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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.

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