intruding European.

As to the origin of the enmity of this particular clan towards
the neighboring tribes, I cannot so confidently speak. I will not
say that their foes are the aggressors, nor will I endeavor to palliate
their conduct. But surely, if our evil passions must find
vent, it is far better to expend them on strangers and aliens, than
in the bosom of the community in which we dwell. In many
polished countries civil contentions, as well as domestic enmities,
are prevalent, at the same time that the most atrocious foreign
wars are waged. How much less guilty, then, are our islanders,
who of these three sins are only chargeable with one, and that
the least criminal!

The reader will erelong have reason to suspect that the Typees
are not free from the guilt of cannibalism; and he will then,
perhaps, charge me with admiring a people against whom so odious
a crime is chargeable. But this only enormity in their

[figure description] Page 262.[end figure description]

character is not half so horrible as it is usually described. According
to the popular fictions, the crews of vessels, shipwrecked on
some barbarous coast, are eaten alive like so many dainty joints
by the uncivil inhabitants; and unfortunate voyagers are lured
into smiling and treacherous bays; knocked on the head with
outlandish war-clubs; and served up without any preliminary
dressing. In truth, so horrific and improbable are these accounts,
that many sensible and well-informed people will not believe that
any cannibals exist; and place every book of voyages which
purports to give any account of them, on the same shelf with
Blue Beard and Jack the Giant-Killer. While others, implicity
crediting the most extravagant fictions, firmly believe that there
are people in the world with tastes so depraved that they would
infinitely prefer a single mouthful of material humanity to a good
dinner of roast beef and plum pudding. But here, Truth, who
loves to be centrally located, is again found between the two extremes;
for cannibalism to a certain moderate extent is practised
among several of the primitive tribes in the Pacific, but it is upon
the bodies of slain enemies alone; and horrible and fearful as
the custom is, immeasurably as it is to be abhorred and condemned,
still I assert that those who indulge in it are in other
respects humane and virtuous.

eaf273v2.n6

[6] The strict honesty which the inhabitants of nearly all the Polynesian
Islands manifest towards each other, is in striking contrast with the thieving
propensities some of them evince in their intercourse with foreigners.
It would almost seem that, according to their peculiar code of morals, the
pilfering of a hatchet or a wrought nail from a European, is looked upon as
a praiseworthy action. Or rather, it may be presumed, that bearing in
mind the wholesale forays made upon them by their nautical visitors, they
consider the property of the latter as a fair object of reprisal. This consideration,
while it serves to reconcile an apparent contradiction in the
moral character of the islanders, should in some measure alter that low
opinion of it which the reader of South Sea voyages is too apt to form.