p273-034 CHAPTER II.

Passage from the Cruising Ground to the Marquesas—Sleepy times abroad
Ship—South Sea Scenery—Land ho!—The French Squadron discovered
at Anchor in the Bay of Nukuheva—Strange Pilot—Escort of Canoes—
A Flotilla of Cocoa-nuts—Swimming Visitors—The Dolly boarded by
them—State of affairs that ensue.

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I can never forget the eighteen or twenty days during which the
light trade-winds were silently sweeping us towards the islands.
In pursuit of the sperm whale, we had been cruising on the line
some twenty degrees to the Westward of the Gallipagos; and
all that we had to do, when our course was determined on, was
to square in the yards and keep the vessel before the breeze, and
then the good ship and the steady gale did the rest between them.
The man at the wheel never vexed the old lady with any superfluous
steering, but comfortably adjusting his limbs at the tiller,
would doze away by the hour. True to her work, the Dolly
headed to her course, and like one of those characters who
always do best when let alone, she jogged on her way like a
veteran old sea-pacer as she was.

What a delightful, lazy, languid time we had whilst we were
thus gliding along! There was nothing to be done; a circumstance
that happily suited our disinclination to do anything. We
abandoned the fore-peak altogether, and spreading an awning
over the forecastle, slept, ate, and lounged under it the live-long
day. Every one seemed to be under the influence of some narcotic.
Even the officers aft, whose duty required them never to
be seated while keeping a deck watch, vainly endeavored to keep

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on their pins; and were obliged invariably to compromise the
matter by leaning up against the bulwarks, and gazing abstractedly
over the side. Reading was out of the question; take a book
in your hand, and you were asleep in an instant.

Although I could not avoid yielding in a great measure to the
general languor, still at times I contrived to shake off the spell,
and to appreciate the beauty of the scene around me. The sky
presented a clear expanse of the most delicate blue, except along
the skirts of the horizon, where you might see a thin drapery of
pale clouds which never varied their form or color. The long,
measured, dirge-like swell of the Pacific came rolling along, with
its surface broken by little tiny waves, sparkling in the sunshine.
Every now and then a shoal of flying fish, scared from the
water under the bows, would leap into the air, and fall the next
moment like a shower of silver into the sea. Then you would
see the superb albicore, with his glittering sides, sailing aloft, and
often describing an arc in his descent, disappear on the surface
of the water. Far off, the lofty jet of the whale might be seen,
and nearer at hand the prowling shark, that villainous footpad of
the seas, would come skulking along, and, at a wary distance,
regard us with an evil eye. At times, some shapeless monster
of the deep, floating on the surface, would, as we approached,
sink slowly into the blue waters, and fade away from the sight.
But the most impressive feature of the scene was the almost unbroken
silence that reigned over sky and water. Scarcely a
sound could be heard but the occasional breathing of the grampus,
and the rippling at the cut-water.

As we drew nearer the land, I hailed with delight the appearance
of innumerable sea-fowl. Screaming and whirling in spiral
tracks, they would accompany the vessel, and at times alight
on our yards and stays. That piratical-looking fellow, appropriately
named the man-of-war's-hawk, with his blood-red bill and
raven plumage, would come sweeping round us in gradually

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diminishing circles, till you could distinctly mark the strange
flashings of his eye; and then, as if satisfied with his observation,
would sail up into the air and disappear from the view. Soon,
other evidences of our vicinity to the land were apparent, and it
was not long before the glad announcement of its being in sight
was heard from aloft,—given with that peculiar prolongation of
sound that a sailor loves—“Land ho!”

The captain, darting on deck from the cabin, bawled lustily for
his spy-glass; the mate in still louder accents hailed the masthead
with a tremendous “where-away?” The black cook thrust
his woolly head from the galley, and Boatswain, the dog, leaped
up between the knight-heads, and barked most furiously. Land
ho! Aye, there it was. A hardly perceptible blue irregular
outline, indicating the bold contour of the lofty heights of Nukuheva.

This island, although generally called one of the Marquesas,
is by some navigators considered as forming one of a distinct
cluster, comprising the islands of Roohka, Ropo, and Nukuheva;
upon which three the appellation of the Washington Group has
been bestowed. They form a triangle, and lie within the parallels
of 8° 38″ and 9° 32″ South latitude, and 139° 20′ and 140°
10′ West longitude from Greenwich. With how little propriety
they are to be regarded as forming a separate group will be at
once apparent, when it is considered that they lie in the immediate
vicinity of the other islands, that is to say, less than a degree
to the north-west of them; that their inhabitants speak the Marquesan
dialect, and that their laws, religion, and general customs
are identical. The only reason why they were ever thus arbitrarily
distinguished, may be attributed to the singular fact, that
their existence was altogether unknown to the world until the
year 1791, when they were discovered by Captain Ingraham, of
Boston, Massachusetts, nearly two centuries after the discovery
of the adjacent islands by the agent of the Spanish Viceroy.

[figure description] Page 012.[end figure description]

Notwithstanding this, I shall follow the example of most voyagers,
and treat of them as forming part and parcel of the Marquesas.

Nukuheva is the most important of these islands, being the
only one at which ships are much in the habit of touching, and
is celebrated as being the place where the adventurous Captain
Porter refitted his ships during the late war between England and
the United States, and whence he sallied out upon the large
whaling fleet then sailing under the enemy's flag in the surrounding
seas. This island is about twenty miles in length and
nearly as many in breadth. It has three good harbors on its
coast; the largest and best of which is called by the people living
in its vicinity, “Tyohee,” and by Captain Porter was denominated
Massachusetts Bay. Among the adverse tribes dwelling about
the shores of the other bays, and by all voyagers, it is generally
known by the name bestowed upon the island itself—Nukuheva.
Its inhabitants have become somewhat corrupted, owing to their
recent commerce with Europeans; but so far as regards their
peculiar customs, and general mode of life, they retain their
original primitive character, remaining very nearly in the same
state of nature in which they were first beheld by white men.
The hostile clans, residing in the more remote sections of the
island, and very seldom holding any communication with foreigners,
are in every respect unchanged from their earliest known
condition.

In the bay of Nukuheva was the anchorage we desired to
reach. We had perceived the loom of the mountains about sunset;
so that after running all night with a very light breeze, we
found ourselves close in with the island the next morning; but
as the bay we sought lay on its farther side, we were obliged to
sail some distance along the shore, catching, as we proceeded,
short glimpses of blooming valleys, deep glens, waterfalls, and
waving groves, hidden here and there by projecting and rocky
headlands, every moment opening to the view some new and
startling scene of beauty.

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Those who for the first time visit the South Seas, generally are
surprised at the appearance of the islands when beheld from the
sea. From the vague accounts we sometimes have of their
beauty, many people are apt to picture to themselves enamelled
and softly swelling plains, shaded over with delicious groves, and
watered by purling brooks, and the entire country but little
elevated above the surrounding ocean. The reality is very different;
bold rock-bound coasts, with the surf beating high against
the lofty cliffs, and broken here and there into deep inlets, which
open to the view thickly-wooded valleys, separated by the spurs
of mountains clothed with tufted grass, and sweeping down
towards the sea from an elevated and furrowed interior, form the
principal features of these islands.

Towards noon we drew abreast the entrance to the harbor,
and at last we slowly swept by the intervening promontory, and
entered the bay of Nukuheva. No description can do justice
to its beauty; but that beauty was lost to me then, and I saw
nothing but the tri-colored flag of France trailing over the stern
of six vessels, whose black hulls and bristling broadsides proclaimed
their warlike character. There they were, floating in
that lovely bay, the green eminences of the shore looking down so
tranquilly upon them, as if rebuking the sternness of their aspect.
To my eye nothing could be more out of keeping than the presence
of these vessels; but we soon learnt what brought them
there. The whole group of islands had just been taken possession
of by Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouars, in the name of the invincible
French nation.

This item of information was imparted to us by a most extraordinary
individual, a genuine South-Sea vagabond, who came
alongside of us in a whale-boat as soon as we entered the bay,
and, by the aid of some benevolent persons at the gangway,
was assisted on board, for our visitor was in that interesting stage
of intoxication when a man is amiable and helpless. Although

[figure description] Page 014.[end figure description]

he was utterly unable to stand erect or to navigate his body across
the deck, he still magnanimously proffered his services to pilot
the ship to a good and secure anchorage. Our captain, however,
rather distrusted his ability in this respect, and refused to recognize
his claim to the character he assumed; but our gentleman
was determined to play his part, for, by dint of much scrambling,
he succeeded in getting into the weather-quarter boat, where he
steadied himself by holding on to a shroud, and then commenced
issuing his commands with amazing volubility and very peculiar
gestures. Of course no one obeyed his orders; but as it was impossible
to quiet him, we swept by the ships of the squadron with
this strange fellow performing his antics in full view of all the
French officers.

We afterwards learned that our eccentric friend had been a
lieutenant in the English navy; but having disgraced his flag by
some criminal conduct in one of the principal ports on the main,
he had deserted his ship, and spent many years wandering among
the islands of the Pacific, until accidentally being at Nukuheva
when the French took possession of the place, he had been appointed
pilot of the harbor by the newly constituted authorities.

As we slowly advanced up the bay, numerous canoes pushed
off from the surrounding shores, and we were soon in the midst
of quite a flotilla of them, their savage occupants struggling to
get aboard of us, and jostling one another in their ineffectual
attempts. Occasionally the projecting out-riggers of their slight
shallops running foul of one another, would become entangled beneath
the water, threatening to capsize the canoes, when a scene
of confusion would ensue that baffles description. Such strange
outcries and passionate gesticulations I never certainly heard or
saw before. You would have thought the islanders were on the
point of flying at one another's throats, whereas they were only
amicably engaged in disentangling their boats.

Scattered here and there among the canoes might be seen

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numbers of cocoa-nuts floating closely together in circular groups, and
bobbing up and down with every wave. By some inexplicable
means these cocoa-nuts were all steadily approaching towards the
ship. As I leaned curiously over the side, endeavoring to solve
their mysterious movements, one mass far in advance of the rest
attracted my attention. In its centre was something I could take
for nothing else than a cocoa-nut, but which I certainly considered
one of the most extraordinary specimens of the fruit I had ever
seen. It kept twirling and dancing about among the rest in the
most singular manner, and as it drew nearer I thought it bore a
remarkable resemblance to the brown shaven skull of one of the
savages. Presently it betrayed a pair of eyes, and soon I became
aware that what I had supposed to have been one of the fruit was
nothing else than the head of an islander, who had adopted this
singular method of bringing his produce to market. The cocoa-nuts
were all attached to one another by strips of the husk, partly
torn from the shell and rudely fastened together. Their proprietor
inserting his head into the midst of them, impelled his necklace
of cocoa-nuts through the water by striking out beneath the
surface with his feet.

I was somewhat astonished to perceive that among the number
of natives that surrounded us, not a single female was to be seen.
At that time I was ignorant of the fact that by the operation of the
“taboo,” the use of canoes in all parts of the island is rigorously
prohibited to the entire sex, for whom it is death even to be seen
entering one when hauled on shore; consequently, whenever a
Marquesan lady voyages by water, she puts in requisition the
paddles of her own fair body.

We had approached within a mile and a half perhaps of the
foot of the bay, when some of the islanders, who by this time had
managed to scramble aboard of us at the risk of swamping their
canoes, directed our attention to a singular commotion in the water
ahead of the vessel. At first I imagined it to be produced by a

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shoal of fish sporting on the surface, but our savage friends
assured us that it was caused by a shoal of “whinhenies” (young
girls), who in this manner were coming off from the shore to
welcome us. As they drew nearer, and I watched the rising and
sinking of their forms, and beheld the uplifted right arm bearing
above the water the girdle of tappa, and their long dark hair trailing
beside them as they swam, I almost fancied they could be
nothing else than so many mermaids:—and very like mermaids
they behaved too.

We were still some distance from the beach, and under slow
headway, when we sailed right into the midst of these swimming
nymphs, and they boarded us at every quarter; many seizing
hold of the chain-plates and springing into the chains; others, at
the peril of being run over by the vessel in her course, catching
at the bob-stays, and wreathing their slender forms about the
ropes, hung suspended in the air. All of them at length succeeded
in getting up the ship's side, where they clung dripping with the
brine and glowing from the bath, their jet-black tresses streaming
over their shoulders, and half enveloping their otherwise naked
forms. There they hung, sparkling with savage vivacity, laughing
gaily at one another, and chattering away with infinite glee.
Nor were they idle the while, for each one performed the simple
offices of the toilet for the other. Their luxuriant locks, wound
up and twisted into the smallest possible compass, were freed from
the briny element; the whole person carefully dried, and from a
little round shell that passed from hand to hand, anointed with a
fragrant oil: their adornments were completed by passing a few
loose folds of white tappa, in a modest cincture, around the waist.
Thus arrayed they no longer hesitated, but flung themselves
lightly over the bulwarks, and were quickly frolicking about the
decks. Many of them went forward, perching upon the headrails
or running out upon the bowsprit, while others seated themselves
upon the taffrail, or reclined at full length upon the boats.

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Their appearance perfectly amazed me; their extreme youth,
the light clear brown of their complexions, their delicate features,
and inexpressibly graceful figures, their softly moulded limbs, and
free unstudied action, seemed as strange as beautiful.

The “Dolly” was fairly captured; and never I will say was
vessel carried before by such a dashing and irresistible party of
boarders? The ship taken, we could not do otherwise than yield
ourselves prisoners, and for the whole period that she remained
in the bay, the “Dolly,” as well as her crew, were completely in
the hands of the mermaids.

In the evening after we had come to an anchor the deck was
illuminated with lanterns, and this picturesque band of sylphs,
tricked out with flowers, and dressed in robes of variegated tappa,
got up a ball in great style. These females are passionately fond
of dancing, and in the wild grace and spirit of their style excel
everything that I have ever seen. The varied dances of the Marquesan
girls are beautiful in the extreme, but there is an abandoned
voluptuousness in their character which I dare not attempt
to describe.

Our ship was now wholly given up to every species of riot and
debauchery. The grossest licentiousness and the most shameful
inebriety prevailed, with occasional and but short-lived interruptions,
through the whole period of her stay. Alas for the poor
savages when exposed to the influence of these polluting examples!
Unsophisticated and confiding, they are easily led into every vice,
and humanity weeps over the ruin thus remorselessly inflicted
upon them by their European civilizers. Thrice happy are they
who, inhabiting some yet undiscovered island in the midst of the
ocean, have never been brought into contaminating contact with
the white man.

p273-043 CHAPTER III.

Some Account of the late operations of the French at the Marquesas—
Prudent Conduct of the Admiral—Sensation produced by the Arrival of
the Strangers—The first Horse seen by the Islanders—Reflections—
Miserable Subterfuge of the French—Digression concerning Tahiti—
Seizure of the Island by the Admiral—Spirited Conduct of an English
Lady.

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It was in the summer of 1842 that we arrived at the islands; the
French had then held possession of them for several weeks. During
this time they had visited some of the principal places in the
group, and had disembarked at various points about five hundred
troops. These were employed in constructing works of defence,
and otherwise providing against the attacks of the natives, who at
any moment might be expected to break out in open hostility.
The islanders looked upon the people who made this cavalier appropriation
of their shores with mingled feelings of fear and detestation.
They cordially hated them; but the impulses of their
resentment were neutralized by their dread of the floating batteries,
which lay with their fatal tubes ostentatiously pointed, not at fortifications
and redoubts, but at a handful of bamboo sheds, sheltered
in a grove of cocoa-nuts! A valiant warrior doubtless, but
a prudent one too, was this same Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouars.
Four heavy, double-banked frigates and three corvettes to frighten
a parcel of naked heathen into subjection! Sixty-eight pounders
to demolish huts of cocoa-nut boughs, and Congreve rockets to
set on fire a few canoe-sheds!

At Nukuheva, there were about one hundred soldiers ashore.
They were encamped in tents, constructed of the old sails and
spare spars of the squadron, within the limits of a redoubt

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mounted with a few nine-pounders, and surrounded with a fosse.
Every other day, these troops were marched out in martial array,
to a level piece of ground in the vicinity, and there for hours went
through all sorts of military evolutions, surrounded by flocks of
the natives, who looked on with savage admiration at the show,
and as savage a hatred of the actors. A regiment of the Old
Guard, reviewed on a summer's day in the Champs Elysées,
could not have made a more critically correct appearance. The
officers' regimentals, resplendent with gold lace and embroidery,
as if purposely calculated to dazzle the islanders, looked as if
just unpacked from their Parisian cases.

The sensation produced by the presence of the strangers had
not in the least subsided at the period of our arrival at the islands.
The natives still flocked in numbers about the encampment, and
watched with the liveliest curiosity everything that was going
forward. A blacksmith's forge, which had been set up in the
shelter of a grove near the beach, attracted so great a crowd, that
it required the utmost efforts of the sentries posted around to keep
the inquisitive multitude at a sufficient distance to allow the
workmen to ply their vocation. But nothing gained so large
a share of admiration as a horse, which had been brought from
Valparaiso by the Achille, one of the vessels of the squadron.
The animal, a remarkably fine one, had been taken ashore and
stabled in a hut of cocoa-nut boughs within the fortified enclosure.
Occasionally it was brought out, and, being gaily caparisoned,
was ridden by one of the officers at full speed over the
hard sand beach. This performance was sure to be hailed
with loud plaudits, and the “puarkee nuee” (big hog) was unanimously
pronounced by the islanders to be the most extraordinary
specimen of zoology that had ever come under their observation.

The expedition for the occupation of the Marquesas had sailed
from Brest in the spring of 1842, and the secret of its

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destination was solely in the possession of its commander. No wonder
that those who contemplated such a signal infraction of the rights
of humanity should have sought to veil the enormity from the
eyes of the world. And yet, notwithstanding their iniquitous
conduct in this and in other matters, the French have ever plumed
themselves upon being the most humane and polished of nations.
A high degree of refinement, however, does not seem to subdue
our wicked propensities so much after all; and were civilisation
itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps
better for what we call the barbarous part of the world to
remain unchanged.

One example of the shameless subterfuges under which the
French stand prepared to defend whatever cruelties they may
hereafter think fit to commit in bringing the Marquesan natives
into subjection is well worthy of being recorded. On some
flimsy pretext or other Mowanna, the king of Nukuheva, whom
the invaders by extravagant presents have cajoled over to their
interests, and move about like a mere puppet, has been set up
as the rightful sovereign of the entire island,—the alleged ruler
by prescription of various clans who for ages perhaps have treated
with each other as separate nations. To reinstate this much-injured
prince in the assumed dignities of his ancestors, the disinterested
strangers have come all the way from France: they are
determined that his title shall be acknowledged. If any tribe
shall refuse to recognize the authority of the French, by bowing
down to the laced chapeau of Mowanna, let them abide the consequences
of their obstinacy. Under cover of a similar pretence,
have the outrages and massacres at Tahiti the beautiful, the queen
of the South Seas, been perpetrated.

On this buccaneering expedition, Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouars,
leaving the rest of his squadron at the Marquesas—which
had then been occupied by his forces about five months—set sail
for the doomed island in the Reine Blanche frigate. On his

[figure description] Page 021.[end figure description]

arrival, as an indemnity for alleged insults offered to the flag of his
country, he demanded some twenty or thirty thousand dollars to
be placed in his hands forthwith, and in default of payment,
threatened to land and take possession of the place.

The frigate, immediately upon coming to an anchor, got springs
on her cables, and with her guns cast loose and her men at their
quarters, lay in the circular basin of Papeete, with her broadside
bearing upon the devoted town; while her numerous cutters,
hauled in order alongside, were ready to effect a landing, under
cover of her batteries. She maintained this belligerent attitude
for several days, during which time a series of informal negotiations
were pending, and wide alarm spread over the island. Many
of the Tahitians were at first disposed to resort to arms, and drive
the invaders from their shores; but more pacific and feebler counsels
ultimately prevailed. The unfortunate queen, Pomare, incapable
of averting the impending calamity, terrified at the arrogance
of the insolent Frenchman, and driven at last to despair,
fled by night in a canoe to Emio.

During the continuance of the panic there occurred an instance
of feminine heroism that I cannot omit to record.

In the grounds of the famous missionary consul, Pritchard, then
absent in London, the consular flag of Britain waved as usual
during the day, from a lofty staff planted within a few yards of
the beach, and in full view of the frigate. One morning an officer,
at the head of a party of men, presented himself at the verandah
of Mr. Pritchard's house, and inquired in broken English
for the lady his wife. The matron soon made her appearance;
and the polite Frenchman, making one of his best bows, and playing
gracefully with the aiguilettes that danced upon his breast,
proceeded in courteous accents to deliver his mission. “The
admiral desired the flag to be hauled down—hoped it would be
perfectly agreeable—and his men stood ready to perform the
duty.” “Tell the pirate, your master,” replied the spirited

[figure description] Page 022.[end figure description]

Englishwoman, pointing to the staff, “that if he wishes to strike those
colors, he must come and perform the act himself; I will suffer
no one else to do it.” The lady then bowed haughtily and withdrew
into the house. As the discomfited officer slowly walked
away, he looked up to the flag, and perceived that the cord by
which it was elevated to its place, led from the top of the staff,
across the lawn, to an open upper window of the mansion, where
sat the lady from whom he had just parted, tranquilly engaged in
knitting. Was that flag hauled down? Mrs. Pritchard thinks
not; and Rear Admiral Du Petit Thouars is believed to be of the
same opinion.

p273-048 CHAPTER IV.

State of Affairs aboard the Ship—Contents of her Larder—Length of South
Seamen's Voyages—Account of a Flying Whale-man—Determination to
Leave the Vessel—The Bay of Nukuheva—The Typees—Invasion of
their Valley by Porter—Reflections—Glen of Tior—Interview between
the Old King and the French Admiral.

[figure description] Page 023.[end figure description]

Our ship had not been many days in the harbor of Nukuheva
before I came to the determination of leaving her. That my reasons
for resolving to take this step were numerous and weighty,
may be inferred from the fact that I chose rather to risk my fortunes
among the savages of the island than to endure another
voyage on board the Dolly. To use the concise, point-blank
phrase of the sailors, I had made up my mind to “run away.”
Now as a meaning is generally attached to these two words no
way flattering to the individual to whom they are applied, it behoves
me, for the sake of my own character, to offer some explanation
of my conduct.

When I entered on board the Dolly, I signed as a matter of
course the ship's articles, thereby voluntarily engaging and legally
binding myself to serve in a certain capacity for the period of the
voyage; and, special considerations apart, I was of course bound
to fulfil the agreement. But in all contracts, if one party fail to
perform his share of the compact, is not the other virtually absolved
from his liability? Who is there who will not answer in
the affirmative?

Having settled the principle, then, let me apply it to the particular
case in question. In numberless instances had not only
the implied but the specified conditions of the articles been

[figure description] Page 024.[end figure description]

violated on the part of the ship in which I served. The usage on
board of her was tyrannical; the sick had been inhumanly neglected;
the provisions had been doled out in scanty allowance;
and her cruizes were unreasonably protracted. The captain was
the author of these abuses; it was in vain to think that he would
either remedy them, or alter his conduct, which was arbitrary and
violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints and
remonstrances was—the butt-end of a hand-spike, so convincingly
administered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.

To whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law
and equity on the other side of the Cape; and unfortunately, with
a very few exceptions, our crew was composed of a parcel of dastardly
and mean-spirited wretches, divided among themselves,
and only united in enduring without resistance the unmitigated
tyranny of the captain. It would have been mere madness for
any two or three of the number, unassisted by the rest, to attempt
making a stand against his ill usage. They would only have
called down upon themselves the particular vengeance of this
“Lord of the Plank,” and subjected their shipmates to additional
hardships.

But, after all, these things could have been endured awhile,
had we entertained the hope of being speedily delivered from
them by the due completion of the term of our servitude. But
what a dismal prospect awaited us in this quarter! The longevity
of Cape Horn whaling voyages is proverbial, frequently extending
over a period of four or five years.

Some long-haired, bare-necked youths, who, forced by the
united influences of Captain Marryatt and hard times, embark at
Nantucket for a pleasure excursion to the Pacific, and whose
anxious mothers provide them with bottled milk for the occasion,
oftentimes return very respectable middle-aged gentlemen.

The very preparations made for one of these expeditions are
enough to frighten one. As the vessel carries out no cargo, her

[figure description] Page 025.[end figure description]

hold is filled with provisions for her own consumption. The
owners, who officiate as caterers for the voyage, supply the larder
with an abundance of dainties. Delicate morsels of beef and
pork, cut on scientific principles from every part of the animal,
and of all conceivable shapes and sizes, are carefully packed in
salt, and stored away in barrels; affording a never-ending variety
in their different degrees of toughness, and in the peculiarities of
their saline properties. Choice old water too, decanted into stout
six-barrel-casks, and two pints of which is allowed every day to
each soul on board; together with ample store of sea-bread, previously
reduced to a state of petrifaction, with a view to preserve
it either from decay or consumption in the ordinary mode, are
likewise provided for the nourishment and gastronomic enjoyment
of the crew.

But not to speak of the quality of these articles of sailors' fare,
the abundance in which they are put on board a whaling vessel
is almost incredible. Oftentimes, when we had occasion to break
out in the hold, and I beheld the successive tiers of casks and
barrels, whose contents were all destined to be consumed in due
course by the ship's company, my heart has sunk within me.

Although, as a general case, a ship unlucky in falling in with
whales continues to cruize after them until she has barely sufficient
provisions remaining to take her home, turning round then
quietly and making the best of her way to her friends, yet there
are instances when even this natural obstacle to the further prosecution
of the voyage is overcome by headstrong captains, who,
bartering the fruits of their hard-earned toils for a new supply of
provisions in some of the ports of Chili or Peru, begin the voyage
afresh with unabated zeal and perseverance. It is in vain that
the owners write urgent letters to him to sail for home, and for
their sake to bring back the ship, since it appears he can put
nothing in her. Not he. He has registered a vow: he will fill

[figure description] Page 026.[end figure description]

his vessel with good sperm oil, or failing to do so, never again
strike Yankee soundings.

I heard of one whaler, which after many years' absence was
given up for lost. The last that had been heard of her was a
shadowy report of her having touched at some of those unstable
islands in the far Pacific, whose eccentric wanderings are carefully
noted in each new edition of the South-Sea charts. After
a long interval, however, “The Perseverance”—for that was her
name—was spoken somewhere in the vicinity of the ends of the
earth, cruizing along as leisurely as ever, her sails all bepatched
and bequilted with rope-yarns, her spars fished with old pipe
stores, and her rigging knotted and spliced in every possible
direction. Her crew was composed of some twenty venerable
Greenwich-pensioner-looking old salts, who just managed to
hobble about deck. The ends of all the running ropes, with the
exception of the signal halyards and poop-down-haul, were rove
through snatch-blocks, and led to the capstan or windlass, so
that not a yard was braced or a sail set without the assistance of
machinery.

Her hull was incrusted with barnacles, which completely
encased her. Three pet sharks followed in her wake, and every
day came alongside to regale themselves from the contents of the
cook's bucket, which were pitched over to them. A vast shoal
of bonetas and albicores always kept her company.

Such was the account I heard of this vessel, and the remembrance
of it always haunted me; what eventually became of her
I never learned; at any rate she never reached home, and I suppose
she is still regularly tacking twice in the twenty-four hours
somewhere off Buggerry Island, or the Devil's-Tail Peak.

Having said thus much touching the usual length of these
voyages, when I inform the reader that ours had as it were just
commenced, we being only fifteen months out, and even at that
time hailed as a late arrival, and boarded for news, he will readily

[figure description] Page 027.[end figure description]

perceive that there was little to encourage one in looking forward
to the future, especially as I had always had a presentiment that
we should make an unfortunate voyage, and our experience so far
had justified the expectation.

I may here state, and on my faith as an honest man, that though
more than three years have elapsed since I left this same identical
vessel, she still continues in the Pacific, and but a few days since
I saw her reported in the papers as having touched at the Sandwich
Islands previous to going on the coast of Japan.

But to return to my narrative. Placed in these circumstances
then, with no prospect of matters mending if I remained aboard
the Dolly, I at once made up my mind to leave her: to be sure
it was rather an inglorious thing to steal away privately from
those at whose hands I had received wrongs and outrages that I
could not resent; but how was such a course to be avoided when
it was the only alternative left me? Having made up my mind,
I proceeded to acquire all the information I could obtain relating
to the island and its inhabitants, with a view of shaping my plans
of escape accordingly. The result of these inquiries I will now
state, in order that the ensuing narrative may be the better
understood.

The bay of Nukuheva in which we were then lying is an expanse
of water not unlike in figure the space included within the
limits of a horse-shoe. It is, perhaps, nine miles in circumference.
You approach it from the sea by a narrow entrance, flanked on
either side by two small twin islets which soar conically to the
height of some five hundred feet. From these the shore recedes
on both hands, and describes a deep semicircle.

From the verge of the water the land rises uniformly on all
sides, with green and sloping acclivities, until from gently rolling
hill-sides and moderate elevations it insensibly swells into lofty
and majestic heights, whose blue outlines, ranged all around,
close in the view. The beautiful aspect of the shore is heightened

[figure description] Page 028.[end figure description]

by deep and romantic glens, which come down to it at almost
equal distances, all apparently radiating from a common centre,
and the upper extremities of which are lost to the eye beneath
the shadow of the mountains. Down each of these little valleys
flows a clear stream, here and there assuming the form of a slender
cascade, then stealing invisibly along until it bursts upon the
sight again in larger and more noisy waterfalls, and at last demurely
wanders along to the sea.

The houses of the natives, constructed of the yellow bamboo,
tastefully twisted together in a kind of wicker-work, and thatched
with the long tapering leaves of the palmetto, are scattered irregularly
along these valleys beneath the shady branches of the
cocoa-nut trees.

Nothing can exceed the imposing scenery of this bay. Viewed
from our ship as she lay at anchor in the middle of the harbor,
it presented the appearance of a vast natural amphitheatre in
decay, and overgrown with vines, the deep glens that furrowed
its sides appearing like enormous fissures caused by the ravages
of time. Very often when lost in admiration at its beauty, I have
experienced a pang of regret that a scene so enchanting should
be hidden from the world in these remote seas, and seldom meet
the eyes of devoted lovers of nature.

Besides this bay the shores of the island are indented by several
other extensive inlets, into which descend broad and verdant
valleys. These are inhabited by as many distinct tribes of
savages, who, although speaking kindred dialects of a common
language, and having the same religion and laws, have from time
immemorial waged hereditary warfare against each other. The
intervening mountains, generally two or three thousand feet above
the level of the sea, geographically define the territories of each
of these hostile tribes, who never cross them, save on some expedition
of war or plunder. Immediately adjacent to Nukuheva,
and only separated from it by the mountains seen from the harbor,

[figure description] Page 029.[end figure description]

lies the lovely valley of Happar, whose inmates cherish the most
friendly relations with the inhabitants of Nukuheva. On the
other side of Happar, and closely adjoining it, is the magnificent
valley of the dreaded Typees, the unappeasable enemies of both
these tribes.

These celebrated warriors appear to inspire the other islanders
with unspeakable terrors. Their very name is a frightful one;
for the word “Typee” in the Marquesan dialect signifies a lover
of human flesh. It is rather singular that the title should have
been bestowed upon them exclusively, inasmuch as the natives of
all this group are irreclaimable cannibals. The name may, perhaps,
have been given to denote the peculiar ferocity of this clan,
and to convey a special stigma along with it.

These same Typees enjoy a prodigious notoriety all over the
islands. The natives of Nukuheva would frequently recount in
pantomime to our ship's company their terrible feats, and would
show the marks of wounds they had received in desperate encounters
with them. When ashore they would try to frighten us by
pointing to one of their own number, and calling him a Typee,
manifesting no little surprise that we did not take to our heels at
so terrible an announcement. It was quite amusing, too, to see
with what earnestness they disclaimed all cannibal propensities
on their own part, while they denounced their enemies—the
Typees—as inveterate gormandizers of human flesh; but this is
a peculiarity to which I shall hereafter have occasion to allude.

Although I was convinced that the inhabitants of our bay
were as arrant cannibals as any of the other tribes on the island,
still I could not but feel a particular and most unqualified repugnance
to the aforesaid Typees. Even before visiting the
Marquesas, I had heard from men who had touched at the group
on former voyages some revolting stories in connection with these
savages; and fresh in my remembrance was the adventure of the
master of the Katherine, who only a few months previous,

[figure description] Page 030.[end figure description]

imprudently venturing into this bay in an armed boat for the purpose
of barter, was seized by the natives, carried back a little distance
into their valley, and was only saved from a cruel death by the
intervention of a young girl, who facilitated his escape by night
along the beach to Nukuheva.

I had heard too of an English vessel that many years ago, after
a weary cruize, sought to enter the bay of Nukuheva, and arriving
within two or three miles of the land, was met by a large
canoe filled with natives, who offered to lead the way to the place
of their destination. The captain, unacquainted with the localities
of the island, joyfully acceded to the proposition—the canoe
paddled on and the ship followed. She was soon conducted to a
beautiful inlet, and dropped her anchor in its waters beneath the
shadows of the lofty shore. That same night the perfidious
Typees, who had thus inveigled her into their fatal bay, flocked
aboard the doomed vessel by hundreds, and at a given signal
murdered every soul on board.

I shall never forget the observation of one of our crew as we
were passing slowly by the entrance of the bay in our way to
Nukuheva. As we stood gazing over the side at the verdant
headlands, Ned, pointing with his hand in the direction of the
treacherous valley, exclaimed, “There—there's Typee. Oh, the
bloody cannibals, what a meal they'd make of us if we were to
take it into our heads to land! but they say they don't like sailor's
flesh, it's too salt. I say, maty, how should you like to be shoved
ashore there, eh?” I little thought, as I shuddered at the question,
that in the space of a few weeks I should actually be a captive in
that self-same valley.

The French, although they had gone through the ceremony
of hoisting their colors for a few hours at all the principal places
of the group, had not as yet visited the bay of Typee, anticipating
a fierce resistance on the part of the savages there, which
for the present at least they wished to avoid. Perhaps they were

[figure description] Page 031.[end figure description]

not a little influenced in the adoption of this unusual policy from
a recollection of the warlike reception given by the Typees to the
forces of Captain Porter, about the year 1814, when that brave
and accomplished officer endeavored to subjugate the clan merely
to gratify the mortal hatred of his allies the Nukuhevas and
Happars.

On that occasion I have been told that a considerable detachment
of sailors and marines from the frigate Essex, accompanied
by at least two thousand warriors of Happar and Nukuheva,
landed in boats and canoes at the head of the bay, and after
penetrating a little distance into the valley, met with the stoutest
resistance from its inmates. Valiantly, although with much loss,
the Typees disputed every inch of ground, and after some hard
fighting obliged their assailants to retreat and abandon their
design of conquest.

The invaders, on their march back to the sea, consoled themselves
for their repulse by setting fire to every house and temple
in their route; and a long line of smoking ruins defaced the
once-smiling bosom of the valley, and proclaimed to its pagan
inhabitants the spirit that reigned in the breasts of Christian soldiers.
Who can wonder at the deadly hatred of the Typees to all foreigners
after such unprovoked atrocities?

Thus it is that they whom we denominate “savages” are made
to deserve the title. When the inhabitants of some sequestered
island first descry the “big canoe” of the European rolling
through the blue waters towards their shores, they rush down to
the beach in crowds, and with open arms stand ready to embrace
the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their bosom the
vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and the
instinctive feeling of love within their breast is soon converted
into the bitterest hate.

The enormities perpetrated in the South Seas upon some of the
inoffensive islanders wellnigh pass belief. These things are

[figure description] Page 032.[end figure description]

seldom proclaimed at home; they happen at the very ends of the
earth; they are done in a corner, and there are none to reveal
them. But there is, nevertheless, many a petty trader that has
navigated the Pacific whose course from island to island might
be traced by a series of cold-blooded robberies, kidnappings, and
murders, the iniquity of which might be considered almost sufficient
to sink her guilty timbers to the bottom of the sea.

Sometimes vague accounts of such things reach our firesides,
and we coolly censure them as wrong, impolitic, needlessly severe,
and dangerous to the crews of other vessels. How different is
our tone when we read the highly-wrought description of the
massacre of the crew of the Hobomak by the Feejees; how we
sympathize for the unhappy victims, and with what horror do we
regard the diabolical heathens, who, after all, have but avenged
the unprovoked injuries which they have received. We breathe
nothing but vengeance, and equip armed vessels to traverse thousands
of miles of ocean in order to execute summary punishment
upon the offenders. On arriving at their destination, they burn,
slaughter, and destroy, according to the tenor of written instructions,
and sailing away from the scene of devastation, call upon
all Christendom to applaud their courage and their justice.

How often is the term “savages” incorrectly applied! None
really deserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by
travellers. They have discovered heathens and barbarians, whom
by horrible cruelties they have exasperated into savages. It
may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that in all the cases
of outrages committed by Polynesians, Europeans have at some
time or other been the aggressors, and that the cruel and blood-thirsty
disposition of some of the islanders is mainly to be ascribed
to the influence of such examples.

But to return. Owing to the mutual hostilities of the different
tribes I have mentioned, the mountainous tracts which separate
their respective territories remain altogether uninhabited; the

[figure description] Page 033.[end figure description]

natives invariably dwelling in the depths of the valleys, with a
view of securing themselves from the predatory incursions of their
enemies, who often lurk along their borders, ready to cut off any
imprudent straggler, or make a descent upon the inmates of some
sequestered habitation. I several times met with very aged men,
who from this cause had never passed the confines of their native
vale, some of them having never even ascended midway up the
mountains in the whole course of their lives, and who, accordingly,
had little idea of the appearance of any other part of the island,
the whole of which is not perhaps more than sixty miles in circuit.
The little space in which some of these clans pass away their
days would seem almost incredible.

The glen of Tior will furnish a curious illustration of this.
The inhabited part is not more than four miles in length, and
varies in breadth from half a mile to less than a quarter. The
rocky vine-clad cliffs on one side tower almost perpendicularly
from their base to the height of at least fifteen hundred feet; while
across the vale—in striking contrast to the scenery opposite—
grass-grown elevations rise one above another in blooming terraces.
Hemmed in by these stupendous barriers, the valley would
be altogether shut out from the rest of the world, were it not that
it is accessible from the sea at one end, and by a narrow defile at
the other.

The impression produced upon the mind, when I first visited
this beautiful glen, will never be obliterated.

I had come from Nukuheva by water in the ship's boat, and
when we entered the bay of Tior it was high noon. The heat
had been intense, as we had been floating upon the long smooth
swell of the ocean, for there was but little wind. The sun's rays
had expended all their fury upon us; and to add to our discomfort,
we had omitted to supply ourselves with water previous to starting.
What with heat and thirst together, I became so impatient
to get ashore, that when at last we glided towards it, I stood up

[figure description] Page 034.[end figure description]

in the bow of the boat ready for a spring. As she shot two-thirds
of her length high upon the beach, propelled by three or four
strong strokes of the oars, I leaped among a parcel of juvenile
savages, who stood prepared to give us a kind reception; and
with them at my heels, yelling like so many imps, I rushed forward
across the open ground in the vicinity of the sea, and
plunged, diver fashion, into the recesses of the first grove that
offered.

What a delightful sensation did I experience! I felt as if
floating in some new element, while all sort of gurgling, trickling,
liquid sounds fell upon my ear. People may say what they will
about the refreshing influences of a cold-water bath, but commend
me when in a perspiration to the shade baths of Tior, beneath the
cocoa-nut trees, and amidst the cool delightful atmosphere which
surrounds them.

How shall I describe the scenery that met my eye, as I looked
out from this verdant recess! The narrow valley, with its steep
and close adjoining sides draperied with vines, and arched overhead
with a fret-work of interlacing boughs, nearly hidden from
view by masses of leafy verdure, seemed from where I stood like
an immense arbor disclosing its vista to the eye, whilst as I
advanced it insensibly widened into the loveliest vale eye ever
beheld.

It so happened that the very day I was in Tior the French
admiral, attended by all the boats of his squadron, came down in
state from Nukuheva to take formal possession of the place. He
remained in the valley about two hours, during which time he had
a ceremonious interview with the king.

The patriarch-sovereign of Tior was a man very far advanced
in years; but though age had bowed his form and rendered him
almost decrepid, his gigantic frame retained all its original magnitude
and grandeur of appearance. He advanced slowly and
with evident pain, assisting his tottering steps with the heavy

[figure description] Page 035.[end figure description]

war-spear he held in his hand, and attended by a group of grey-bearded
chiefs, on one of whom he occasionally leaned for support.
The admiral came forward with head uncovered and extended
hand, while the old king saluted him by a stately flourish of his
weapon. The next moment they stood side by side, these two
extremes of the social scale,—the polished, splendid Frenchman,
and the poor tattooed savage. They were both tall and noble-looking
men; but in other respects how strikingly contrasted!
Du Petit Thouars exhibited upon his person all the paraphernalia
of his naval rank. He wore a richly decorated admiral's frock-coat,
a laced chapeau bras, and upon his breast were a variety
of ribbons and orders; while the simple islander, with the exception
of a slight cincture about his loins, appeared in all the nakedness
of nature.

At what an immeasurable distance, thought I, are these two
beings removed from each other! In the one is shown the result
of long centuries of progressive civilisation and refinement, which
have gradually converted the mere creature into the semblance
of all that is elevated and grand; while the other, after the lapse
of the same period, has not advanced one step in the career of
improvement. “Yet, after all,” quoth I to myself, “insensible
as he is to a thousand wants, and removed from harassing cares,
may not the savage be the happier man of the two?” Such
were the thoughts that arose in my mind as I gazed upon the
novel spectacle before me. In truth it was an impressive one,
and little likely to be effaced. I can recall even now with vivid
distinctness every feature of the scene. The umbrageous
shades where the interview took place—the glorious tropical
vegetation around—the picturesque grouping of the mingled
throng of soldiery and natives—and even the golden-hued bunch
of bananas that I held in my hand at the time, and of which I
occasionally partook while making the aforesaid philosophical
reflections.

p273-061 CHAPTER V.

Thoughts previous to attempting an Escape—Toby, a fellow sailor, agrees
to share the Adventure—Last Night aboard the Ship.

[figure description] Page 036.[end figure description]

Having fully resolved to leave the vessel clandestinely, and
having acquired all the knowledge concerning the bay that I
could obtain under the circumstances in which I was placed, I
now deliberately turned over in my mind every plan of escape
that suggested itself, being determined to act with all possible
prudence in an attempt where failure would be attended with so
many disagreeable consequences. The idea of being taken and
brought back ignominiously to the ship was so inexpressibly repulsive
to me, that I was determined by no hasty and imprudent
measures to render such an event probable.

I knew that our worthy captain, who felt such a paternal solicitude
for the welfare of his crew, would not willingly consent
that one of his best hands should encounter the perils of a sojourn
among the natives of a barbarous island; and I was certain that
in the event of my disappearance, his fatherly anxiety would
prompt him to offer, by way of a reward, yard upon yard of gaily
printed calico for my apprehension. He might even have appreciated
my services at the value of a musket, in which case I felt
perfectly certain that the whole population of the bay would be
immediately upon my track, incited by the prospect of so magnificent
a bounty.

Having ascertained the fact before alluded to, that the islanders,
from motives of precaution, dwelt together in the depths of the
valleys, and avoided wandering about the more elevated portions

[figure description] Page 037.[end figure description]

of the shore, unless bound on some expedition of war or plunder,
I concluded that if I could effect unperceived a passage to the
mountains, I might easily remain among them, supporting myself
by such fruits as came in my way until the sailing of the ship,
an event of which I could not fail to be immediately apprised, as
from my lofty position I should command a view of the entire
harbor.

The idea pleased me greatly. It seemed to combine a great
deal of practicability with no inconsiderable enjoyment in a quiet
way; for how delightful it would be to look down upon the detested
old vessel from the height of some thousand feet, and contrast
the verdant scenery about me with the recollection of her
narrow decks and gloomy forecastle! Why, it was really refreshing
even to think of it; and so I straightway fell to picturing
myself seated beneath a cocoa-nut tree on the brow of the mountain,
with a cluster of plantains within easy reach, criticising
her nautical evolutions as she was working her way out of the
harbor.

To be sure there was one rather unpleasant drawback to these
agreeable anticipations—the possibility of falling in with a
foraging party of these same bloody-minded Typees, whose appetites,
edged perhaps by the air of so elevated a region, might
prompt them to devour one. This, I must confess, was a most
disagreeable view of the matter.

Just to think of a party of these unnatural gourmands taking it
into their heads to make a convivial meal of a poor devil, who
would have no means of escape or defence: however, there was
no help for it. I was willing to encounter some risks in order to
accomplish my object, and counted much upon my ability to
elude these prowling cannibals amongst the many coverts which
the mountains afforded. Besides, the chances were ten to one
in my favor that they would none of them quit their own fastnesses.

[figure description] Page 038.[end figure description]

I had determined not to communicate my design of withdrawing
from the vessel to any of my shipmates, and least of all to
solicit any one to accompany me in my flight. But it so happened
one night, that being upon deck, revolving over in my
mind various plans of escape, I perceived one of the ship's company
leaning over the bulwarks, apparently plunged in a profound
reverie. He was a young fellow about my own age, for
whom I had all along entertained a great regard; and Toby, such
was the name by which he went among us, for his real name
he would never tell us, was every way worthy of it. He was
active, ready, and obliging, of dauntless courage, and singularly
open and fearless in the expression of his feelings. I had on
more than one occasion got him out of scrapes into which this
had led him; and I know not whether it was from this cause, or
a certain congeniality of sentiment between us, that he had
always shown a partiality for my society. We had battled out
many a long watch together, beguiling the weary hours with
chat, song, and story, mingled with a good many imprecations
upon the hard destiny it seemed our common fortune to encounter.

Toby, like myself, had evidently moved in a different sphere
of life, and his conversation at times betrayed this, although he
was anxious to conceal it. He was one of that class of rovers
you sometimes meet at sea, who never reveal their origin, never
allude to home, and go rambling over the world as if pursued by
some mysterious fate they cannot possibly elude.

There was much even in the appearance of Toby calculated to
draw me towards him, for while the greater part of the crew were
as coarse in person as in mind, Toby was endowed with a remarkably
prepossessing exterior. Arrayed in his blue frock and
duck trowsers, he was as smart a looking sailor as ever stepped
upon a deck; he was singularly small and slightly made, with
great flexibility of limb. His naturally dark complexion had

[figure description] Page 039.[end figure description]

been deepened by exposure to the tropical sun, and a mass of jetty
locks clustered about his temples, and threw a darker shade into
his large black eyes. He was a strange wayward being, moody,
fitful, and melancholy—at times almost morose. He had a quick
and fiery temper too, which, when thoroughly roused, transported
him into a state bordering on delirium.

It is strange the power that a mind of deep passion has over
feebler natures. I have seen a brawny fellow, with no lack of
ordinary courage, fairly quail before this slender stripling, when
in one of his furious fits. But these paroxysms seldom occurred,
and in them my big-hearted shipmate vented the bile which more
calm-tempered individuals get rid of by a continual pettishness at
trivial annoyances.

No one ever saw Toby laugh. I mean in the hearty abandon
ment of broad-mouthed mirth. He did smile sometimes, it is true;
and there was a good deal of dry, sarcastic humor about him,
which told the more from the imperturbable gravity of his tone
and manner.

Latterly I had observed that Toby's melancholy had greatly
increased, and I had frequently seen him since our arrival at the
island gazing wistfully upon the shore, when the remainder of the
crew would be rioting below. I was aware that he entertained a
cordial detestation of the ship, and believed that should a fair
chance of escape present itself, he would embrace it willingly.
But the attempt was so perilous in the place where we then lay,
that I supposed myself the only individual on board the ship who
was sufficiently reckless to think of it. In this, however, I was
mistaken.

When I perceived Toby leaning, as I have mentioned, against
the bulwarks and buried in thought, it struck me at once that the
subject of his meditations might be the same as my own. And
if it be so, thought I, is he not the very one of all my shipmates
whom I would choose for the partner of my adventure? and why

[figure description] Page 040.[end figure description]

should I not have some comrade with me to divide its dangers and
alleviate its hardships? Perhaps I might be obliged to lie concealed
among the mountains for weeks. In such an event what
a solace would a companion be?

These thoughts passed rapidly through my mind, and I wondered
why I had not before considered the matter in this light.
But it was not too late. A tap upon the shoulder served to rouse
Toby from his reverie; I found him ripe for the enterprise, and
a very few words sufficed for a mutual understanding between us.
In an hour's time we had arranged all the preliminaries, and
decided upon our plan of action. We then ratified our engagement
with an affectionate wedding of palms, and to elude suspicion
repaired each to his hammock, to spend the last night on
board the Dolly.

The next day the starboard watch, to which we both belonged,
was to be sent ashore on liberty; and, availing ourselves of this
opportunity, we determined, as soon after landing as possible, to
separate ourselves from the rest of the men without exciting their
suspicions, and strike back at once for the mountains. Seen from
the ship, the summits appeared inaccessible, but here and there
sloping spurs extended from them almost into the sea, buttressing
the lofty elevations with which they were connected, and forming
those radiating valleys I have before described. One of these
ridges, which appeared more practicable than the rest, we determined
to climb, convinced that it would conduct us to the
heights beyond. Accordingly, we carefully observed its bearings
and locality from the ship, so that when ashore we should run no
chance of missing it.

In all this the leading object we had in view was to seclude
ourselves from sight until the departure of the vessel; then to
take our chance as to the reception the Nukuheva natives might
give us; and after remaining upon the island as long as we found
our stay agreeable, to leave it the first favorable opportunity that
offered.

p273-066 CHAPTER VI.

A Specimen of Nautical Oratory.—Criticisms of the Sailors.—The Starboard
Watch are given a Holiday.—The Escape to the Mountains.

[figure description] Page 041.[end figure description]

Early the next morning the starboard watch were mustered upon
the quarter-deck, and our worthy captain, standing in the cabin
gangway, harangued us as follows:—

“Now, men, as we are just off a six month's cruise, and have
got through most all our work in port here, I suppose you want
to go ashore. Well, I mean to give your watch liberty to-day,
so you may get ready as soon as you please, and go; but understand
this, I am going to give you liberty because I suppose you
would growl like so many old quarter gunners if I didn't; at
the same time, if you'll take my advice, every mother's son of
you will stay aboard, and keep out of the way of the bloody cannibals
altogether. Ten to one, men, if you go ashore, you will
get into some infernal row, and that will be the end of you; for
if those tattooed scoundrels get you a little ways back into their
valleys, they'll nab you—that you may be certain of. Plenty of
white men have gone ashore here and never been seen any more.
There was the old Dido, she put in here about two years ago, and
sent one watch off on liberty; they never were heard of again for
a week—the natives swore they didn't know where they were—
and only three of them ever got back to the ship again, and one
with his face damaged for life, for the cursed heathens tattooed
a broad patch clean across his figure-head. But it will be no
use talking to you, for go you will, that I see plainly; so all I
have to say is, that you need not blame me if the islanders make
a meal of you. You may stand some chance of escaping them

[figure description] Page 042.[end figure description]

though, if you keep close about the French encampment, and are
back to the ship again before sunset. Keep that much in your
mind, if you forget all the rest I've been saying to you. There,
go forward: bear a hand and rig yourselves, and stand by for a
call. At two bells the boat will be manned to take you off, and
the Lord have mercy on you!”

Various were the emotions depicted upon the countenances of
the starboard watch whilst listening to this address; but on its
conclusion there was a general move towards the forecastle, and
we soon were all busily engaged in getting ready for the holiday
so auspiciously announced by the skipper. During these preparations
his harangue was commented upon in no very measured
terms; and one of the party, after denouncing him as a
lying old son of a sea-cook who begrudged a fellow a few hours'
liberty, exclaimed with an oath, “But you don't bounce me
out of my liberty, old chap, for all your yarns; for I would
go ashore if every pebble on the beach was a live coal, and
every stick a gridiron, and the cannibals stood ready to broil me
on landing.”

The spirit of this sentiment was responded to by all hands, and
we resolved that in spite of the captain's croakings we would make
a glorious day of it.

But Toby and I had our own game to play, and we availed
ourselves of the confusion which always reigns among a ship's
company preparatory to going ashore, to confer together and
complete our arrangements. As our object was to effect as rapid
a flight as possible to the mountains, we determined not to encumber
ourselves with any superfluous apparel; and accordingly,
while the rest were rigging themselves out with some idea of
making a display, we were content to put on new stout duck
trousers, serviceable pumps, and heavy Havre-frocks, which with
a Payta hat completed our equipment.

When our shipmates wondered at this, Toby exclaimed in his

[figure description] Page 043.[end figure description]

odd grave way that the rest might do as they liked, but that he
for one preserved his go-ashore traps for the Spanish main, where
the tie of a sailor's neckerchief might make some difference;
but as for a parcel of unbreeched heathen, he wouldn't go to
the bottom of his chest for any of them, and was half disposed to
appear among them in buff himself. The men laughed at what
they thought was one of his strange conceits, and so we escaped
suspicion.

It may appear singular that we should have been thus on our
guard with our own shipmates; but there were some among us
who, had they possessed the least inkling of our project, would,
for a paltry hope of reward, have immediately communicated it
to the captain.

As soon as two bells were struck, the word was passed for the
liberty-men to get into the boat. I lingered behind in the forecastle
a moment to take a parting glance at its familiar features,
and just as I was about to ascend to the deck my eye happened
to light on the bread-barge and beef-kid, which contained the
remnants of our last hasty meal. Although I had never before
thought of providing anything in the way of food for our expedition,
as I fully relied upon the fruits of the island to sustain us
wherever we might wander, yet I could not resist the inclination
I felt to provide luncheon from the relies before me. Accordingly
I took a double handful of those small, broken, flinty bits
of biscuit which generally go by the name of “midshipmen's
nuts,” and thrust them into the bosom of my frock; in which
same ample receptacle I had previously stowed away several
pounds of tobacco and a few yards of cotton cloth—articles with
which I intended to purchase the good-will of the natives, as
soon as we should appear among them after the departure of our
vessel.

This last addition to my stock caused a considerable protuberance
in front, which I abated in a measure by shaking the

[figure description] Page 044.[end figure description]

bits of bread around my waist, and distributing the plugs of tobacco
among the folds of the garment.

Hardly had I complete these arrangements when my name
was sung out by a dozen voices, and I sprung upon the deck,
where I found all the party in the boat, and impatient to shove off.
I dropped over the side and seated myself with the rest of the
watch in the stern sheets, while the poor larboarders shipped
their oars, and commenced pulling us ashore.

This happened to be the rainy season at the islands, and the
heavens had nearly the whole morning betokened one of those
heavy showers which during this period so frequently occur.
The large drops fell bubbling into the water shortly after our
leaving the ship, and by the time we had effected a landing it
poured down in torrents. We fled for shelter under cover of an
immense canoe-house which stood hard by the beach, and waited
for the first fury of the storm to pass.

It continued, however without cessation; and the monotonous
beating of the rain over head began to exert a drowsy influence
upon the men, who, throwing themselves here and there upon the
large war-canoes, after chatting awhile, all fell asleep.

This was the opportunity we desired, and Toby and I availed
ourselves of it at once by stealing out of the canoe-house and
plunging into the depths of an extensive grove that was in its
rear. After ten minutes' rapid progress we gained an open
space from which we could just descry the ridge we intended to
mount looming dimly through the mists of the tropical shower,
and distant from us, as we estimated, something more than a
mile. Our direct course towards it lay through a rather populous
part of the bay; but desirous as we were of evading the natives,
and securing an unmolested retreat to the mountains, we
determined, by taking a circuit through some extensive thickets,
to avoid their vicinity altogether.

The heavy rain that still continued to fall without intermission

[figure description] Page 045.[end figure description]

favored our enterprise, as it drove the islanders into their houses,
and prevented any casual meeting with them. Our heavy frocks
soon became completely saturated with water, and by their
weight, and that of the articles we had concealed beneath them,
not a little impeded our progress. But it was no time to pause
when at any moment we might be surprised by a body of the
savages, and forced at the very outset to relinquish our undertaking.

Since leaving the canoe-house we had scarcely exchanged a
single syllable with one another; but when we entered a second
narrow opening in the wood, and again caught sight of the ridge
before us, I took Toby by the arm, and pointing along its sloping
outline to the lofty heights at its extremity, said in a low tone,
“Now, Toby, not a word, nor a glance backward, till we stand
on the summit of yonder mountain—so no more lingering, but
let us shove ahead while we can, and in a few hour's time we
may laugh aloud.—You are the lightest and the nimblest, so lead
on, and I will follow.”

“All right, brother,” said Toby, “quick's our play; only
let's keep close together, that's all;” and so saying, with a
bound like a young roe, he cleared a brook which ran across our
path, and rushed forward with a quick step.

When we arrived within a short distance of the ridge, we were
stopped by a mass of tall yellow reeds, growing together as
thickly as they could stand, and as tough and stubborn as so
many rods of steel; and we perceived, to our chagrin, that they
extended midway up the elevation we proposed to ascend.

For a moment we gazed about us in quest of a more practicable
route; it was, however, at once apparent that there was no
resource but to pierce this thicket of canes at all hazards. We
now reversed our order of march, I, being the heaviest, taking
the lead, with a view of breaking a path through the obstruction,
while Toby fell into the rear.

[figure description] Page 046.[end figure description]

Two or three times I endeavored to insinuate myself between
the canes, and by dint of coaxing and bending them to make some
progress; but a bull-frog might as well have tried to work a
passage through the teeth of a comb, and I gave up the attempt
in despair.

Half wild with meeting an obstacle we had so little anticipated,
I threw myself desperately against it, crushing to the ground
the canes with which I came in contact, and, rising to my feet
again, repeated the action with like effect. Twenty minutes of
this violent exercise almost exhausted me, but it carried us some
way into the thicket; when Toby, who had been reaping the
benefit of my labors by following close at my heels, proposed
to become pioneer in turn, and accordingly passed ahead with
a view of affording me a respite from my exertions. As however
with his slight frame he made but bad work of it, I was
soon obliged to resume my old place again.

On we toiled, the perspiration starting from our bodies in
floods, our limbs torn and lacerated with the splintered fragments
of the broken canes, until we had proceeded perhaps as
far as the middle of the brake, when suddenly it ceased raining,
and the atmosphere around us became close and sultry beyond
expression. The elasticity of the reeds quickly recovering from
the temporary pressure of our bodies, caused them to spring
back to their original position; so that they closed in upon us as
we advanced, and prevented the circulation of the little air which
might otherwise have reached us. Besides this, their great
height completely shut us out from the view of surrounding objects,
and we were not certain but that we might have been going
all the time in a wrong direction.

Fatigued with my long-continued efforts, and panting for
breath, I felt myself completely incapacitated for any further
exertion. I rolled up the sleeve of my frock, and squeezed the
moisture it contained into my parched mouth. But the few

[figure description] Page 047.[end figure description]

drops I managed to obtain gave me little relief, and I sank down
for a moment with a sort of dogged apathy, from which I was
aroused by Toby, who had devised a plan to free us from the net
in which we had become entangled.

He was laying about him lustily with his sheath-knife, lopping
the canes right and left, like a reaper, and soon made quite a
clearing around us. This sight reanimated me; and seizing my
own knife, I hacked and hewed away without mercy. But alas!
the farther we advanced the thicker and taller, and apparently
the more interminable, the reeds became.

I began to think we were fairly snared, and had almost made
up my mind that without a pair of wings we should never be
able to escape from the toils; when all at once I discerned a
peep of daylight through the canes on my right, and, communicating
the joyful tidings to Toby, we both fell to with fresh spirit,
and speedily opening a passage towards it we found ourselves
clear of perplexities, and in the near vicinity of the ridge.

After resting for a few moments we began the ascent, and
after a little vigorous climbing found ourselves close to its summit.
Instead however of walking along its ridge, where we
should have been in full view of the natives in the vales beneath,
and at a point where they could easily intercept us were they so
inclined, we cautiously advanced on one side, crawling on our
hands and knees, and screened from observation by the grass
through which we glided, much in the fashion of a couple of serpents.
After an hour employed in this unpleasant kind of locomotion,
we started to our feet again and pursued our way boldly
along the crest of the ridge.

This salient spur of the lofty elevations that encompassed the
bay rose with a sharp angle from the valleys at its base, and presented,
with the exception of a few steep acclivities, the appearance
of a vast inclined plane, sweeping down towards the sea
from the heights in the distance. We had ascended it near the

[figure description] Page 048.[end figure description]

place of its termination and at its lowest point, and now saw our
route to the mountains distinctly defined along its narrow crest,
which was covered with a soft carpet of verdure, and was in
many parts only a few feet wide.

Elated with the success which had so far attended our enter
prise, and invigorated by the refreshing atmosphere we now in
haled, Toby and I in high spirits were making our way rapidly
along the ridge, when suddenly from the valleys below which
lay on either side of us we heard the distant shouts of the natives,
who had just descried us, and to whom our figures, brought in
bold relief against the sky, were plainly revealed.

Glancing our eyes into these valleys, we perceived their
savage inhabitants hurrying to and fro, seemingly under the influence
of some sudden alarm, and appearing to the eye scarcely
bigger than so many pigmies; while their white thatched dwellings,
dwarfed by the distance, looked like baby-houses. As we
looked down upon the islanders from our lofty elevation, we experienced
a sense of security; feeling confident that, should they
undertake a pursuit, it would, from the start we now had, prove
entirely fruitless, unless they followed us into the mountains,
where we knew they cared not to venture.

However, we thought it as well to make the most of our time;
and accordingly, where the ground would admit of it, we ran
swiftly along the summit of the ridge, until we were brought to
a stand by a steep cliff, which at first seemed to interpose an
effectual barrier to our father advance. By dint of much hard
scrambling however, and at some risk to our necks, we at last surmounted
it, and continued our flight with unabated celerity.

We had left the beach early in the morning, and after an uninterrupted,
though at times difficult and dangerous ascent, during
which we had never once turned our faces to the sea, we found
ourselves, about three hours before sunset, standing on the top of
what seemed to be the highest land on the island, an immense

[figure description] Page 049.[end figure description]

overhanging cliff composed of basaltic rocks, hung round with
parasitical plants. We must have been more than three thousand
feet above the level of the sea, and the scenery viewed from this
height was magnificent.

The lonely bay of Nukuheva, dotted here and there with the
black hulls of the vessels composing the French squadron, lay
reposing at the base of a circular range of elevations, whose verdant
sides, perforated with deep glens or diversified with smiling
valleys, formed altogether the loveliest view I ever beheld, and
were I to live a hundred years, I shall never forget the feeling of
admiration which I then experienced.

p273-075 CHAPTER VII.

The other side of the Mountain—Disappointment—Inventory of Articles
brought from the Ship—Division of the Stock of Bread—Appearance of
the Interior of the Island—A Discovery—A Ravine and Waterfalls—A
Sleepless Night—Further Discoveries—My Illness—A Marquesan Landscape.

[figure description] Page 050.[end figure description]

My curiosity had been not a little raised with regard to the description
of country we should meet on the other side of the mountains;
and I had supposed, with Toby, that immediately on gaining
the heights we should be enabled to view the large bays of
Happer and Typee reposing at our feet on one side, in the same
way that Nukuheva lay spread out below on the other. But here
we were disappointed. Instead of finding the mountain we had
ascended sweeping down in the opposite direction into broad and
capacious valleys, the land appeared to retain its general elevation,
only broken into a series of ridges and intervals, which as
far as the eye could reach stretched away from us, with their
precipitous sides covered with the brightest verdure, and waving
here and there with the foliage of clumps of woodland; among
which, however, we perceived none of those trees upon whose
fruit we had relied with such certainty.

This was a most unlooked-for discovery, and one that promised
to defeat our plans altogether, for we could not think of descending
the mountain on the Nukuheva side in quest of food. Should
we for this purpose be induced to retrace our steps, we should run
no small chance of encountering the natives, who in that case, if
they did nothing worse to us, would be certain to convey us back
to the ship for the sake of the reward in calico and trinkets, which

[figure description] Page 051.[end figure description]

we had no doubt our skipper would hold out to them as an inducement
to our capture.

What was to be done? The Dolly would not sail perhaps for
ten days, and how were we to sustain life during this period? I
bitterly repented our improvidence in not providing ourselves, as
we easily might have done, with a supply of biscuit. With a
rueful visage I now bethought me of the scanty handful of bread
I had stuffed into the bosom of my frock, and felt somewhat desirous
to ascertain what part of it had weathered the rather rough
usage it had experienced in ascending the mountain. I accordingly
proposed to Toby that we should enter into a joint examination
of the various articles we had brought from the ship. With
this intent we seated ourselves upon the grass; and a little curious
to see with what kind of judgment my companion had filled
his frock—which I remarked seemed about as well lined as my
own—I requested him to commence operations by spreading out
its contents.

Thrusting his hand, then, into the bosom of this capacious receptacle,
he first brought to light about a pound of tobacco, whose
component parts still adhered together, the whole outside being
covered with soft particles of sea-bread. Wet and dripping, it had
the appearance of having been just recovered from the bottom of
the sea. But I paid slight attention to a substance of so little
value to us in our present situation, as soon as I perceived the
indications it gave of Toby's foresight in laying in a supply of
food for the expedition.

I eagerly inquired what quantity he had brought with him,
when, rummaging once more beneath his garment, he produced
a small handful of something so soft, pulpy, and discolored, that
for a few moments he was as much puzzled as myself to tell by
what possible instrumentality such a villainous compound had
become engendered in his bosom. I can only describe it as a
hash of soaked bread and bits of tobacco, brought to a doughy

[figure description] Page 052.[end figure description]

consistency by the united agency of perspiration and rain. But
repulsive as it might otherwise have been, I now regarded it as
an invaluable treasure, and proceeded with great care to transfer
this paste-like mass to a large leaf which I had plucked from a
bush beside me. Toby informed me that in the morning he had
placed two whole biscuits in his bosom, with a view of munching
them, should he feel so inclined, during our flight. These were
now reduced to the equivocal substance which I had just placed
on the leaf.

Another dive into the frock brought to view some four or five
yards of calico print, whose tasteful pattern was rather disfigured
by the yellow stains of the tobacco with which it had been
brought in contact. In drawing this calico slowly from his
bosom inch by inch, Toby reminded me of a juggler performing
the feat of the endless ribbon. The next cast was a small one,
being a sailor's little “ditty bag,” containing needles, thread, and
other sewing utensils; then came a razor-case, followed by two
or three separate plugs of negro-head, which were fished up from
the bottom of the now empty receptacle. These various matters
being inspected, I produced the few things which I had myself
brought.

As might have been anticipated from the state of my companion's
edible supplies, I found my own in a deplorable condition,
and diminished to a quantity that would not have formed half
a dozen mouthfuls for a hungry man who was partial enough to
tobacco not to mind swallowing it. A few morsels of bread, with
a fathom or two of white cotton cloth, and several pounds of
choice pigtail, composed the extent of my possessions.

Our joint stock of miscellaneous articles were now made up
into a compact bundle, which it was agreed we should carry
alternately. But the sorry remains of the biscuit were not to be
disposed of so summarily: the precarious circumstances in which
we were placed made us regard them as something on which very

[figure description] Page 053.[end figure description]

probably depended the fate of our adventure. After a brief discussion,
in which we both of us expressed our resolution of not
descending into the bay until the ship's departure, I suggested to
my companion that little of it as there was, we should divide the
bread into six equal portions, each of which should be a day's
allowance for both of us. This proposition he assented to; so I
took the silk kerchief from my neck, and cutting it with my
knife into half a dozen equal pieces, proceeded to make an exact
division.

At first, Toby, with a degree of fastidiousness that seemed to
me ill-timed, was for picking out the minute particles of tobacco
with which the spongy mass was mixed; but against this proceeding
I protested, as by such an operation we must have greatly
diminished its quantity.

When the division was accomplished, we found that a day's
allowance for the two was not a great deal more than what a
table-spoon might hold. Each separate portion we immediately
rolled up in the bit of silk prepared for it, and joining them
all together into a small package, I committed them, with solemn
injunctions of fidelity, to the custody of Toby. For the remainder
of that day we resolved to fast, as we had been fortified by a
breakfast in the morning; and now starting again to our feet,
we looked about us for a shelter during the night, which, from the
appearance of the heavens, promised to be a dark and tempestuous
one.

There was no place near us which would in any way answer
our purpose; so turning our backs upon Nukuheva, we commenced
exploring the unknown regions which lay upon the other
side of the mountain.

In this direction, as far as our vision extended, not a sign of
life, nor anything that denoted even the transient residence of
man, could be seen. The whole landscape seemed one unbroken
solitude, the interior of the island having apparently been

[figure description] Page 054.[end figure description]

untenanted since the morning of the creation; and as we advanced
through this wilderness, our voices sounded strangely in our ears,
as though human accents had never before disturbed the fearful
silence of the place, interrupted only by the low murmurings of
distant waterfalls.

Our disappointment, however, in not finding the various fruits
with which we had intended to regale ourselves during our stay
in these wilds, was a good deal lessened by the consideration that
from this very circumstance we should be much less exposed to
a casual meeting with the savage tribes about us, who we knew
always dwelt beneath the shadows of those trees which supplied
them with food.

We wandered along, casting eager glances into every bush we
passed, until just as we had succeeded in mounting one of the
many ridges that intersected the ground, I saw in the grass before
me something like an indistinctly traced footpath, which appeared
to lead along the top of the ridge, and to descend with it into a
deep ravine about half a mile in advance of us.

Robinson Crusoe could not have been more startled at the foot-print
in the sand than we were at this unwelcome discovery.
My first impulse was to make as rapid a retreat as possible, and
bend our steps in some other direction; but our curiosity to see
whither this path might lead, prompted us to pursue it. So on
we went, the track becoming more and more visible the farther
we proceeded, until it conducted us to the verge of the ravine,
where it abruptly terminated.

“And so,” said Toby, peering down into the chasm, “every
one that travels this path takes a jump here, eh?”

“Not so,” said I, “for I think they might manage to descend
without it; what say you,—shall we attempt the feat?”

“And what, in the name of caves and coal-holes, do you expect
to find at the bottom of that gulf but a broken neck—why it

[figure description] Page 055.[end figure description]

looks blacker than our ship's hold, and the roar of those waterfalls
down there would batter one's brains to pieces.”

“Oh, no, Toby,” I exclaimed, laughing; “but there's something
to be seen here, that's plain, or there would have been no
path, and I am resolved to find out what it is.”

“I will tell you what, my pleasant fellow,” rejoined Toby
quickly, “if you are going to pry into everything you meet with
here that excites your curiosity, you will marvellously soon get
knocked on the head; to a dead certainly you will come bang
upon a party of these savages in the midst of your discoverymakings,
and I doubt whether such an event would particularly
delight you. Just take my advice for once, and let us 'bout ship
and steer in some other direction; besides, it's getting late, and
we ought to be mooring ourselves for the night.”

“That is just the thing I have been driving at,” replied I;
“and I am thinking that this ravine will exactly answer our purpose,
for it is roomy, secluded, well watered, and may shelter us
from the weather.”

“Aye, and from sleep too, and by the same token will give us
sore throats, and rheumatisms into the bargain,” cried Toby,
with evident dislike at the idea.

“Oh, very well then, my lad,” said I, “since you will not
accompany me, here I go alone. You will see me in the morning;”
and advancing to the edge of the cliff upon which we had
been standing, I proceeded to lower myself down by the tangled
roots which clustered about all the crevices of the rock. As I
had anticipated, Toby, in spite of his previous remonstrances, followed
my example, and dropping himself with the activity of a
squirrel from point to point, he quickly outstripped me, and effected
a landing at the bottom before I had accomplished two-thirds of
the descent.

The sight that now greeted us was one that will ever be vividly
impressed upon my mind. Five foaming streams, rushing through

[figure description] Page 056.[end figure description]

as many gorges, and swelled and turbid by the recent rains,
united together in one mad plunge of nearly eighty feet, and fell
with wild uproar into a deep black pool scooped out of the gloomy
looking rocks that lay piled around, and thence in one collected
body dashed down a narrow sloping channel which seemed to
penetrate into the very bowels of the earth. Overhead, vast roots
of trees hung down from the sides of the ravine dripping with
moisture, and trembling with the concussions produced by the fall.
It was now sunset, and the feeble uncertain light that found its
way into these caverns and woody depths heightened their strange
appearance, and reminded us that in a short time we should find
ourselves in utter darkness.

As soon as I had satisfied my curiosity by gazing at this scene,
I fell to wondering how it was that what we had taken for a path
should have conducted us to so singular a place, and began to
suspect that after all I might have been deceived in supposing it
to have been a track formed by the islanders. This was rather
an agreeable reflection than otherwise, for it diminished our dread
of accidentally meeting with any of them, and I came to the conclusion
that perhaps we could not have selected a more secure
hiding-place than this very spot we had so accidentally hit upon.
Toby agreed with me in this view of the matter, and we immediately
began gathering together the limbs of trees which lay scattered
about, with the view of constructing a temporary hut for
the night. This we were obliged to build close to the foot of the
cataract, for the current of water extended very nearly to the
sides of the gorge. The few moments of light that remained we
employed in covering our hut with a species of broad-bladed grass
that grew in every fissure of the ravine. Our hut, if it deserved
to be called one, consisted of six or eight of the straightest branches
we could find laid obliquely against the steep wall of rock, with
their lower ends within a foot of the stream. Into the space thus

[figure description] Page 057.[end figure description]

covered over we managed to crawl, and dispose our wearied bodies
as best we could.

Shall I ever forget that horrid night! As for poor Toby, I
could scarcely get a word out of him. It would have been some
consolation to have heard his voice, but he lay shivering the livelong
night like a man afflicted with the palsy, with his knees
drawn up to his head, while his back was supported against the
dripping side of the rock. During this wretched night there
seemed nothing wanting to complete the perfect misery of our
condition. The rain descended in such torrents that our poor
shelter proved a mere mockery. In vain did I try to elude the
incessant streams that poured upon me; by protecting one part I
only exposed another, and the water was continually finding some
new opening through which to drench us.

I have had many a ducking in the course of my life, and in
general cared little about it; but the accumulated horrors of that
night, the deathlike coldness of the place, the appalling darkness
and the dismal sense of our forlorn condition, almost unmanned
me.

It will not be doubted that the next morning we were early
risers, and as soon as I could catch the faintest glimpse of anything
like daylight I shook my companion by the arm, and told him it
was sunrise. Poor Toby lifted up his head, and after a moment's
pause said, in a husky voice, “Then, shipmate, my toplights
have gone out, for it appears darker now with my eyes open than
it did when they were shut.”

“Nonsense!” exclaimed I; “you are not awake yet.”

“Awake!” roared Toby in a rage, “awake! You mean to
insinuate I 've been asleep, do you? It is an insult to a man to
suppose he could sleep in such an infernal place as this.”

By the time I had apologized to my friend for having misconstrued
his silence, it had become somewhat more light, and we
crawled out of our lair. The rain had ceased, but everything

[figure description] Page 058.[end figure description]

around us was dripping with moisture. We stripped off our saturated
garments, and wrung them as dry as we could. We contrived
to make the blood circulate in our benumbed limbs by rubbing
them vigorously with our hands; and after performing our
ablutions in the stream, and putting on our still wet clothes, we
began to think it advisable to break our long fast, it being now
twenty-four hours since we had tasted food.

Accordingly our day's ration was brought out, and seating ourselves
on a detached fragment of rock, we proceeded to discuss it.
First we divided it into two equal portions, and carefully rolling
one of them up for our evening's repast, divided the remainder
again as equally as possible, and then drew lots for the first choice.
I could have placed the morsel that fell to my share upon the tip
of my finger; but notwithstanding this I took care that it should
be full ten minutes before I had swallowed the last crumb. What
a true saying it is that “appetite furnishes the best sauce!”
There was a flavor and a relish to this small particle of food that
under other circumstances it would have been impossible for the
most delicate viands to have imparted. A copious draught of the
pure water which flowed at our feet served to complete the meal,
and after it we rose sensibly refreshed, and prepared for whatever
might befall us.

We now carefully examined the chasm in which we had passed
the night. We crossed the stream, and gaining the further side
of the pool I have mentioned, discovered proofs that the spot must
have been visited by some one but a short time previous to our
arrival. Further observation convinced us that it had been regularly
frequented, and, as we afterwards conjectured from particular
indications, for the purpose of obtaining a certain root, from
which the natives obtained a kind of ointment.

These discoveries immediately determined us to abandon a
place which had presented no inducement for us to remain, except
the promise of security; and as we looked about us for the means

[figure description] Page 059.[end figure description]

of ascending again into the upper regions, we at last found a practicable
part of the rock, and half an hour's toil carried us to the
summit of the same cliff from which the preceding evening we
had descended.

I now proposed to Toby that instead of rambling about the
island, exposing ourselves to discovery at every turn, we should
select some place as our fixed abode for as long a period as our
food should hold out, build ourselves a comfortable hut, and be
as prudent and circumspect as possible. To all this my companion
assented, and we at once set about carrying the plan into
execution.

With this view, after exploring without success a little glen near
us, we crossed several of the ridges of which I have before spoken;
and about noon found ourselves ascending a long and gradually
rising slope, but still without having discovered any place adapted
to our purpose. Low and heavy clouds betokened an approaching
storm, and we hurried on to gain a covert in a clump of thick
bushes, which appeared to terminate the long ascent. We threw
ourselves under the lee of these bushes, and pulling up the long
grass that grew around, covered ourselves completely with it, and
awaited the shower.

But it did not come as soon as we had expected, and before
many minutes my companion was fast asleep, and I was rapidly
falling into the same state of happy forgetfulness. Just at this
juncture, however, down came the rain with a violence that put
all thoughts of slumber to flight. Although in some measure
sheltered, our clothes soon became as wet as ever; this, after all
the trouble we had taken to dry them, was provoking enough:
but there was no help for it; and I recommend all adventurous
youths who abandon vessels in romantic islands during the rainy
season to provide themselves with umbrellas.

After an hour or so the shower passed away. My companion
slept through it all, or at least appeared so to do; and now that it

[figure description] Page 060.[end figure description]

was over I had not the heart to awaken him. As I lay on my
back completely shrouded with verdure, the leafy branches
drooping over me, and my limbs buried in grass, I could not avoid
comparing our situation with that of the interesting babes in the
wood. Poor little sufferers!—no wonder their constitutions broke
down under the hardships to which they were exposed.

During the hour or two spent under the shelter of these bushes,
I began to feel symptoms which I at once attributed to the exposure
of the preceding night. Cold shiverings and a burning fever
succeeded one another at intervals, while one of my legs was
swelled to such a degree, and pained me so acutely, that I half
suspected I had been bitten by some venomous reptile, the congenial
inhabitant of the chasm from which we had lately emerged.
I may here remark by the way—what I subsequently learned—
that all the islands of Polynesia enjoy the reputation, in common
with the Hibernian isle, of being free from the presence of any
vipers; though whether Saint Patrick ever visited them, is a question
I shall not attempt to decide.

As the feverish sensation increased upon me I tossed about, still
unwilling to disturb my slumbering companion, from whose side
I removed two or three yards. I chanced to push aside a branch,
and by so doing suddenly disclosed to my view a scene which
even now I can recall with all the vividness of the first impression.
Had a glimpse of the gardens of Paradise been revealed
to me, I could scarcely have been more ravished with the sight.

From the spot where I lay transfixed with surprise and delight,
I looked straight down into the bosom of a valley, which swept
away in long wavy undulations to the blue waters in the distance.
Midway towards the sea, and peering here and there amidst the
foliage, might be seen the palmetto-thatched houses of its inhabitants
glistening in the sun that had bleached them to a dazzling
whiteness. The vale was more than three leagues in length, and
about a mile across at its greatest width.

[figure description] Page 061.[end figure description]

On either side it appeared hemmed in by steep and green acclivities,
which, uniting near the spot where I lay, formed an
abrupt and semicircular termination of grassy cliffs and precipices
hundreds of feet in height, over which flowed numberless small
cascades. But the crowning beauty of the prospect was its universal
verdure; and in this indeed consists, I believe, the peculiar
charm of every Polynesian landscape. Everywhere below me,
from the base of the precipice upon whose very verge I had been
unconsciously reposing, the surface of the vale presented a mass
of foliage, spread with such rich profusion that it was impossible
to determine of what description of trees it consisted.

But perhaps there was nothing about the scenery I beheld more
impressive than those silent cascades, whose slender threads of
water, after leaping down the steep cliffs, were lost amidst the
rich herbage of the valley.

Over all the landscape there reigned the most hushed repose,
which I almost feared to break, lest, like the enchanted gardens
in the fairy tale, a single syllable might dissolve the spell. For
a long time, forgetful alike of my own situation, and the vicinity
of my still slumbering companion, I remained gazing around me,
hardly able to comprehend by what means I had thus suddenly
been made a spectator of such a scene.

p273-087 CHAPTER VIII.

The Important Question, Typee or Happar?—A Wild Goose Chase—My
Sufferings—Disheartening Situation—A Night in a Ravine—Morning
Meal—Happy Idea of Toby—Journey towards the Valley.

[figure description] Page 062.[end figure description]

Recovering from my astonishment at the beautiful scene before
me, I quickly awakened Toby, and informed him of the discovery
I had made. Together we now repaired to the border of the
precipice, and my companion's admiration was equal to my own.
A little reflection, however, abated our surprise at coming so unexpectedly
upon this valley, since the large vales of Happar and
Typee, lying upon this ride of Nukuheva, and extending a considerable
distance from the sea towards the interior, must necessarily
terminate somewhere about this point.

The question now was as to which of those two places we were
looking down upon. Toby insisted that it was the abode of the
Happars, and I that it was tenanted by their enemies, the ferocious
Typees. To be sure I was not entirely convinced by my
own arguments, but Toby's proposition to descend at once into the
valley, and partake of the hospitality of its inmates, seemed to me
to be risking so much upon the strength of a mere supposition,
that I resolved to oppose it until we had more evidence to proceed
upon.

The point was one of vital importance, as the natives of Happar
were not only at peace with Nukuheva, but cultivated with
its inhabitants the most friendly relations, and enjoyed beside a
reputation for gentleness and humanity which led us to expect
from them, if not a cordial reception, at least a shelter during the
short period we should remain in their territory.

[figure description] Page 063.[end figure description]

On the other hand, the very name of Typee struck a panic into
my heart which I did not attempt to disguise. The thought of
voluntarily throwing ourselves into the hands of these cruel
savages, seemed to me an act of mere madness; and almost
equally so the idea of venturing into the valley, uncertain by
which of these two tribes it was inhabited. That the vale at our
feet was tenanted by one of them, was a point that appeared to us
past all doubt, since we knew that they resided in this quarter,
although our information did not enlighten us further.

My companion, however, incapable of resisting the tempting
prospect which the place held out of an abundant supply of food
and other means of enjoyment, still clung to his own inconsiderate
view of the subject, nor could all my reasoning shake it.
When I reminded him that it was impossible for either of us to
know anything with certainty, and when I dwelt upon the horrible
fate we should encounter were we rashly to descend into the
valley, and discover too late the error we had committed, he replied
by detailing all the evils of our present condition, and the
sufferings we must undergo should we continue to remain where
we then were.

Anxious to draw him away from the subject, if possible—for
I saw that it would be in vain to attempt changing his mind—I
directed his attention to a long bright unwooded tract of land
which, sweeping down from the elevations in the interior, descended
into the valley before us. I then suggested to him that
beyond this ridge might lie a capacious and untenanted valley,
abounding with all manner of delicious fruits; for I had heard
that there were several such upon the island, and proposed that
we should endeavor to reach it, and if we found our expectations
realized we should at once take refuge in it and remain there as
long as we pleased.

He acquiesced in the suggestion; and we immediately, therefore,
began surveying the country lying before us, with a view

[figure description] Page 064.[end figure description]

of determining upon the best route for us to pursue; but it presented
little choice, the whole interval being broken into steep
ridges, divided by dark ravines, extending in parallel lines at
right angles to our direct course. All these we would be obliged
to cross before we could hope to arrive at our destination.

A weary journey! But we decided to undertake it, though,
for my own part, I felt little prepared to encounter its fatigues,
shivering and burning by turns with the ague and fever; for I
know not how else to describe the alternate sensations I experienced,
and suffering not a little from the lameness which afflicted
me. Added to this was the faintness consequent on our meagre
diet—a calamity in which Toby participated to the same extent
as myself.

These circumstances, however, only augmented my anxiety to
reach a place which promised us plenty and repose, before I
should be reduced to a state which would render me altogether
unable to perform the journey. Accordingly we now commenced
it by descending the almost perpendicular side of a steep and narrow
gorge, bristling with a thick growth of reeds. Here there
was but one mode for us to adopt. We seated ourselves upon the
ground, and guided our descent by catching at the canes in our
path. The velocity with which we thus slid down the side of the
ravine soon brought us to a point where we could use our feet, and
in a short time we arrived at the edge of the torrent, which rolled
impetuously along the bed of the chasm.

After taking a refreshing draught from the water of the
stream, we addressed ourselves to a much more difficult undertaking
than the last. Every foot of our late descent had to be
regained in ascending the opposite side of the gorge—an operation
rendered the less agreeable from the consideration that in
these perpendicular episodes we did not progress a hundred
yards on our journey. But, ungrateful as the task was, we set
about it with exemplary patience, and after a snail-like progress

[figure description] Page 065.[end figure description]

of an hour or more, had scaled perhaps one half of the distance,
when the fever which had left me for awhile returned with such
violence, and accompanied by so raging a thirst, that it required
all the entreaties of Toby to prevent me from losing all the
fruits of my late exertion, by precipitating myself madly down
the cliffs we had just climbed, in quest of the water which flowed
so temptingly at their base. At the moment all my hopes and
fears appeared to be merged in this one desire, careless of the
consequences that might result from its gratification. I am aware
of no feeling, either of pleasure or of pain, that so completely
deprives one of all power to resist its impulses, as this same
raging thirst.

Toby earnestly conjured me to continue the ascent, assuring
me that a little more exertion would bring us to the summit, and
that then in less than five minutes we should find ourselves at the
brink of the stream, which must necessarily flow on the other side
of the ridge.

“Do not,” he exclaimed, “turn back, now that we have proceeded
thus far; for I tell you that neither of us will have the
courage to repeat the attempt, if once more we find ourselves
looking up to where we now are from the bottom of these rocks!”

I was not yet so perfectly beside myself as to be heedless of
these representations, and therefore toiled on, ineffectually endeavoring
to appease the thirst which consumed me, by thinking
that in a short time I should be able to gratify it to my heart's
content.

At last we gained the top of the second elevation, the loftiest
of those I have described as extending in parallel lines between
us and the valley we desired to reach. It commanded a view of
the whole intervening distance; and, discouraged as I was by
other circumstances, this prospect plunged me into the very
depths of despair. Nothing but dark and fearful chasms, separated
by sharp crested and perpendicular ridges as far as the eye

[figure description] Page 066.[end figure description]

could reach. Could we have stepped from summit to summit of
these steep but narrow elevations we could easily have accomplished
the distance; but we must penetrate to the bottom of
every yawning gulf, and scale in succession every one of the
eminences before us. Even Toby, although not suffering as I
did, was not proof against the disheartening influences of the
sight.

But we did not long stand to contemplate it, impatient as I
was to reach the waters of the torrent which flowed beneath us.
With an insensibility to danger which I cannot call to mind without
shuddering, we threw ourselves down the depths of the ravine,
startling its savage solitudes with the echoes produced by the
falling fragments of rock we every moment dislodged from their
places, careless of the insecurity of our footing, and reckless
whether the slight roots and twigs we clutched at sustained us for
the while, or treacherously yielded to our grasp. For my own
part, I scarcely knew whether I was helplessly falling from the
heights above, or whether the fearful rapidity with which I
descended was an act of my own volition.

In a few minutes we reached the foot of the gorge, and kneeling
upon a small ledge of dripping rocks, I bent over to the stream.
What a delicious sensation was I now to experience! I paused
for a second to concentrate all my capabilities of enjoyment, and
then immerged my lips in the clear element before me. Had the
apples of Sodom turned to ashes in my mouth, I could not have
felt a more startling revulsion. A single drop of the cold fluid
seemed to freeze every drop of blood in my body; the fever that
had been burning in my veins gave place on the instant to deathlike
chills, which shook me one after another like so many shocks
of electricity, while the perspiration produced by my late violent
exertions congealed in icy beads upon my forehead. My thirst
was gone, and I fairly loathed the water. Starting to my feet,
the sight of those dank rocks, oozing forth moisture at every

[figure description] Page 067.[end figure description]

crevice, and the dark stream shooting along its dismal channel,
sent fresh chills through my shivering frame, and I felt as uncontrollable
a desire to climb up towards the genial sunlight as I before
had to descend the ravine.

After two hours' perilous exertions we stood upon the summit
of another ridge, and it was with difficulty I could bring myself
to believe that we had ever penetrated the black and yawning
chasm which then gaped at our feet. Again we gazed upon
the prospect which the height commanded, but it was just as
depressing as the one which had before met our eyes. I now felt
that in our present situation it was in vain for us to think of ever
overcoming the obstacles in our way, and I gave up all thoughts
of reaching the vale which lay beyond this series of impediments;
while at the same time I could not devise any scheme to extricate
ourselves from the difficulties in which we were involved.

The remotest idea of returning to Nukuheva, unless assured of
our vessel's departure, never once entered my mind, and indeed
it was questionable whether we could have succeeded in reaching
it, divided as we were from the bay by a distance we could not
compute, and perplexed too in our remembrance of localities by
our recent wanderings. Besides, it was unendurable the thought
of retracing our steps and rendering all our painful exertions of
no avail.

There is scarcely anything when a man is in difficulties that
he is more disposed to look upon with abhorrence than a rightabout
retrograde movement—a systematic going over of the
already trodden ground: and especially if he has a love of adventure,
such a course appears indescribably repulsive, so long as
there remains the least hope to be derived from braving untried
difficulties.

It was this feeling that prompted us to descend the opposite side
of the elevation we had just scaled, although with what definite
object in view it would have been impossible for either of us to tell.

[figure description] Page 068.[end figure description]

Without exchanging a syllable upon the subject, Toby and
myself simultaneously renounced the design which had lured us
thus far—perceiving in each other's countenances that desponding
expression which speaks more eloquently than words.

Together we stood towards the close of this weary day in the
cavity of the third gorge we had entered, wholly incapacitated for
any further exertion, until restored to some degree of strength by
food and repose.

We seated ourselves upon the least uncomfortable spot we
could select, and Toby produced from the bosom of his frock the
sacred package. In silence we partook of the small morsel of
refreshment that had been left from the morning's repast, and without
once proposing to violate the sanctity of our engagement with
respect to the remainder, we rose to our feet, and proceeded to
construct some sort of shelter under which we might obtain the
sleep we so greatly needed.

Fortunately the spot was better adapted to our purpose than
the one in which we had passed the last wretched night. We
cleared away the tall reeds from a small but almost level bit of
ground, and twisted them into a low basket-like hut, which we
covered with a profusion of long thick leaves, gathered from a
tree near at hand. We disposed them thickly all around, reserving
only a slight opening that barely permitted us to crawl under
the shelter we had thus obtained.

These deep recesses, though protected from the winds that
assail the summits of their lofty sides, are damp and chill to a
degree that one would hardly anticipate in such a climate; and
being unprovided with anything but our woollen frocks and thin
duck trowsers to resist the cold of the place, we were the more
solicitous to render our habitation for the night as comfortable
as we could. Accordingly, in addition to what we had already
done, we plucked down all the leaves within our reach and threw

[figure description] Page 069.[end figure description]

them in a heap over our little hut, into which we now crept,
raking after us a reserved supply to form our couch.

That night nothing but the pain I suffered prevented me from
sleeping most refreshingly. As it was, I caught two or three
naps, while Toby slept away at my side as soundly as though he
had been sandwiched between two Holland sheets. Luckily it
did not rain, and we were preserved from the misery which a
heavy shower would have occasioned us.

In the morning I was awakened by the sonorous voice of my
companion ringing in my ears and bidding me rise. I crawled
out from our heap of leaves, and was astonished at the change
which a good night's rest had wrought in his appearance. He
was as blithe and joyous as a young bird, and was staying the
keenness of his morning's appetite by chewing the soft bark of a
delicate branch he held in his hand, and he recommended the
like to me as an admirable antidote against the gnawings of
hunger.

For my own part, though feeling materially better than I had
done the preceding evening, I could not look at the limb that had
pained me so violently at intervals during the last twenty-four
hours, without experiencing a sense of alarm that I strove in vain
to shake off. Unwilling to disturb the flow of my comrade's
spirits, I managed to stifle the complaints to which I might otherwise
have given vent, and calling upon him good-humoredly to
speed our banquet, I prepared myself for it by washing in the
stream. This operation concluded, we swallowed, or rather absorbed,
by a peculiar kind of slow sucking process, our respective
morsels of nourishment, and then entered into a discussion as to
the steps it was necessary for us to pursue.

“What's to be done now?” inquired I, rather dolefully.

“Descend into that same valley we descried yesterday,”
rejoined Toby, with a rapidity and loudness of utterance that
almost led me to suspect he had been slyly devouring the

[figure description] Page 070.[end figure description]

broadside of an ox in some of the adjoining thickets. “What else,”
he continued, “remains for us to do but that, to be sure? Why,
we shall both starve to a certainty if we remain here; and as to
your fears of those Typees—depend upon it, it is all nonsense.
It is impossible that the inhabitants of such a lovely place as
we saw can be anything else but good fellows; and if you choose
rather to perish with hunger in one of these soppy caverns, I for
one prefer to chance a bold descent into the valley, and risk the
consequences.”

“And who is to pilot us thither,” I asked, “even if we should
decide upon the measure you propose? Are we to go again up
and down those precipices that we crossed yesterday, until we
reach the place we started from, and then take a flying leap from
the cliffs to the valley?”

“'Faith, I didn't think of that,” said Toby; “sure enough,
both sides of the valley appeared to be hemmed in by precipices,
didn't they?”

“Yes,” answered I, “as steep as the sides of a line-of-battle
ship, and about a hundred times as high.” My companion sank
his head upon his breast, and remained for a while in deep
thought. Suddenly he sprang to his feet, while his eyes lighted
up with that gleam of intelligence that marks the presence of some
bright idea.

“Yes, yes,” he exclaimed; “the streams all run in the same
direction, and must necessarily flow into the valley before they
reach the sea; all we have to do is just to follow this stream, and
sooner or later it will lead us into the vale.”

“You are right, Toby,” I exclaimed, “you are right; it must
conduct us thither, and quickly too; for, see with what a steep
inclination the water descends.”

“It does, indeed,” burst forth my companion, overjoyed at my
verification of his theory, “it does indeed; why, it is as plain as
a pike-staff. Let us proceed at once; come, throw away all those

[figure description] Page 071.[end figure description]

stupid ideas about the Typees, and hurrah for the lovely valley
of the Happars!”

“You will have it to be Happar, I see, my dear fellow; pray
Heaven you may not find yourself deceived,” observed I, with a
shake of my head.

“Amen to all that, and much more,” shouted Toby, rushing
forward; “but Happar it is, for nothing else than Happar can it
be. So glorious a valley—such forests of bread-fruit trees—such
groves of cocoa-nut—such wildernesses of guava-bushes! Ah!
shipmate! don't linger behind: in the name of all delightful
fruits, I am dying to be at them. Come on, come on; shove
ahead, there's a lively lad; never mind the rocks; kick them
out of the way, as I do; and to-morrow, old fellow, take my word
for it, we shall be in clover. Come on;” and so saying, he
dashed along the ravine like a madman, forgetting my inability
to keep up with him. In a few minutes, however, the exuberance
of his spirits abated, and, pausing for a while, he permitted me to
overtake him.

p273-097 CHAPTER IX.

Perilous Passage of the Ravine—Descent into the Valley.

[figure description] Page 072.[end figure description]

The fearless confidence of Toby was contagious, and I began to
adopt the Happar side of the question. I could not, however,
overcome a certain feeling of trepidation as we made our way
along these gloomy solitudes. Our progress, at first comparatively
easy, became more and more difficult. The bed of the
watercourse was covered with fragments of broken rocks, which
had fallen from above, offering so many obstructions to the course
of the rapid stream, which vexed and fretted about them,—
forming at intervals small waterfalls, pouring over into deep basins,
or splashing wildly upon heaps of stones.

From the narrowness of the gorge, and the steepness of its
sides, there was no mode of advancing but by wading through
the water; stumbling every moment over the impediments which
lay hidden under its surface, or tripping against the huge roots
of trees. But the most annoying hindrance we encountered was
from a multitude of crooked boughs, which, shooting out almost
horizontally from the sides of the chasm, twisted themselves
together in fantastic masses almost to the surface of the stream,
affording us no passage except under the low arches which they
formed. Under these we were obliged to crawl on our hands
and feet, sliding along the oozy surface of the rocks, or slipping
into the deep pools, and with scarce light enough to guide us.
Occasionally we would strike our heads against some projecting
limb of a tree; and while imprudently engaged in rubbing the

[figure description] Page 073.[end figure description]

injured part, would fall sprawling amongst filthy fragments,
cutting and bruising ourselves, whilst the unpitying waters flowed
over our prostrate bodies. Belzoni, worming himself through
the subterranean passages of the Egyptian catacombs, could not
have met with greater impediments than those we here encountered.
But we struggled against them manfully, well knowing
our only hope lay in advancing.

Towards sunset we halted at a spot where we made preparations
for passing the night. Here we constructed a hut, in much
the same way as before, and crawling into it, endeavoured to
forget our sufferings. My companion, I believe, slept pretty
soundly; but at daybreak, when we rolled out of our dwelling,
I felt nearly disqualified for any further efforts. Toby prescribed
as a remedy for my illness the contents of one of our
little silk packages, to be taken at once in a single dose. To
this species of medical treatment, however, I would by no means
accede, much as he insisted upon it; and so we partook of our
usual morsel, and silently resumed our journey. It was now the
fourth day since we left Nukuheva, and the gnawings of hunger
became painfully acute. We were fain to pacify them by chewing
the tender bark of roots and twigs, which, if they did not
afford us nourishment, were at least sweet and pleasant to the taste.

Our progress along the steep watercourse was necessarily slow,
and by noon we had not advanced more than a mile. It was
somewhere near this part of the day that the noise of falling
waters, which we had faintly caught in the early morning, became
more distinct; and it was not long before we were arrested
by a rocky precipice of nearly a hundred feet in depth, that
extended all across the channel, and over which the wild stream
poured in an unbroken leap. On either hand the walls of the
ravine presented their overhanging sides both above and below
the fall, affording no means whatever of avoiding the cataract by
taking a circuit round it.

[figure description] Page 074.[end figure description]

“What's to be done now, Toby?” said I.

“Why,” rejoined he, “as we cannot retreat, I suppose we must
keep shoving along.”

“Very true, my dear Toby; but how do you purpose accomplishing
that desirable object?”

“By jumping from the top of the fall, if there be no other
way,” unhesitatingly replied my companion: “it will be much
the quickest way of descent; but as you are not quite as active
as I am, we will try some other way.”

And, so saying, he crept cautiously along and peered over
into the abyss, while I remained wondering by what possible
means we could overcome this apparently insuperable obstruction.
As soon as my companion had completed his survey, I eagerly
inquired the result.

“The result of my observations you wish to know, do you?”
began Toby, deliberately, with one of his odd looks: “well, my
lad, the result of my observations is very quickly imparted. It
is at present uncertain which of our two necks will have the
honor to be broken first; but about a hundred to one would be a
fair bet in favor of the man who takes the first jump.”

“Then it is an impossible thing, is it?” inquired I gloomily.

“No, shipmate; on the contrary, it is the easiest thing in life:
the only awkward point is the sort of usage which our unhappy
limbs may receive when we arrive at the bottom, and what sort
of travelling trim we shall be in afterwards. But follow me now,
and I will show you the only chance we have.”

With this he conducted me to the verge of the cataract, and
pointed along the side of the ravine to a number of curious
looking roots, some three or four inches in thickness, and several
feet long, which, after twisting among the fissures of the rock,
shot perpendicularly from it and ran tapering to a point in the
air, hanging over the gulf like so many dark icicles. They
covered nearly the entire surface of one side of the gorge, the

[figure description] Page 075.[end figure description]

lowest of them reaching even to the water. Many were mossgrown
and decayed, with their extremities snapped short off, and
those in the immediate vicinity of the fall were slippery with
moisture.

Toby's scheme, and it was a desperate one, was to entrust ourselves
to these treacherous-looking roots, and by slipping down
from one to another to gain the bottom.

“Are you ready to venture it?” asked Toby, looking at me
earnestly, but without saying a word as to the practicability of
the plan.

“I am,” was my reply; for I saw it was our only resource if
we wished to advance, and as for retreating, all thoughts of that
sort had been long abandoned.

After I had signified my assent, Toby, without uttering a
single word, crawled along the dripping ledge until he gained a
point from whence he could just reach one of the largest of the
pendant roots; he shook it—it quivered in his grasp, and when
he let it go it twanged in the air like a strong wire sharply struck.
Satisfied by his scrutiny, my light-limbed companion swung himself
nimbly upon it, and twisting his legs round it in sailor fashion,
slipped down eight or ten feet, where his weight gave it a motion
not unlike that of a pendulum. He could not venture to descend
any further; so holding on with one hand, he with the other
shook one by one all the slender roots around him, and at last,
finding one which he thought trustworthy, shifted himself to it
and continued his downward progress.

So far so well; but I could not avoid comparing my heavier
frame and disabled condition with his light figure and remarkable
activity; but there was no help for it, and in less than a minute's
time I was swinging directly over his head. As soon as his upturned
eyes caught a glimpse of me, he exclaimed in his usual
dry tone, for the danger did not seem to daunt him in the least,
“Mate, do me the kindness not to fall until I get out of your

[figure description] Page 076.[end figure description]

way;” and then swinging himself more on one side, he continued
his descent. In the mean time I cautiously transferred myself
from the limb down which I had been slipping to a couple of
others that were near it, deeming two strings to my bow better
than one, and taking care to test their strength before I trusted
my weight to them.

On arriving towards the end of the second stage in this vertical
journey, and shaking the long roots which were round me, to
my consternation they snapped off one after another like so many
pipe stems, and fell in fragments against the side of the gulf,
splashing at last into the waters beneath.

As one after another the treacherous roots yielded to my grasp,
and fell into the torrent, my heart sunk within me. The
branches on which I was suspended over the yawning chasm
swang to and fro in the air, and I expected them every moment to
snap in twain. Appalled at the dreadful fate that menaced me,
I clutched frantically at the only large root which remained near
me, but in vain; I could not reach it, though my fingers were
within a few inches of it. Again and again I tried to reach it,
until at length, maddened with the thought of my situation, I
swayed myself violently by striking my foot against the side
of the rock, and at the instant that I approached the large root
caught desperately at it, and transferred myself to it. It vibrated
violently under the sudden weight, but fortunately did not give way.

My brain grew dizzy with the idea of the frightful risk I had
just run, and I involuntarily closed my eyes to shut out the view
of the depth beneath me. For the instant I was safe, and I uttered
a devout ejaculation of thanksgiving for my escape.

“Pretty well done,” shouted Toby underneath me; “you
are nimbler than I thought you to be—hopping about up
there from root to root like any young squirrel. As soon as
you have diverted yourself sufficiently, I would advise you to
proceed.”

[figure description] Page 077.[end figure description]

“Aye, aye, Toby, all in good time: two or three more such
famous roots as this, and I shall be with you.”

The residue of my downward progress was comparatively easy;
the roots were in greater abundance, and in one or two places
jutting out points of rock assisted me greatly. In a few moments
I was standing by the side of my companion.

Substituting a stout stick for the one I had thrown aside
at the top of the precipice, we now continued our course along
the bed of the ravine. Soon we were saluted by a sound
in advance, that grew by degrees louder and louder, as the
noise of the cataract we were leaving behind gradually died on
our ears.

“Another precipice for us, Toby.”

“Very good; we can descend them, you know—come on.”

Nothing indeed appeared to depress or intimidate this intrepid
fellow. Typees or Niagaras, he was as ready to engage one as
the other, and I could not avoid a thousand times congratulating
myself upon having such a companion in an enterprise like the
present.

After an hour's painful progress, we reached the verge of another
fall, still loftier than the preceding, and flanked both above
and below with the same steep masses of rock, presenting, however,
here and there narrow irregular ledges, supporting a shallow
soil, on which grew a variety of bushes and trees, whose bright
verdure contrasted beautifully with the foamy waters that flowed
between them.

Toby, who invariably acted as pioneer, now proceeded to reconnoitre.
On his return, he reported that the shelves of rock
on our right would enable us to gain with little risk the bottom of
the cataract. Accordingly, leaving the bed of the stream at the
very point where it thundered down, we began crawling along one
of these sloping ledges until it carried us to within a few feet of
another that inclined downward at a still sharper angle, and upon

[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]

which, by assisting each other, we managed to alight in safety.
We warily crept along this, steadying ourselves by the naked
roots of the shrubs that clung to every fissure. As we proceeded,
the narrow path became still more contracted, rendering it difficult
for us to maintain our footing, until suddenly, as we reached
an angle of the wall of rock where we had expected it to widen,
we perceived to our consternation that a yard or two further on
it abruptly terminated at a place we could not possibly hope to
pass.

Toby as usual led the van, and in silence I waited to learn from
him how he proposed to extricate us from this new difficulty.

“Well, my boy,” I exclaimed, after the expiration of several
minutes, during which time my companion had not uttered a
word: “What's to be done now?”

He replied in a tranquil tone, that probably the best thing we
could do in the present strait was to get out of it as soon as
possible.

“Yes, my dear Toby, but tell me how we are to get out of it.”

“Something in this sort of style,” he replied; and at the same
moment to my horror he slipped sideways off the rock, and, as I
then thought, by good fortune merely alighted among the spreading
branches of a species of palm tree, that shooting its hardy roots
along a ledge below, curved its trunk upwards into the air, and
presented a thick mass of foliage about twenty feet below the spot
where we had thus suddenly been brought to a stand-still. I involuntarily
held my breath, expecting to see the form of my
companion, after being sustained for a moment by the branches
of the tree, sink through their frail support, and fall headlong to
the bottom. To my surprise and joy, however, he recovered himself,
and disentangling his limbs from the fractured branches, he
peered out from his leafy bed, and shouted lustily, “Come on, my
hearty, there is no other alternative!” and with this he ducked
beneath the foliage, and slipping down the trunk, stood in a moment

[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]

at least fifty feet beneath me, upon the broad shelf of rock from
which sprung the tree he had descended.

What would I not have given at that moment to have been by
his side? The feat he had just accomplished seemed little less
than miraculous, and I could hardly credit the evidence of my
senses when I saw the wide distance that a single daring act had
so suddenly placed between us.

Toby's animating “come on!” again sounded in my ears, and
dreading to lose all confidence in myself if I remained meditating
upon the step, I once more gazed down to assure myself of the
relative bearing of the tree and my own position, and then closing
my eyes and uttering one comprehensive ejaculation of prayer, I
inclined myself over towards the abyss, and after one breathless
instant fell with a crash into the tree, the branches snapping and
crackling with my weight, as I sunk lower and lower among
them, until I was stopped by coming in contact with a sturdy
limb.

In a few moments I was standing at the foot of the tree, manipulating
myself all over with a view of ascertaining the extent of
the injuries I had received. To my surprise the only effects of my
feat were a few slight contusions too trifling to care about. The
rest of our descent was easily accomplished, and in half an hour
after regaining the ravine we had partaken of our evening morsel,
built our hut as usual, and crawled under its shelter.

The next morning, in spite of our debility and the agony of
hunger under which we were now suffering, though neither of us
confessed to the fact, we struggled along our dismal and still difficult
and dangerous path, cheered by the hope of soon catching a
glimpse of the valley before us, and towards evening the voice
of a cataract which had for some time sounded like a low deep
bass to the music of the smaller waterfalls, broke upon our ears
in still louder tones, and assured us that we were approaching its
vicinity.

[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]

That evening we stood on the brink of a precipice, over which
the dark stream bounded in one final leap of full 300 feet. The
sheer descent terminated in the region we so long had sought. On
either side of the fall, two lofty and perpendicular bluffs buttressed
the sides of the enormous cliff, and projected into the sea of verdure
with which the valley waved, and a range of similar projecting
eminences stood disposed in a half circle about the head of the vale.
A thick canopy of trees hung over the very verge of the fall,
leaving an arched aperture for the passage of the waters, which
imparted a strange picturesqueness to the scene.

The valley was now before us; but instead of being conducted
into its smiling bosom by the gradual descent of the deep watercourse
we had thus far pursued, all our labors now appeared to
have been rendered futile by its abrupt termination. But, bitterly
disappointed, we did not entirely despair.

As it was now near sunset we determined to pass the night where
we were, and on the morrow, refreshed by sleep, and by eating at
one meal all our stock of food, to accomplish a descent into the
valley, or perish in the attempt.

We laid ourselves down that night on a spot, the recollection of
which still makes me shudder. A small table of rock which
projected over the precipice on one side of the stream, and was
drenched by the spray of the fall, sustained a huge trunk of a
tree which must have been deposited there by some heavy freshet.
It lay obliquely, with one end resting on the rock and the other
supported by the side of the ravine. Against it we placed in a
sloping direction a number of the half-decayed boughs that were
strewn about, and covering the whole with twigs and leaves,
awaited the morning's light beneath such shelter as it afforded.

During the whole of this night the continual roaring of the
cataract—the dismal moaning of the gale through the trees—the
pattering of the rain, and the profound darkness, affected my
spirits to a degree which nothing had ever before produced. Wet,

[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]

half-famished, and chilled to the heart with the dampness of the
place, and nearly wild with the pain I endured, I fairly cowered
down to the earth under this multiplication of hardships, and
abandoned myself to frightful anticipations of evil; and my companion,
whose spirit at last was a good deal broken, scarcely uttered
a word during the whole night.

At length the day dawned upon us, and rising from our miserable
pallet, we stretched our stiffened joints, and after eating
all that remained of our bread, prepared for the last stage of our
journey.

I will not recount every hair-breadth escape, and every fearful
difficulty that occurred before we succeeded in reaching the
bosom of the valley. As I have already described similar scenes,
it will be sufficient to say that at length, after great toil and great
dangers, we both stood with no limbs broken at the head of that
magnificent vale which five days before had so suddenly burst
upon my sight, and almost beneath the shadow of those very
cliffs from whose summits we had gazed upon the prospect.

p273-107 CHAPTER X.

The Head of the Valley—Cautious Advance—A Path—Fruit—Discovery
of two of the Natives—Their Singular Conduct—Approach towards the
Inhabited Parts of the Vale—Sensation Produced by our Appearance—
Reception at the House of one of the Natives.

[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]

How to obtain the fruit which we felt convinced must grow near
at hand was our first thought.

Typee or Happar? A frightful death at the hands of the
fiercest of cannibals, or a kindly reception from a gentler race of
savages? Which? But it was too late now to discuss a question
which would so soon be answered.

The part of the valley in which we found ourselves appeared to
be altogether uninhabited. An almost impenetrable thicket extended
from side to side, without presenting a single plant affording
the nourishment we had confidently calculated upon; and with
this object, we followed the course of the stream, casting quick
glances as we proceeded into the thick jungles on either hand.

My companion—to whose solicitations I had yielded in descending
into the valley—now that the step was taken, began to manifest
a degree of caution I had little expected from him. He proposed
that in the event of our finding an adequate supply of fruit,
we should remain in this unfrequented portion of the country—
where we should run little chance of being surprised by its occupants,
whoever they might be—until sufficiently recruited to resume
our journey; when laying in a store of food equal to our
wants, we might easily regain the bay of Nukuheva, after the
lapse of a sufficient interval to ensure the departure of our vessel.

[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]

I objected strongly to this proposition, plausible as it was, as the
difficulties of the route would be almost insurmountable, unacquainted
as we were with the general bearings of the country,
and I reminded my companion of the hardships which we had
already encountered in our uncertain wanderings; in a word, I
said that since we had deemed it advisable to enter the valley, we
ought manfully to face the consequences, whatever they might
be; the more especially as I was convinced there was no alternative
left us but to fall in with the natives at once, and boldly
risk the reception they might give us: and that as to myself, I
felt the necessity of rest and shelter, and that until I had obtained
them, I should be wholly unable to encounter such sufferings as
we had lately passed through. To the justice of these observations
Toby somewhat reluctantly assented.

We were surprised that, after moving as far as we had along
the valley, we should still meet with the same impervious thickets;
and thinking that although the borders of the stream might be
lined for some distance with them, yet beyond there might be more
open ground, I requested Toby to keep a bright look-out upon one
side, while I did the same on the other, in order to discover some
opening in the bushes, and especially to watch for the slightest
appearance of a path or anything else that might indicate the
vicinity of the islanders.

What furtive and anxious glances we cast into those dim-looking
shades! With what apprehensions we proceeded, ignorant at
what moment we might be greeted by the javelin of some ambushed
savage! At last my companion paused, and directed my
attention to a narrow opening in the foliage. We struck into it,
and it soon brought us by an indistinctly traced path to a comparatively
clear space, at the further end of which we descried a
number of the trees, the native name of which is “annuee,” and
which bear a most delicious fruit.

What a race! I hobbling over the ground like some decrepid

[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]

wretch, and Toby leaping forward like a greyhound. He quickly
cleared one of the trees on which there were two or three of the
fruit, but to our chagrin they proved to be much decayed; the
rinds partly opened by the birds, and their hearts half devoured.
However, we quickly despatched them, and no ambrosia could
have been more delicious.

We looked about us uncertain whither to direct our steps, since
the path we had so far followed appeared to be lost in the open
space around us. At last we resolved to enter a grove near at
hand, and had advanced a few rods, when, just upon its skirts, I
picked up a slender bread-fruit shoot perfectly green, and with the
tender bark freshly stript from it. It was slippery with moisture,
and appeared as if it had been but that moment thrown aside. I
said nothing, but merely held it up to Toby, who started at this
undeniable evidence of the vicinity of the savages.

The plot was now thickening.—A short distance further lay a
little faggot of the same shoots bound together with a strip of bark.
Could it have been thrown down by some solitary native, who,
alarmed at seeing us, had hurried forward to carry the tidings of
our approach to his countrymen?—Typee or Happar?—But it
was too late to recede, so we moved on slowly, my companion in
advance casting eager glances under the trees on either side, until
all at once I saw him recoil as if stung by an adder. Sinking
on his knee, he waved me off with one hand, while with the other
he held aside some intervening leaves, and gazed intently at
some object.

Disregarding his injunction, I quickly approached him and
caught a glimpse of two figures partly hidden by the dense foliage;
they were standing close together, and were perfectly motionless.
They must have previously perceived us, and withdrawn into the
depths of the wood to elude our observation.

My mind was at once made up. Dropping my staff, and tearing
open the package of things we had brought from the ship, I

[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]

unrolled the cotton cloth, and holding it in one hand plucked with
the other a twig from the bushes beside me, and telling Toby to
follow my example, I broke through the covert and advanced,
waving the branch in token of peace towards the shrinking forms
before me.

They were a boy and a girl, slender and graceful, and completely
naked, with the exception of a slight girdle of bark, from
which depended at opposite points two of the russet leaves of the
bread-fruit tree. An arm of the boy, half screened from sight
by her wild tresses, was thrown about the neck of the girl, while
with the other he held one of her hands in his; and thus they
stood together, their heads inclined forward, catching the faint
noise we made in our progress, and with one foot in advance, as
if half inclined to fly from our presence.

As we drew near, their alarm evidently increased. Apprehensive
that they might fly from us altogether, I stopped short and
motioned them to advance and receive the gift I extended towards
them, but they would not; I then uttered a few words of their
language with which I was acquainted, scarcely expecting that
they would understand me, but to show that we had not dropped
from the clouds upon them. This appeared to give them a little
confidence, so I approached nearer, presenting the cloth with one
hand, and holding the bough with the other, while they slowly
retreated. At last they suffered us to approach so near to them
that we were enabled to throw the cotton cloth across their shoulders,
giving them to understand that it was theirs, and by a variety
of gestures endeavoring to make them understand that we entertained
the highest possible regard for them.

The frightened pair now stood still, whilst we endeavored to
make them comprehend the nature of our wants. In doing this
Toby went through with a complete series of pantomimic illustrations—
opening his mouth from ear to ear, and thrusting his
fingers down his throat, gnashing his teeth and rolling his eyes

[figure description] Page 086.[end figure description]

about, till I verily believe the poor creatures took us for a couple
of white cannibals who were about to make a meal of them.
When, however, they understood us, they showed no inclination
to relieve our wants. At this juncture it began to rain violently,
and we motioned them to lead us to some place of shelter. With
this request they appeared willing to comply, but nothing could
evince more strongly the apprehension with which they regarded
us, than the way in which, whilst walking before us, they kept
their eyes constantly turned back to watch every movement we
made, and even our very looks.

“Typee or Happar, Toby?” asked I as we walked after them.

“Of course Happar,” he replied, with a show of confidence
which was intended to disguise his doubts.

“We shall soon know,” I exclaimed; and at the same moment
I stepped forward towards our guides, and pronouncing the two
names interrogatively and pointing to the lowest part of the valley,
endeavored to come to the point at once. They repeated the
words after me again and again, but without giving any peculiar
emphasis to either, so that I was completely at a loss to understand
them; for a couple of wilier young things than we afterwards
found them to have been on this particular occasion never
probably fell in any traveller's way.

More and more curious to ascertain our fate, I now threw
together in the form of a question the words “Happar” and
“Mortarkee,” the latter being equivalent to the word “good.”
The two natives interchanged glances of peculiar meaning with
one another at this, and manifested no little surprise; but on the
repetition of the question, after some consultation together, to the
great joy of Toby, they answered in the affirmative. Toby was
now in ecstasies, especially as the young savages continued to
reiterate their answer with great energy, as though desirous of
impressing us with the idea that being among the Happars, we
ought to consider ourselves perfectly secure.

[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]

Although I had some lingering doubts, I feigned great delight
with Toby at this announcement, while my companion broke out
into a pantomimic abhorrence of Typee, and immeasurable love
for the particular valley in which we were; our guides all the
while gazing uneasily at one another as if at a loss to account
for our conduct.

They hurried on, and we followed them; until suddenly they
set up a strange halloo, which was answered from beyond the
grove through which we were passing, and the next moment we
entered upon some open ground, at the extremity of which we
descried a long, low hut, and in front of it were several young
girls. As soon as they perceived us they fled with wild screams
into the adjoining thickets, like so many startled fawns. A few
moments after the whole valley resounded with savage outcries,
and the natives came running towards us from every direction.

Had an army of invaders made an irruption into their territory
they could not have evinced greater excitement. We were soon
completely encircled by a dense throng, and in their eager desire
to behold us they almost arrested our progress; an equal number
surrounding our youthful guides, who with amazing volubility
appeared to be detailing the circumstances which had attended
their meeting with us. Every item of intelligence appeared
to redouble the astonishment of the islanders, and they gazed at
us with inquiring looks.

At last we reached a large and handsome building of bamboos,
and were by signs told to enter it, the natives opening a lane for
us through which to pass; on entering without ceremony, we
threw our exhausted frames upon the mats that covered the floor.
In a moment the slight tenement was completely full of people,
whilst those who were unable to obtain admittance gazed at us
through its open cane-work.

It was now evening, and by the dim light we could just discern
the savage countenances around us, gleaming with wild

[figure description] Page 088.[end figure description]

curiosity and wonder; the naked forms and tattooed limbs of
brawny warriors, with here and there the slighter figures of
young girls, all engaged in a perfect storm of conversation, of
which we were of course the one only theme; whilst our recent
guides were fully occupied in answering the innumerable questions
which every one put to them. Nothing can exceed the
fierce gesticulation of these people when animated in conversation,
and on this occasion they gave loose to all their natural
vivacity, shouting and dancing about in a manner that well-nigh
intimidated us.

Close to where we lay, squatting upon their haunches, were
some eight or ten noble-looking chiefs—for such they subsequently
proved to be—who, more reserved than the rest, regarded
us with a fixed and stern attention, which not a little discomposed
our equanimity. One of them in particular, who appeared to be
the highest in rank, placed himself directly facing me; looking
at me with a rigidity of aspect under which I absolutely quailed.
He never once opened his lips, but maintained his severe expression
of countenance, without turning his face aside for a single
moment. Never before had I been subjected to so strange and
steady a glance; it revealed nothing of the mind of the savage,
but it appeared to be reading my own.

After undergoing this scrutiny till I grew absolutely nervous,
with a view of diverting it if possible, and conciliating the good
opinion of the warrior, I took some tobacco from the bosom of
my frock and offered it to him. He quietly rejected the proffered
gift, and, without speaking, motioned me to return it to its place.

In my previous intercourse with the natives of Nukuheva and
Tior, I had found that the present of a small piece of tobacco
would have rendered any of them devoted to my service. Was
this act of the chief a token of his enmity? Typee or Happar?
I asked within myself. I started, for at the same moment this
identical question was asked by the strange being before me. I

[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]

turned to Toby; the flickering light of a native taper showed me
his countenance pale with trepidation at this fatal question. I
paused for a second, and I know not by what impulse it was that
I answered “Typee.” The piece of dusky statuary nodded in
approval, and then murmured “Mortarkee!” “Mortarkee,” said
I, without further hesitation—“Typee mortarkee.”

What a transition! The dark figures around us leaped to
their feet, clapped their hands in transport, and shouted again
and again the talismanic syllables, the utterance of which appeared
to have settled everything.

When this commotion had a little subsided, the principal chief
squatted once more before me, and throwing himself into a sudden
rage, poured forth a string of philippics, which I was at no
loss to understand, from the frequent recurrence of the word
Happar, as being directed against the natives of the adjoining
valley. In all these denunciations my companion and I acquiesced,
while we extolled the character of the warlike Typees.
To be sure our panegyrics were somewhat laconic, consisting in
the repetition of that name, united with the potent adjective
“mortarkee.” But this was sufficient, and served to conciliate
the good will of the natives, with whom our congeniality of sentiment
on this point did more towards inspiring a friendly feeling
than anything else that could have happened.

At last the wrath of the chief evaporated, and in a few moments
he was as placid as ever. Laying his hand upon his breast, he
gave me to understand that his name was “Mehevi,” and that,
in return, he wished me to communicate my appellation. I
hesitated for an instant, thinking that it might be difficult for him
to pronounce my real name, and then with the most praiseworthy
intentions intimated that I was known as “Tom.” But I could
not have made a worse selection; the chief could not master it:
“Tommo,” “Tomma,” “Tommee,” everything but plain
“Tom.” As he persisted in garnishing the word with an

[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]

additional syllable, I compromised the matter with him at the word
“Tommo;” and by that name I went during the entire period of
my stay in the valley. The same proceeding was gone through
with Toby, whose mellifluous appellation was more easily caught.

An exchange of names is equivalent to a ratification of goodwill
and amity among these simple people; and as we were
aware of this fact, we were delighted that it had taken place on
the present occasion.

Reclining upon our mats, we now held a kind of levee, giving
audience to successive troops of the natives, who introduced themselves
to us by pronouncing their respective names, and retired
in high good humor on receiving ours in return. During this
ceremony the greatest merriment prevailed, nearly every announcement
on the part of the islanders being followed by a fresh
sally of gaiety, which induced me to believe that some of them
at least were innocently diverting the company at our expense,
by bestowing upon themselves a string of absurd titles, of the humor
of which we were of course entirely ignorant.

All this occupied about an hour, when the throng having a little
diminished, I turned to Mehevi and gave him to understand that
we were in need of food and sleep. Immediately the attentive
chief addressed a few words to one of the crowd, who disappeared,
and returned in a few moments with a calabash of “poee-poee,”
and two or three young cocoa-nuts stripped of their husks, and
with their shells partly broken. We both of us forthwith placed
one of these natural goblets to our lips, and drained it in a moment
of the refreshing draught it contained. The poee-poee was
then placed before us, and even famished as I was, I paused to consider
in what manner to convey it to my mouth.

This staple article of food among the Marquese islanders is
manufactured from the produce of the bread-fruit tree. It somewhat
resembles in its plastic nature our bookbinders' paste, is of a
yellow color, and somewhat tart to the taste.

[figure description] Page 091.[end figure description]

Such was the dish, the merits of which I was now eager to
discuss. I eyed it wistfully for a moment, and then, unable any
longer to stand on ceremony, plunged my hand into the yielding
mass, and to the boisterous mirth of the natives drew it forth laden
with the poee-poee, which adhered in lengthy strings to every
finger. So stubborn was its consistency, that in conveying my
heavily-freighted hand to my mouth, the connecting links almost
raised the calabash from the mats on which it had been placed.
This display of awkwardness—in which, by the bye, Toby kept
me company—convulsed the bystanders with uncontrollable
laughter.

As soon as their merriment had somewhat subsided, Mehevi,
motioning us to be attentive, dipped the fore-finger of his right
hand in the dish, and giving it a rapid and scientific twirl, drew
it out coated smoothly with the preparation. With a second peculiar
flourish he prevented the poee-poee from dropping to the
ground as he raised it to his mouth, into which the finger was
inserted, and drawn forth perfectly free from any adhesive matter.
This performance was evidently intended for our instruction; so
I again essayed the feat on the principles inculcated, but with
very ill success.

A starving man, however, little heeds conventional proprieties,
especially on a South-Sea Island, and accordingly Toby and I
partook of the dish after our own clumsy fashion, beplastering
our faces all over with the glutinous compound, and daubing our
hands nearly to the wrist. This kind of food is by no means
disagreeable to the palate of a European, though at first the mode
of eating it may be. For my own part, after the lapse of a few
days I became accustomed to its singular flavor, and grew remarkably
fond of it.

So much for the first course; several other dishes followed it,
some of which were positively delicious. We concluded our banquet
by tossing off the contents of two more young cocoa-nuts,

[figure description] Page 092.[end figure description]

after which we regaled ourselves with the soothing fumes of tobacco,
inhaled from a quaintly carved pipe which passed round
the circle.

During the repast, the natives eyed us with intense curiosity,
observing our minutest motions, and appearing to discover abundant
matter for comment in the most trifling occurrence. Their
surprise mounted the highest, when we began to remove our uncomfortable
garments, which were saturated with rain. They
scanned the whiteness of our limbs, and seemed utterly unable to
account for the contrast they presented to the swarthy hue of our
faces, embrowned from a six months' exposure to the scorching
sun of the Line. They felt our skin, much in the same way that
a silk mercer would handle a remarkably fine piece of satin; and
some of them went so far in their investigation as to apply the
olfactory organ.

Their singular behavior almost led me to imagine that they
never before had beheld a white man; but a few moments' reflection
convinced me that this could not have been the case;
and a more satisfactory reason for their conduct has since suggested
itself to my mind.

Deterred by the frightful stories related of its inhabitants,
ships never enter this bay, while their hostile relations with the
tribes in the adjoining valleys prevent the Typees from visiting
that section of the island where vessels occasionally lie. At long
intervals, however, some intrepid captain will touch on the skirts
of the bay, with two or three armed boats' crews, and accompanied
by an interpreter. The natives who live near the sea descry
the strangers long before they reach their waters, and aware
of the purpose for which they come, proclaim loudly the news of
their approach. By a species of vocal telegraph the intelligence
reaches the inmost recesses of the vale in an inconceivably short
space of time, drawing nearly its whole population down to the
beach laden with every variety of fruit. The interpreter, who

[figure description] Page 093.[end figure description]

is invariably a “tabooed Kannaka,”[1] leaps ashore with the
goods intended for barter, while the boats, with their oars shipped,
and every man on his thwart, lie just outside the surf, heading
off from the shore, in readiness at the first untoward event to escape
to the open sea. As soon as the traffic is concluded, one of
the boats pulls in under cover of the muskets of the others, the
fruit is quickly thrown into her, and the transient visitors precipitately
retire from what they justly consider so dangerous a
vicinity.

The intercourse occurring with Europeans being so restricted,
no wonder that the inhabitants of the valley manifested so much
curiosity with regard to us, appearing as we did among them under
such singular circumstances. I have no doubt that we were
the first white men who ever penetrated thus far back into their
territories, or at least the first who had ever descended from the
head of the vale. What had brought us thither must have appeared
a complete mystery to them, and from our ignorance of
the language it was impossible for us to enlighten them. In answer
to inquiries which the eloquence of their gestures enabled us
to comprehend, all that we could reply was, that we had come
from Nukuheva, a place, be it remembered, with which they
were at open war. This intelligence appeared to affect them with
the most lively emotions. “Nukuheva mortarkee?” they asked.
Of course we replied most energetically in the negative.

They then plied us with a thousand questions, of which we
could understand nothing more than that they had reference to

[figure description] Page 094.[end figure description]

the recent movements of the French, against whom they seemed
to cherish the most fierce hatred. So eager were they to obtain
information on this point, that they still continued to propound
their queries long after we had shown that we were utterly unable
to answer them. Occasionally we caught some indistinct idea of
their meaning, when we would endeavor by every method in our
power to communicate the desired intelligence. At such times
their gratification was boundless, and they would redouble their
efforts to make us comprehend them more perfectly. But all in
vain; and in the end they looked at us despairingly, as if we
were the receptacles of invaluable information, but how to come
at it they knew not.

After a while the group around us gradually dispersed, and we
were left about midnight (as we conjectured) with those who appeared
to be permanent residents of the house. These individuals
now provided us with fresh mats to lie upon, covered us with
several folds of tappa, and then extinguishing the tapers that had
been burning, threw themselves down beside us, and after a little
desultory conversation were soon sound asleep.

eaf273v1.n1

[1] The word “Kannaka” is at the present day universally used in the
South Seas by Europeans to designate the Islanders. In the various dialects
of the principal groups it is simply a sexual designation applied to
the males; but it is now used by the natives in their intercourse with foreigners
in the same sense in which the latter employ it.

A “Tabooed Kannaka” is an islander whose person has been made to a
certain extent sacred by the operation of a singular custom hereafter to be
explained.

p273-120 CHAPTER XI.

Midnight Reflections—Morning Visitors—A Warrior in Costume—A Savage
æsculapius—Practice of the Healing Art—Body Servant—A
Dwelling-house of the Valley described—Portraits of its Inmates.

[figure description] Page 095.[end figure description]

Various and conflicting were the thoughts which oppressed me
during the silent hours that followed the events related in the
preceding chapter. Toby, wearied with the fatigues of the day,
slumbered heavily by my side; but the pain under which I was
suffering effectually prevented my sleeping, and I remained distressingly
alive to all the fearful circumstances of our present
situation. Was it possible that after all our vicissitudes we were
really in the terrible valley of Typee, and at the mercy of its
inmates, a fierce and unrelenting tribe of savages?

Typee or Happar? I shuddered when I reflected that there
was no longer any room for doubt; and that, beyond all hope of
escape, we were now placed in those very circumstances from
the bare thought of which I had recoiled with such abhorrence
but a few days before. What might not be our fearful destiny?
To be sure, as yet we had been treated with no violence; nay,
had been even kindly and hospitably entertained. But what
dependence could be placed upon the fickle passions which sway
the bosom of a savage? His inconstancy and treachery are proverbial.
Might it not be that beneath these fair appearances the
islanders covered some perfidious design, and that their friendly
reception of us might only precede some horrible catastrophe?
How strongly did these forebodings spring up in my mind as I
lay restlessly upon a couch of mats, surrounded by the dimly
revealed forms of those whom I so greatly dreaded.

[figure description] Page 096.[end figure description]

From the excitement of these fearful thoughts I sank towards
morning into an uneasy slumber; and on awaking, with a start,
in the midst of an appalling dream, looked up into the eager
countenances of a number of the natives, who were bending over
me.

It was broad day; and the house was nearly filled with young
females, fancifully decorated with flowers, who gazed upon me
as I rose with faces in which childish delight and curiosity were
vividly portrayed. After waking Toby, they seated themselves
round us on the mats, and gave full play to that prying inquisitiveness
which time out of mind has been attributed to the adorable
sex.

As these unsophisticated young creatures were attended by no
jealous duennas, their proceedings were altogether informal, and
void of artificial restraint. Long and minute was the investigation
with which they honored us, and so uproarious their mirth,
that I felt infinitely sheepish; and Toby was immeasurably outraged
at their familiarity.

These lively young ladies were at the same time wonderfully
polite and humane; fanning aside the insects that occasionally
lighted on our brows; presenting us with food; and compassionately
regarding me in the midst of my afflictions. But in spite
of all their blandishments, my feelings of propriety were exceedingly
shocked, for I could not but consider them as having overstepped
the due limits of female decorum.

Having diverted themselves to their hearts' content, our young
visitants now withdrew, and gave place to successive troops of
the other sex, who continued flocking towards the house until
near noon; by which time I have no doubt that the greater part
of the inhabitants of the valley had bathed themselves in the light
of our benignant countenances.

At last, when their numbers began to diminish, a superb-looking
warrior stooped the towering plumes of his head-dress

[figure description] Page 097.[end figure description]

beneath the low portal, and entered the house. I saw at once
that he was some distinguished personage, the natives regarding
him with the utmost deference, and making room for him as he
approached. His aspect was imposing. The splendid long
drooping tail-feathers of the tropical bird, thickly interspersed
with the gaudy plumage of the cock, were disposed in an immense
upright semicircle upon his head, their lower extremities
being fixed in a crescent of guinea-beads which spanned the forehead.
Around his neck were several enormous necklaces of
boar's tusks, polished like ivory, and disposed in such a manner
as that the longest and largest were upon his capacious chest.
Thrust forward through the large apertures in his ears were two
small and finely-shaped sperm whale teeth, presenting their cavities
in front, stuffed with freshly-plucked leaves, and curiously
wrought at the other end into strange little images and devices.
These barbaric trinkets, garnished in this manner at their open
extremities, and tapering and curving round to a point behind
the ear, resembled not a little a pair of cornucopias.

The loins of the warrior were girt about with heavy folds of a
dark-colored tappa, hanging before and behind in clusters of
braided tassels, while anklets and bracelets of curling human hair
completed his unique costume. In his right hand he grasped a
beautifully carved paddle-spear, nearly fifteen feet in length,
made of the bright koar-wood, one end sharply pointed, and the
other flattened like an oar-blade. Hanging obliquely from his
girdle by a loop of sinnate, was a richly decorated pipe; the slender
reed forming its stem was colored with a red pigment, and
round it, as well as the idol-bowl, fluttered little streamers of the
thinnest tappa.

But that which was most remarkable in the appearance of this
splendid islander was the elaborate tattooing displayed on every
noble limb. All imaginable lines and curves and figures were
delineated over his whole body, and in their grotesque variety

[figure description] Page 098.[end figure description]

and infinite profusion I could only compare them to the crowded
groupings of quaint patterns we sometimes see in costly pieces of
lacework. The most simple and remarkable of all these ornaments
was that which decorated the countenance of the chief.
Two broad stripes of tattooing, diverging from the centre of his
shaven crown, obliquely crossed both eyes—staining the lids—to
a little below either ear, where they united with another stripe
which swept in a straight line along the lips and formed the base
of the triangle. The warrior, from the excellence of his physical
proportions, might certainly have been regarded as one of Nature's
noblemen, and the lines drawn upon his face may possibly
have denoted his exalted rank.

This warlike personage, upon entering the house, seated himself
at some distance from the spot where Toby and myself
reposed, while the rest of the savages looked alternately from us
to him, as if in expectation of something they were disappointed
in not perceiving. Regarding the chief attentively, I thought
his lineaments appeared familiar to me. As soon as his full face
was turned upon me, and I again beheld its extraordinary embellishment,
and met the strange gaze to which I had been subjected
the preceding night, I immediately, in spite of the alteration in
his appearance, recognized the noble Mehevi. On addressing
him, he advanced at once in the most cordial manner, and
greeting me warmly, seemed to enjoy not a little the effect his
barbaric costume had produced upon me.

I forthwith determined to secure, if possible, the good will of
this individual, as I easily perceived he was a man of great
authority in his tribe, and one who might exert a powerful influence
upon our subsequent fate. In the endeavor I was not
repulsed; for nothing could surpass the friendliness he manifested
towards both my companion and myself. He extended his sturdy
limbs by our side, and endeavored to make us comprehend the
full extent of the kindly feelings by which he was actuated. The

[figure description] Page 099.[end figure description]

almost insuperable difficulty in communicating to one another
our ideas affected the chief with no little mortification. He evinced
a great desire to be enlightened with regard to the customs and
peculiarities of the far-off country we had left behind us, and to
which under the name of Maneeka he frequently alluded.

But that which more than any other subject engaged his attention
was the late proceedings of the “Franee,” as he called the
French, in the neighboring bay of Nukuheva. This seemed a
never-ending theme with him, and one concerning which he was
never weary of interrogating us. All the information we succeeded
in imparting to him on this subject was little more than
that we had seen six men-of-war lying in the hostile bay at the
time we had left it. When he received this intelligence, Mehevi,
by the aid of his fingers, went through a long numerical calculation,
as if estimating the number of Frenchmen the squadron
might contain.

It was just after employing his faculties in this way that he
happened to notice the swelling in my limb. He immediately
examined it with the utmost attention, and after doing so, despatched
a boy who happened to be standing by with some message.

After the lapse of a few moments the stripling re-entered the
house with an aged islander, who might have been taken for old
Hippocrates himself. His head was as bald as the polished surface
of a cocoa-nut shell, which article it precisely resembled in
smoothness and color, while a long silvery beard swept almost
to his girdle of bark. Encircling his temples was a bandeau of
the twisted leaves of the Omoo tree, pressed closely over the
brows to shield his feeble vision from the glare of the sun. His
tottering steps were supported by a long slim staff, resembling
the wand with which a theatrical magician appears on the stage,
and in one hand he carried a freshly plaited fan of the green
leaflets of the cocoa-nut tree. A flowing robe of tappa, knotted

[figure description] Page 100.[end figure description]

over the shoulder, hung loosely round his stooping form, and
heightened the venerableness of his aspect.

Mehevi, saluting this old gentleman, motioned him to a seat
between us, and then uncovering my limb, desired him to examine
it. The leech gazed intently from me to Toby, and then proceeded
to business. After diligently observing the ailing member,
he commenced manipulating it; and on the supposition probably
that the complaint had deprived the leg of all sensation, began to
pinch and hammer it in such a manner that I absolutely roared
with the pain. Thinking that I was as capable of making an
application of thumps and pinches to the part as any one else, I
endeavored to resist this species of medical treatment. But it
was not so easy a matter to get out of the clutches of the old
wizard; he fastened on the unfortunate limb as if it were something
for which he had been long seeking, and muttering some
kind of incantation continued his discipline, pounding it after a
fashion that set me well nigh crazy; while Mehevi, upon the
same principle which prompts an affectionate mother to hold a
struggling child in a dentist's chair, restrained me in his powerful
grasp, and actually encouraged the wretch in this infliction of
torture.

Almost frantic with rage and pain, I yelled like a bedlamite;
while Toby, throwing himself into all the attitudes of a posturemaster,
vainly endeavored to expostulate with the natives by signs
and gestures. To have looked at my companion, as, sympathizing
with my sufferings, he strove to put an end to them, one
would have thought that he was the deaf and dumb alphabet
incarnated. Whether my tormentor yielded to Toby's entreaties,
or paused from sheer exhaustion, I do not know; but all at once
he ceased his operations, and at the same time the chief relinquishing
his hold upon me, I fell back, faint and breathless with the
agony I had endured.

My unfortunate limb was now left much in the same condition

[figure description] Page 101.[end figure description]

as a rump-steak after undergoing the castigating process which
precedes cooking. My physician, having recovered from the
fatigues of his exertions, as if anxious to make amends for the
pain to which he had subjected me, now took some herbs out of a
little wallet that was suspended from his waist, and moistening
them in water, applied them to the inflamed part, stooping over it
at the same time, and either whispering a spell, or having a little
confidential chat with some imaginary demon located in the calf
of my leg. My limb was now swathed in leafy bandages, and
grateful to Providence for the cessation of hostilities, I was suffered
to rest.

Mehevi shortly after rose to depart; but before he went he
spoke authoritatively to one of the natives whom he addressed as
Kory-Kory; and from the little I could understand of what took
place, pointed him out to me as a man whose peculiar business
thenceforth would be to attend upon my person. I am not certain
that I comprehended as much as this at the time, but the subsequent
conduct of my trusty body-servant fully assured me that
such must have been the case.

I could not but be amused at the manner in which the chief
addressed me upon this occasion, talking to me for at least fifteen
or twenty minutes as calmly as if I could understand every word
that he said. I remarked this peculiarity very often afterwards
in many other of the islanders.

Mehevi having now departed, and the family physician having
likewise made his exit, we were left about sunset with the ten or
twelve natives, who by this time I had ascertained composed the
household of which Toby and I were members. As the dwelling
to which we had been first introduced was the place of my permanent
abode while I remained in the valley, and as I was necessarily
placed upon the most intimate footing with its occupants, I
may as well here enter into a little description of it and its
inhabitants. This description will apply also to nearly all the

[figure description] Page 102.[end figure description]

other dwelling-places in the vale, and will furnish some idea of the
generality of the natives.

Near one side of the valley, and about midway up the ascent
of a rather abrupt rise of ground waving with the richest verdure,
a number of large stones were laid in successive courses, to the
height of nearly eight feet, and disposed in such a manner that
their level surface corresponded in shape with the habitation which
was perched upon it. A narrow space, however, was reserved
in front of the dwelling, upon the summit of this pile of stones
(called by the natives a “pi-pi”), which being enclosed by a
little picket of canes, gave it somewhat the appearance of a
verandah. The frame of the house was constructed of large
bamboos planted uprightly, and secured together at intervals by
transverse stalks of the light wood of the habiscus, lashed with
thongs of bark. The rear of the tenement—built up with successive
ranges of cocoa-nut boughs bound one upon another, with
their leaflets cunningly woven together—inclined a little from the
vertical, and extended from the extreme edge of the “pi-pi” to
about twenty feet from its surface; whence the shelving roof—
thatched with the long tapering leaves of the palmetto—sloped
steeply off to within about five feet of the floor; leaving the eaves
drooping with tassel-like appendages over the front of the habitation.
This was constructed of light and elegant canes, in a kind
of open screen-work, tastefully adorned with bindings of variegated
sinnate, which served to hold together its various parts. The
sides of the house were similarly built; thus presenting three
quarters for the circulation of the air, while the whole was impervious
to the rain.

In length this picturesque building was perhaps twelve yards,
while in breadth it could not have exceeded as many feet. So
much for the exterior; which, with its wire-like reed-twisted sides,
not a little reminded me of an immense aviary.

Stooping a little, you passed through a narrow aperture in its

[figure description] Page 103.[end figure description]

front; and facing you, on entering, lay two long, perfectly
straight, and well-polished trunks of the cocoa-nut tree, extending
the full length of the dwelling; one of them placed closely against
the rear, and the other lying parallel with it some two yards distant,
the interval between them being spread with a multitude of
gaily-worked mats, nearly all of a different pattern. This space
formed the common couch and lounging place of the natives,
answering the purpose of a divan in Oriental countries. Here
would they slumber through the hours of the night, and recline
luxuriously during the greater part of the day. The remainder
of the floor presented only the cool shining surfaces of the large
stones of which the “pi-pi” was composed.

From the ridge pole of the house hung suspended a number of
large packages enveloped in coarse tappa; some of which contained
festival dresses, and various other matters of the wardrobe,
held in high estimation. These were easily accessible by means
of a line, which, passing over the ridge-pole, had one end attached
to a bundle, while with the other, which led to the side of the
dwelling and was there secured, the package could be lowered or
elevated at pleasure.

Against the farther wall of the house were arranged in tasteful
figures a variety of spears and javelins, and other implements of
savage warfare. Outside of the habitation, and built upon the
piazza-like area in its front, was a little shed used as a sort of
larder or pantry, and in which were stored various articles of
domestic use and convenience. A few yards from the pi-pi was
a large shed built of cocoa-nut boughs, where the process of preparing
the “poee-poee” was carried on, and all culinary operations
attended to.

Thus much for the house, and its appurtenances; and it will
be readily acknowledged that a more commodious and appropriate
dwelling for the climate and the people could not possibly
be devised. It was cool, free to admit the air, scrupulously

[figure description] Page 104.[end figure description]

clean, and elevated above the dampness and impurities of the
ground.

But now to sketch the inmates; and here I claim for my tried
servitor and faithful valet Kory-Kory the precedence of a first
description. As his character will be gradually unfolded in the
course of my narrative, I shall for the present content myself with
delineating his personal appearance. Kory-Kory, though the
most devoted and best natured serving-man in the world, was,
alas! a hideous object to look upon. He was some twenty-five
years of age, and about six feet in height, robust and well made,
and of the most extraordinary aspect. His head was carefully
shaven, with the exception of two circular spots, about the size of
a dollar, near the top of the cranium, where the hair, permitted
to grow of an amazing length, was twisted up in two prominent
knots, that gave him the appearance of being decorated with a pair
of horns. His beard, plucked out by the root from every other
part of his face, was suffered to droop in hairy pendants, two of
which garnished his under lip, and an equal number hung from
the extremity of his chin.

Kory-Kory, with a view of improving the handiwork of nature,
and perhaps prompted by a desire to add to the engaging expression
of his countenance, had seen fit to embellish his face with
three broad longitudinal stripes of tattooing, which, like those
country roads that go straight forward in defiance of all obstacles,
crossed his nasal organ, descended into the hollow of his eyes,
and even skirted the borders of his mouth. Each completely
spanned his physiognomy; one extending in a line with his eyes,
another crossing the face in the vicinity of the nose, and the third
sweeping along his lips from ear to ear. His countenance thus
triply hooped, as it were, with tattooing, always reminded me of
those unhappy wretches whom I have sometimes observed gazing
out sentimentally from behind the grated bars of a prison window;
whilst the entire body of my savage valet, covered all over with

[figure description] Page 105.[end figure description]

representations of birds and fishes, and a variety of most unaccountable-looking
creatures, suggested to me the idea of a pictorial
museum of natural history, or an illustrated copy of “Goldsmith's
Animated Nature.”

But it seems really heartless in me to write thus of the poor
islander, when I owe perhaps to his unremitting attentions the
very existence I now enjoy. Kory-Kory, I mean thee no harm
in what I say in regard to thy outward adornings; but they were a
little curious to my unaccustomed sight, and therefore I dilate upon
them. But to underrate or forget thy faithful services is something
I could never be guilty of, even in the giddiest moment of my life.

The father of my attached follower was a native of gigantic
frame, and had once possessed prodigious physical powers; but
the lofty form was now yielding to the inroads of time, though the
hand of disease seemed never to have been laid upon the aged
warrior. Marheyo—for such was his name—appeared to have
retired from all active participation in the affairs of the valley,
seldom or never accompanying the natives in their various expeditions;
and employing the greater part of his time in throwing
up a little shed just outside the house, upon which he was engaged
to my certain knowledge for four months, without appearing to
make any sensible advance. I suppose the old gentleman was
in his dotage, for he manifested in various ways the characteristics
which mark this particular stage of life.

I remember in particular his having a choice pair of ear-ornaments,
fabricated from the teeth of some sea-monster. These he
would alternately wear and take off at least fifty times in the
course of the day, going and coming from his little hut on each
occasion with all the tranquillity imaginable. Sometimes slipping
them through the slits in his ears, he would seize his spear—
which in length and slightness resembled a fishing-pole—and go
stalking beneath the shadows of the neighboring groves, as if
about to give a hostile meeting to some cannibal knight. But he

[figure description] Page 106.[end figure description]

would soon return again, and hiding his weapon under the projecting
eaves of the house, and rolling his clumsy trinkets carefully
in a piece of tappa, would resume his more pacific operations
as quietly as if he had never interrupted them.

But despite his eccentricities, Marheyo was a most paternal
and warm-hearted old fellow, and in this particular not a little
resembled his son Kory-Kory. The mother of the latter was the
mistress of the family, and a notable housewife, and a most industrious
old lady she was. If she did not understand the art
of making jellies, jams, custards, tea-cakes, and such like trashy
affairs, she was profoundly skilled in the mysteries of preparing
“amar,” “poee-poee,” and “kokoo,” with other substantial matters.
She was a genuine busy-body; bustling about the house
like a country landlady at an unexpected arrival; for ever giving
the young girls tasks to perform, which the little hussies as often
neglected; poking into every corner, and rummaging over bundles
of old tappa, or making a prodigious clatter among the calabashes.
Sometimes she might have been seen squatting upon her
haunches in front of a huge wooden basin, and kneading poee-poee
with terrific vehemence, dashing the stone pestle about as
if she would shiver the vessel into fragments; on other occasions,
galloping about the valley in search of a particular kind
of leaf, used in some of her recondite operations, and returning
home, toiling and sweating, with a bundle of it, under which
most women would have sunk.

To tell the truth, Kory-Kory's mother was the only industrious
person in all the valley of Typee; and she could not have employed
herself more actively had she been left an exceedingly
muscular and destitute widow, with an inordinate supply of young
children, in the bleakest part of the civilized world. There was
not the slightest necessity for the greater portion of the labor performed
by the old lady: but she seemed to work from some irresistible
impulse; her limbs continually swaying to and fro, as if

[figure description] Page 107.[end figure description]

there were some indefatigable engine concealed within her body
which kept her in perpetual motion.

Never suppose that she was a termagant or a shrew for all
this; she had the kindliest heart in the world, and acted towards
me in particular in a truly maternal manner, occasionally putting
some little morscl of choice food into my hand, some outlandish
kind of savage sweetmeat or pastry, like a doting mother petting
a sickly urchin with tarts and sugar plums. Warm indeed are
my remembrances of the dear, good, affectionate old Tinor!

Besides the individuals I have mentioned, there belonged to the
household three young men, dissipated, good-for-nothing, roystering
blades of savages, who were either employed in prosecuting love
affairs with the maidens of the tribe, or grew boozy on “arva”
and tobacco in the company of congenial spirits, the scapegraces
of the valley.

Among the permanent inmates of the house were likewise
several lovely damsels, who instead of thrumming pianos and
reading novels, like more enlightened young ladies, substituted
for these employments the manufacture of a fine species of tappa;
but for the greater portion of the time were skipping from house
to house, gadding and gossiping with their acquaintances.

From the rest of these, however, I must except the beauteous
nymph Fayaway, who was my peculiar favorite. Her free pliant
figure was the very perfection of female grace and beauty. Her
complexion was a rich and mantling olive, and when watching
the glow upon her cheeks I could almost swear that beneath the
transparent medium there lurked the blushes of a faint vermilion.
The face of this girl was a rounded oval, and each feature as
perfectly formed as the heart or imagination of man could desire.
Her full lips, when parted with a smile, disclosed teeth of a dazzling
whiteness; and when her rosy mouth opened with a burst
of merriment, they looked like the milk-white seeds of the
“arta,” a fruit of the valley, which, when cleft in twain, shows

[figure description] Page 108.[end figure description]

them reposing in rows on either side, imbedded in the rich and
juicy pulp. Her hair of the deepest brown, parted irregularly
in the middle, flowed in natural ringlets over her shoulders, and
whenever she chanced to stoop, fell over and hid from view her
lovely bosom. Gazing into the depths of her strange blue eyes,
when she was in a contemplative mood, they seemed most placid
yet unfathomable; but when illuminated by some lively emotion,
they beamed upon the beholder like stars. The hands of Fay.
away were as soft and delicate as those of any countess; for an
entire exemption from rude labor marks the girlhood and even
prime of a Typee woman's life. Her feet, though wholly exposed,
were as diminutive and fairly shaped as those which peep
from beneath the skirts of a Lima lady's dress. The skin of this
young creature, from continual ablutions and the use of mollifying
ointments, was inconceivably smooth and soft.

I may succeed, perhaps, in particularising some of the individual
features of Fayaway's beauty, but that general loveliness
of appearance which they all contributed to produce I will not
attempt to describe. The easy unstudied graces of a child of
nature like this, breathing from infancy an atmosphere of perpetual
summer, and nurtured by the simple fruits of the earth;
enjoying a perfect freedom from care and anxiety, and removed
effectually from all injurious tendencies, strike the eye in a manner
which cannot be portrayed. This picture is no fancy
sketch; it is drawn from the most vivid recollections of the person
delineated.

Were I asked if the beauteous form of Fayaway was altogether
free from the hideous blemish of tattooing, I should be constrained
to answer that it was not. But the practitioners of the barbarous
art, so remorseless in their inflictions upon the brawny limbs of
the warriors of the tribe, seem to be conscious that it needs not
the resources of their profession to augment the charms of the
maidens of the vale.

[figure description] Page 109.[end figure description]

The females are very little embellished in this way, and Fayaway,
and all the other young girls of her age, were even less
so than those of their sex more advanced in years. The reason
of this peculiarity will be alluded to hereafter. All the tattooing
that the nymph in question exhibited upon her person may be
easily described. Three minute dots, no bigger than pin-heads,
decorated either lip, and at a little distance were not at all discernible.
Just upon the fall of the shoulder were drawn two
parallel lines half an inch apart, and perhaps three inches in
length, the interval being filled with delicately executed figures.
These narrow bands of tattooing, thus placed, always reminded
me of those stripes of gold lace worn by officers in undress, and
which are in lieu of epaulettes to denote their rank.

Thus much was Fayaway tattooed. The audacious hand
which had gone so far in its desecrating work stopping short, apparently
wanting the heart to proceed.

But I have omitted to describe the dress worn by this nymph
of the valley.

Fayaway—I must avow the fact—for the most part clung to
the primitive and summer garb of Eden. But how becoming
the costume! It showed her fine figure to the best possible advantage;
and nothing could have been better adapted to her
peculiar style of beauty. On ordinary occasions she was habited
precisely as I have described the two youthful savages whom we
had met on first entering the valley. At other times, when rambling
among the groves, or visiting at the houses of her acquaintances,
she wore a tunic of white tappa, reaching from her
waist to a little below the knees; and when exposed for any
length of time to the sun, she invariably protected herself from
its rays by a floating mantle of the same material, loosely
gathered about the person. Her gala dress will be described
hereafter.

As the beauties of our own land delight in bedecking themselves

[figure description] Page 110.[end figure description]

with fanciful articles of jewelry, suspending them from their ears,
hanging them about their necks, and clasping them around their
wrists; so Fayaway and her companions were in the habit of
ornamenting themselves with similar appendages.

Flora was their jeweller. Sometimes they wore necklaces of
small carnation flowers, strung like rubies upon a fibre of tappa,
or displayed in their ears a single white bud, the stem thrust
backward through the aperture, and showing in front the delicate
petals folded together in a beautiful sphere, and looking like a
drop of the purest pearl. Chaplets too, resembling in their arrangement
the strawberry coronal worn by an English peeress, and
composed of intertwined leaves and blossoms, often crowned their
temples; and bracelets and anklets of the same tasteful pattern
were frequently to be seen. Indeed, the maidens of the island
were passionately fond of flowers, and never wearied of decorating
their persons with them; a lovely trait in their character, and one
that ere long will be more fully alluded to.

Though in my eyes, at least, Fayaway was indisputably the
loveliest female I saw in Typee, yet the description I have given
of her will in some measure apply to nearly all the youthful portion
of her sex in the valley. Judge ye then, reader, what beautiful
creatures they must have been.

p273-136 CHAPTER XII.

Officiousness of Kory-Kory—His Devotion—A Bath in the Stream—Want
of Refinement of the Typee Damsels—Stroll with Mehevi—A Typee
Highway—The Taboo Groves—The Hoolah Hoolah Ground—The Ti—
Time-worn Savages—Hospitality of Mehevi—Midnight Musings—Adventure
in the Dark—Distinguished Honors paid to the Visitors—Strange
Procession and Return to the House of Marheyo.

[figure description] Page 111.[end figure description]

When Mehevi had departed from the house, as related in the
preceding chapter, Kory-Kory commenced the functions of the
post assigned him. He brought us various kinds of food; and,
as if I were an infant, insisted upon feeding me with his own
hands. To this procedure I, of course, most earnestly objected,
but in vain; and having laid a calabash of kokoo before me, he
washed his fingers in a vessel of water, and then putting his hand
into the dish and rolling the food into little balls, put them one
after another into my mouth. All my remonstrances against this
measure only provoked so great a clamor on his part, that I was
obliged to acquiesce; and the operation of feeding being thus facilitated,
the meal was quickly despatched. As for Toby, he was
allowed to help himself after his own fashion.

The repast over, my attendant arranged the mats for repose,
and, bidding me lie down, covered me with a large robe of tappa,
at the same time looking approvingly upon me, and exclaiming,
“Ki-Ki, muee muee, ah! moee moee mortarkee” (eat plenty, ah!
sleep very good). The philosophy of this sentiment I did not
pretend to question; for deprived of sleep for several preceding

[figure description] Page 112.[end figure description]

nights, and the pain in my limb having much abated, I now felt
inclined to avail myself of the opportunity afforded me.

The next morning, on waking, I found Kory-Kory stretched
out on one side of me, while my companion lay upon the other.
I felt sensibly refreshed after a night of sound repose, and immediately
agreed to the proposition of my valet that I should repair
to the water and wash, although dreading the suffering that the
exertion might produce. From this apprehension, however, I
was quickly relieved; for Kory-Kory, leaping from the pi-pi, and
then backing himself up against it, like a porter in readiness to
shoulder a trunk, with loud vociferations and a superabundance
of gestures, gave me to understand that I was to mount upon his
back and be thus transported to the stream, which flowed perhaps
two hundred yards from the house.

Our appearance upon the verandah in front of the habitation
drew together quite a crowd, who stood looking on and conversing
with one another in the most animated manner. They reminded
one of a group of idlers gathered about the door of a village
tavern when the equipage of some distinguished traveller is brought
round previous to his departure. As soon as I clasped my arms
about the neck of the devoted fellow, and he jogged off with me,
the crowd—composed chiefly of young girls and boys—followed
after, shouting and capering with infinite glee, and accompanied
us to the banks of the stream.

On gaining it, Kory-Kory, wading up to his hips in the water,
carried me half way across, and deposited me on a smooth black
stone which rose a few inches above the surface. The amphibious
rabble at our heels plunged in after us, and, climbing to the
summit of the grass-grown rocks with which the bed of the brook
was here and there broken, waited curiously to witness our morning
ablutions.

Somewhat embarrassed by the presence of the female portion
of the company, and feeling my cheeks burning with bashful

[figure description] Page 113.[end figure description]

timidity, I formed a primitive basin by joining my hands together,
and cooled my blushes in the water it contained; then removing
my frock, bent over and washed myself down to my waist in the
stream. As soon as Kory-Kory comprehended from my motions
that this was to be the extent of my performance, he appeared
perfectly aghast with astonishment, and rushing towards me,
poured out a torrent of words in eager deprecation of so limited
an operation, enjoining me by unmistakeable signs to immerse my
whole body. To this I was forced to consent; and the honest
fellow regarding me as a froward, inexperienced child, whom it
was his duty to serve at the risk of offending, lifted me from the
rock, and tenderly bathed my limbs. This over, and resuming
my seat, I could not avoid bursting into admiration of the scene
around me.

From the verdant surfaces of the large stones that lay scattered
about, the natives were now sliding off into the water, diving and
ducking beneath the surface in all directions; the young girls
springing buoyantly into the air, and revealing their naked forms
to the waist, with their long tresses dancing about their shoulders,
their eyes sparkling like drops of dew in the sun, and their gay
laughter pealing forth at every frolicsome incident.

On the afternoon of the day that I took my first bath in the
valley, we received another visit from Mehevi. The noble savage
seemed to be in the same pleasant mood, and was quite as cordial
in his manner as before. After remaining about an hour, he rose
from the mats, and motioning to leave the house, invited Toby
and myself to accompany him. I pointed to my leg; but Mehevi
in his turn pointed to Kory-Kory, and removed that objection; so,
mounting upon the faithful fellow's shoulders again—like the old
man of the sea astride of Sindbad—I followed after the chief.

The nature of the route we now pursued struck me more
forcibly than anything I had yet seen, as illustrating the indolent
disposition of the islanders. The path was obviously the most

[figure description] Page 114.[end figure description]

beaten one in the valley, several others leading from either side
into it, and perhaps for successive generations it had formed the
principal avenue of the place. And yet, until I grew more familiar
with its impediments, it seemed as difficult to travel as the
recesses of a wilderness. Part of it swept around an abrupt rise
of ground, the surface of which was broken by frequent inequalities,
and thickly strewn with projecting masses of rocks, whose
summits were often hidden from view by the drooping foliage of
the luxurious vegetation. Sometimes directly over, sometimes
evading these obstacles with a wide circuit, the path wound
along;—one moment climbing over a sudden eminence smooth
with continued wear, then descending on the other side into a
steep glen, and crossing the flinty channel of a brook. Here it
pursued the depths of a glade, occasionally obliging you to stoop
beneath vast horizontal branches; and now you stepped over
huge trunks and boughs that lay rotting across the track.

Such was the grand thoroughfare of Typee. After proceeding
a little distance along it—Kory-Kory panting and blowing with
the weight of his burden—I dismounted from his back, and
grasping the long spear of Mehevi in my hand, assisted my steps
over the numerous obstacles of the road; preferring this mode of
advance to one which, from the difficulties of the way, was equally
painful to myself and my wearied servitor.

Our journey was soon at an end; for, scaling a sudden height,
we came abruptly upon the place of our destination. I wish that
it were possible to sketch in words this spot as vividly as I recollect
it.

Here were situated the Taboo groves of the valley—the scene
of many a prolonged feast, of many a horrid rite. Beneath the
dark shadows of the consecrated bread-fruit trees there reigned a
solemn twilight—a cathedral-like gloom. The frightful genius
of pagan worship seemed to brood in silence over the place,
breathing its spell upon every object around. Here and there,

[figure description] Page 115.[end figure description]

in the depths of these awful shades, half screened from sight by
masses of overhanging foliage, rose the idolatrous altars of the
savages, built of enormous blocks of black and polished stone,
placed one upon another, without cement, to the height of twelve
or fifteen feet, and surmounted by a rustic open temple, enclosed
with a low picket of canes, within which might be seen, in various
stages of decay, offerings of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, and the
putrefying relics of some recent sacrifice.

In the midst of the wood was the hallowed “hoolah hoolah”
ground—set apart for the celebration of the fantastical religious
ritual of these people—comprising an extensive oblong pi-pi,
terminating at either end in a lofty terraced altar, guarded by
ranks of hideous wooden idols, and with the two remaining sides
flanked by ranges of bamboo sheds, opening towards the interior
of the quadrangle thus formed. Vast trees, standing in the middle
of this space, and throwing over it an umbrageous shade, had
their massive trunks built round with slight stages, elevated a
few feet above the ground, and railed in with canes, forming so
many rustic pulpits, from which the priests harangued their
devotees.

This holiest of spots was defended from profanation by the
strictest edicts of the all-pervading “taboo,” which condemned to
instant death the sacrilegious female who should enter or touch
its sacred precincts, or even so much as press with her feet the
ground made holy by the shadows that it cast.

Access was had to the enclosure through an embowered entrance
on one side, facing a number of towering cocoa-nut trees,
planted at intervals along a level area of a hundred yards. At
the further extremity of this space was to be seen a building of
considerable size, reserved for the habitation of the priests and
religious attendants of the groves.

In its vicinity was another remarkable edifice, built as usual
upon the summit of a pi-pi, and at least two hundred feet in

[figure description] Page 116.[end figure description]

length, though not more than twenty in breadth. The whole
front of this latter structure was completely open, and from one
end to the other ran a narrow verandah, fenced in on the edge of
the pi-pi with a picket of canes. Its interior presented the appearance
of an immense lounging place, the entire floor being
strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between parallel
trunks of cocoa-nut trees, selected for the purpose from the
straightest and most symmetrical the vale afforded.

To this building, denominated in the language of the natives
the “Ti,” Mehevi now conducted us. Thus far we had been
accompanied by a troop of the natives of both sexes; but as soon
as we approached its vicinity, the females gradually separated
themselves from the crowd, and standing aloof, permitted us to
pass on. The merciless prohibitions of the taboo extended likewise
to this edifice, and were enforced by the same dreadful
penalty that secured the Hoolah Hoolah ground from the imaginary
pollution of a woman's presence.

On entering the house, I was surprised to see six muskets
ranged against the bamboo on one side, from the barrels of which
depended as many small canvas pouches, partly filled with powder.
Disposed about these muskets, like the cutlasses that decorate the
bulkhead of a man-of-war's cabin, were a great variety of rude
spears and paddles, javelins, and war-clubs. This then, said I to
Toby, must be the armory of the tribe.

As we advanced further along the building, we were struck
with the aspect of four or five hideous old wretches, on whose
decrepid forms time and tattooing seemed to have obliterated
every trace of humanity. Owing to the continued operation of
this latter process, which only terminates among the warriors of
the island after all the figures stretched upon their limbs in
youth have been blended together—an effect, however, produced
only in cases of extreme longevity—the bodies of these men
were of a uniform dull green color—the hue which the tattooing

[figure description] Page 117.[end figure description]

gradually assumes as the individual advances in age. Their skin
had a frightful scaly appearance, which, united with its singular
color, made their limbs not a little resemble dusty specimens of
verde-antique. Their flesh, in parts, hung upon them in huge
folds, like the overlapping plaits on the flank of a rhinoceros.
Their heads were completely bald, whilst their faces were
puckered into a thousand wrinkles, and they presented no vestige
of a beard. But the most remarkable peculiarity about them
was the appearance of their feet; the toes, like the radiating lines
of the mariner's compass, pointed to every quarter of the horizon.
This was doubtless attributable to the fact, that during nearly a
hundred years of existence the said toes never had been subjected
to any artificial confinement, and in their old age, being averse to
close neighborhood, bid one another keep open order.

These repulsive-looking creatures appeared to have lost the
use of their lower limbs altogether; sitting upon the floor cross-legged
in a state of torpor. They never heeded us in the least,
scarcely looking conscious of our presence, while Mehevi seated
us upon the mats, and Kory-Kory gave utterance to some unintelligible
gibberish.

In a few moments a boy entered with a wooden trencher of
poee-poee; and in regaling myself with its contents I was obliged
again to submit to the officious intervention of my indefatigable
servitor. Various other dishes followed, the chief manifesting
the most hospitable importunity in pressing us to partake, and to
remove all bashfulness on our part, set us no despicable example
in his own person.

The repast concluded, a pipe was lighted, which passed from
mouth to mouth, and yielding to its soporific influence, the quiet of the
place, and the deepening shadows of approaching night, my companion
and I sank into a kind of drowsy repose, while the chief
and Kory-Kory seemed to be slumbering beside us.

I awoke from an uneasy nap, about midnight, as I supposed;

[figure description] Page 118.[end figure description]

and, raising myself partly from the mat, became sensible that we
were enveloped in utter darkness. Toby lay still asleep, but our
late companions had disappeared. The only sound that interrupted
the silence of the place was the asthmatic breathing of the
old men I have mentioned, who reposed at a little distance from
us. Besides them, as well as I could judge, there was no one else
in the house.

Apprehensive of some evil, I roused my comrade, and we were
engaged in a whispered conference concerning the unexpected
withdrawal of the natives, when all at once, from the depths of
the grove, in full view of us where we lay, shoots of flame were
seen to rise, and in a few moments illuminated the surrounding
trees, casting, by contrast, into still deeper gloom the darkness
around us.

While we continued gazing at this sight, dark figures appeared
moving to and fro before the flames; while others, dancing and
capering about, looked like so many demons.

Regarding this new phenomenon with no small degree of trepidation,
I said to my companion, “What can all this mean,
Toby?”

“Oh, nothing,” replied he; “getting the fire ready, I suppose.”

“Fire!” exclaimed I, while my heart took to beating like a
trip-hammer, “what fire?”

“Why, the fire to cook us, to be sure; what else would the
cannibals be kicking up such a row about if it were not for that?”

“Oh, Toby! have done with your jokes; this is no time for
them; something is about to happen, I feel confident.”

“Jokes, indeed!” exclaimed Toby indignantly. “Did you
ever hear me joke? Why, for what do you suppose the devils
have been feeding us up in this kind of style during the last three
days, unless it were for something that you are too much frightened
at to talk about? Look at that Kory-Kory there!—has he
not been stuffing you with his confounded mushes, just in the way

[figure description] Page 119.[end figure description]

they treat swine before they kill them? Depend upon it, we
will be eaten this blessed night, and there is the fire we shall be
roasted by.”

This view of the matter was not at all calculated to allay my
apprehensions, and I shuddered when I reflected that we were
indeed at the mercy of a tribe of cannibals, and that the dreadful
contingency to which Toby had alluded was by no means removed
beyond the bounds of possibility.

“There! I told you so! they are coming for us!” exclaimed
my companion the next moment, as the forms of four of the
islanders were seen in hold relief against the illuminated background,
mounting the pi-pi and approaching towards us.

They came on noiselessly, nay stealthily, and glided along
through the gloom that surrounded us as if about to spring upon
some object they were fearful of disturbing before they should
make sure of it.—Gracious heaven! the horrible reflections
which crowded upon me that moment.—A cold sweat stood upon
my brow, and spell-bound with terror I awaited my fate!

Suddenly the silence was broken by the well-remembered tones
of Mehevi, and at the kindly accents of his voice my fears were
immediately dissipated. “Tommo, Toby, ki ki!” (eat). He had
waited to address us, until he had assured himself that we were
both awake, at which he seemed somewhat surprised.

“Ki ki! is it?” said Toby in his gruff tones; “well, cook us
first, will you—but what's this?” he added, as another savage
appeared, bearing before him a large trencher of wood, containing
some kind of steaming meat, as appeared from the odors it
diffused, and which he deposited at the feet of Mehevi. “A baked
baby, I dare say! but I will have none of it, never mind what it
is.—A pretty fool I should make of myself, indeed, waked up
here in the middle of the night, stuffing and guzzling, and all to
make a fat meal for a parcel of booby-minded cannibals one of
these mornings!—No, I see what they are at very plainly, so I

[figure description] Page 120.[end figure description]

am resolved to starve myself into a bunch of bones and gristle,
and then, if they serve me up, they are welcome! But I say,
Tommo, you are not going to eat any of that mess there, in the
dark, are you? Why, how can you tell what it is?”

“By tasting it, to be sure,” said I, mastieating a morsel that
Kory-Kory had just put in my mouth; “and excellently good it
is, too, very much like veal.”

“A baked baby, by the soul of Captain Cook!” burst forth
Toby, with amazing vehemence; “Veal: why there never was
a calf on the island till you landed. I tell you you are bolting
down mouthfuls from a dead Happar's earcass, as sure as you
live, and no mistake!”

Emetics and lukewarm water! What a sensation in the abdominal
regions! Sure enough, where could the fiends incarnate
have obtained meat? But I resolved to satisfy myself at all
hazards; and turning to Mehevi, I soon made the ready chief understand
that I wished a light to be brought. When the taper
came, I gazed eagerly into the vessel, and recognized the mutilated
remains of a juvenile porker! “Puarkee!” exclaimed
Kory-Kory, looking complacently at the dish; and from that day
to this I have never forgotten that such is the designation of a pig
in the Typee lingo.

The next morning, after being again abundantly feasted by the
hospitable Mehevi, Toby and myself arose to depart. But the
chief requested us to postpone our intention. “Abo, abo” (Wait,
wait), he said, and accordingly we resumed our seats, while,
assisted by the zealous Kory-Kory, he appeared to be engaged in
giving directions to a number of the natives outside, who were
busily employed in making arrangements, the nature of which
we could not comprehend. But we were not left long in our ignorance,
for a few moments only had elapsed, when the chief
beckoned us to approach, and we perceived that he had been

[figure description] Page 121.[end figure description]

marshalling a kind of guard of honor to escort us on our return to the
house of Marheyo.

The procession was led off by two venerable-looking savages,
each provided with a spear, from the end of which streamed a
pennon of milk-white tappa. After them went several youths,
bearing aloft calabashes of poee-poee; and followed in their turn
by four stalwart fellows, sustaining long bamboos, from the tops
of which hung suspended, at least twenty feet from the ground,
large baskets of green bread-fruit. Then came a troop of boys,
carrying bunches of ripe bananas, and baskets made of the
woven leaflets of cocoa-nut boughs, filled with the young fruit of
the tree, the naked shells stripped of their husks peeping forth
from the verdant wicker-work that surrounded them. Last of all
came a burly islander, holding over his head a wooden trencher,
in which lay disposed the remnants of our midnight feasts, hidden
from view, however, by a covering of bread-fruit leaves.

Astonished as I was at this exhibition, I could not avoid smiling
at its grotesque appearance, and the associations it naturally
called up. Mehevi, it seemed, was bent on replenishing old Marheyo's
larder, fearful perhaps that without this precaution his
guests might not fare as well as they could desire.

As soon as I descended from the pi-pi, the procession formed
anew, enclosing us in its centre; where I remained part of the
time, carried by Kory-Kory, and occasionally relieving him from
his burden by limping along with a spear. When we moved off
in this order, the natives struck up a musical recitative, which,
with various alternations, they continued until we arrived at the
place of our destination.

As we proceeded on our way, bands of young girls, darting
from the surrounding groves, hung upon our skirts, and accompanied
us with shouts of merriment and delight, which almost
drowned the deep notes of the recitative. On approaching old
Marheyo's domicile, its inmates rushed out to receive us; and

[figure description] Page 122.[end figure description]

while the gifts of Mehevi were being disposed of, the superannuated
warrior did the honors of his mansion with all the warmth
of hospitality evinced by an English squire when he regales his
friends at some fine old patrimonial mansion.

p273-148 CHAPTER XIII.

Attempt to procure relief from Nukuheva—Perilous Adventure of Toby
in the Happar Mountains—Eloquence of Kory-Kory.

[figure description] Page 123.[end figure description]

Amidst these novel scenes a week passed away almost imperceptibly.
The natives, actuated by some mysterious impulse, day
after day redoubled their attentions to us. Their manner towards
us was unaccountable. Surely, thought I, they would not act
thus if they meant us any harm. But why this excess of deferential
kindness, or what equivalent can they imagine us capable
of rendering them for it?

We were fairly puzzled. But despite the apprehensions I could
not dispel, the horrible character imputed to these Typees appeared
to be wholly undeserved.

“Why, they are cannibals!” said Toby on one occasion when
I eulogised the tribe. “Granted,” I replied, “but a more humane,
gentlemanly, and amiable set of epicures do not probably
exist in the Pacific.”

But, notwithstanding the kind treatment we received, I was too
familiar with the fickle disposition of savages not to feel anxious
to withdraw from the valley, and put myself beyond the reach of
that fearful death which, under all these smiling appearances,
might yet menace us. But here there was an obstacle in the way
of doing so. It was idle for me to think of moving from the
place until I should have recovered from the severe lameness that
afflicted me; indeed my malady began seriously to alarm me;
for, despite the herbal remedies of the natives, it continued to
grow worse and worse. Their mild applications, though they
soothed the pain, did not remove the disorder, and I felt

[figure description] Page 124.[end figure description]

convinced that without better aid I might anticipate long and acute
suffering.

But how was this aid to be procured? From the surgeons of
the French fleet, which probably still lay in the bay of Nukuheva,
it might easily have been obtained, could I have made my
case known to them. But how could that be effected?

At last, in the exigency to which I was reduced, I proposed to
Toby that he should endeavor to go round to Nukuheva, and if he
could not succeed in returning to the valley by water, in one
of the boats of the squadron, and taking me off, he might at
least procure me some proper medicines, and effect his return
overland.

My companion listened to me in silence, and at first did not
appear to relish the idea. The truth was, he felt impatient to
escape from the place, and wished to avail himself of our present
high favor with the natives to make good our retreat, before
we should experience some sudden alteration in their behavior.
As he could not think of leaving me in my helpless condition, he
implored me to be of good cheer; assured me that I should soon
be better, and enabled in a few days to return with him to Nukuheva.

Added to this, he could not bear the idea of again returning to
this dangerous place; and as for the expectation of persuading the
Frenchmen to detach a boat's crew for the purpose of rescuing
me from the Typees, he looked upon it as idle; and with arguments
that I could not answer, urged the improbability of their
provoking the hostilities of the clan by any such measure; especially,
as for the purpose of quieting its apprehensions, they had
as yet refrained from making any visit to the bay. “And even
should they consent,” said Toby, “they would only produce a
commotion in the valley, in which we might both be sacrificed by
these ferocious islanders.” This was unanswerable; but still I
clung to the belief that he might succeed in accomplishing the

[figure description] Page 125.[end figure description]

other part of my plan; and at last I overcame his scruples, and
he agreed to make the attempt.

As soon as we succeeded in making the natives understand our
intention, they broke out into the most vehement opposition to the
measure, and for a while I almost despaired of obtaining their
consent. At the bare thought of one of us leaving them, they
manifested the most lively concern. The grief and consternation
of Kory-Kory, in particular, was unbounded; he threw himself
into a perfect paroxysm of gestures, which were intended to convey
to us not only his abhorrence of Nukuheva and its uncivilized
inhabitants, but also his astonishment that after becoming
acquainted with the enlightened Typees, we should evince the
least desire to withdraw, even for a time, from their agreeable
society.

However, I overbore his objections by appealing to my lameness;
from which I assured the natives I should speedily recover,
if Toby were permitted to obtain the supplies I needed.

It was agreed that on the following morning my companion
should depart, accompanied by some one or two of the household,
who should point out to him an easy route, by which the bay might
be reached before sunset.

At early dawn of the next day, our habitation was astir. One
of the young men mounted into an adjoining cocoa-nut tree, and
threw down a number of the young fruit, which old Marheyo
quickly stripped of the green husks, and strung together upon a
short pole. These were intended to refresh Toby on his route.

The preparations being completed, with no little emotion I
bade my companion adieu. He promised to return in three days
at farthest; and, bidding me keep up my spirits in the interval,
turned round the corner of the pi-pi, and, under the guidance of
the venerable Marheyo, was soon out of sight. His departure
oppressed me with melancholy, and, re-entering the dwelling, I
threw myself almost in despair upon the matting of the floor.

[figure description] Page 126.[end figure description]

In two hours' time the old warrior returned, and gave me to
understand that after accompanying my companion a little distance,
and showing him the route, he had left him journeying on
his way.

It was about noon of this same day, a season which these people
are wont to pass in sleep, that I lay in the house, surrounded by
its slumbering inmates, and painfully affected by the strange
silence which prevailed. All at once I thought I heard a faint
shout, as if proceeding from some persons in the depth of the
grove which extended in front of our habitation.

The sounds grew louder and nearer, and gradually the whole
valley rang with wild outeries. The sleepers around me started
to their feet in alarm, and hurried outside to discover the cause
of the commotion. Kory-Kory, who had been the first to spring
up, soon returned almost breathless, and nearly frantic with the
excitement under which he seemed to be laboring. All that I
could understand from him was that some accident had happened
to Toby. Apprehensive of some dreadful calamity, I rushed out
of the house, and caught sight of a tumultuous crowd, who, with
shrieks and lamentations, were just emerging from the grove bearing
in their arms some object, the sight of which produced all this
transport of sorrow. As they drew near, the men redoubled their
cries, while the girls, tossing their bare arms in the air, exclaimed
plaintively, “Awha! awha! Toby muckee moee!”—Alas! alas
Toby is killed!

In a moment the crowd opened, and disclosed the apparently
lifeless body of my companion borne between two men, the head
hanging heavily against the breast of the foremost. The whole
face, neck, and bosom were covered with blood, which still trickled
slowly from a wound behind the temple. In the midst of the
greatest uproar and confusion the body was carried into the house
and laid on a mat. Waving the natives off to give room and air,
I bent eagerly over Toby, and, laying my hand upon the breast,

[figure description] Page 127.[end figure description]

ascertained that the heart still beat. Overjoyed at this, I seized
a calabash of water, and dashed its contents upon his face, then
wiping away the blood, anxiously examined the wound. It was
about three inches long, and on removing the clotted hair from
about it, showed the skull laid completely bare. Immediately
with my knife I cut away the heavy locks, and bathed the part
repeatedly in water.

In a few moments Toby revived, and opening his eyes for a
second, closed them again without speaking. Kory-Kory, who
had been kneeling beside me, now chafed his limbs gently with
the palms of his hands, while a young girl at his head kept fanning
him, and I still continued to moisten his lips and brow. Soon my
poor comrade showed signs of animation, and I succeeded in making
him swallow from a cocoa-nut shell a few mouthfuls of water.

Old Tinor now appeared, holding in her hand some simples
she had gathered, the juice of which she by signs besought me
to squeeze into the wound. Having done so, I thought it best to
leave Toby undisturbed until he should have had time to rally
his faculties. Several times he opened his lips, but fearful for
his safety I enjoined silence. In the course of two or three hours,
however, he sat up, and was sufficiently recovered to tell me
what had occurred.

“After leaving the house with Marheyo,” said Toby, “we
struck across the valley, and ascended the opposite heights.
Just beyond them, my guide informed me, lay the valley of Happar,
while along their summits, and skirting the head of the vale,
was my route to Nukuheva. After mounting a little way up the
elevation my guide paused, and gave me to understand that he
could not accompany me any farther, and by various signs intimated
that he was afraid to approach any nearer the territories of
the enemies of his tribe. He however pointed out my path, which
now lay clearly before me, and bidding me farewell, hastily
descended the mountain.

[figure description] Page 128.[end figure description]

“Quite elated at being so near the Happars, I pushed up the
acclivity, and soon gained its summit. It tapered up to a sharp
ridge, from whence I beheld both the hostile valleys. Here I sat
down and rested for a moment, refreshing myself with my cocoa-nuts.
I was soon again pursuing my way along the height, when
suddenly I saw three of the islanders, who must have just come
out of Happar valley, standing in the path ahead of me. They
were each armed with a heavy spear, and one from his appearance
I took to be a chief. They sung out something, I could not
understand what, and beckoned me to come on.

“Without the least hesitation I advanced towards them, and
had approached within about a yard of the foremost, when, pointing
angrily into the Typee valley, and uttering some savage
exclamation, he wheeled round his weapon like lightning, and
struck me in a moment to the ground. The blow inflicted this
wound, and took away my senses. As soon as I came to myself,
I perceived the three islanders standing a little distance off, and
apparently engaged in some violent altercation respecting me.

“My first impulse was to run for it; but, in endeavoring to rise,
I fell back, and rolled down a little grassy precipice. The shock
seemed to rally my faculties; so, starting to my feet, I fled down
the path I had just ascended. I had no need to look behind me,
for, from the yells I heard, I knew that my enemies were in full
pursuit. Urged on by their fearful outcries, and heedless of the
injury I had received—though the blood flowing from the wound
trickled over into my eyes and almost blinded me—I rushed down
the mountain side with the speed of the wind. In a short time I
had descended nearly a third of the distance, and the savages had
ceased their cries, when suddenly a terrific howl burst upon my
ear, and at the same moment a heavy javelin darted past me as
I fled, and stuck quivering in a tree close to me. Another yell
followed, and a second spear and a third shot through the air
within a few feet of my body, both of them piercing the ground

[figure description] Page 129.[end figure description]

obliquely in advance of me. The fellows gave a roar of rage
and disappointment; but they were afraid, I suppose, of coming
down further into the Typee valley, and so abandoned the chase.
I saw them recover their weapons and turn back; and I continued
my descent as fast as I could.

“What could have caused this ferocious attack on the part of
these Happars I could not imagine, unless it were that they had
seen me ascending the mountain with Marheyo, and that the mere
fact of coming from the Typee valley was sufficient to provoke
them.

“As long as I was in danger I scarcely felt the wound I had
received; but when the chase was over I began to suffer from it.
I had lost my hat in the flight, and the sun scorched my bare
head. I felt faint and giddy; but, fearful of falling to the
ground beyond the reach of assistance, I staggered on as well as
I could, and at last gained the level of the valley, and then down
I sunk; and I knew nothing more until I found myself lying
upon these mats, and you stooping over me with the calabash of
water.”

Such was Toby's account of this sad affair. I afterwards
learned that fortunately he had fallen close to a spot where the
natives go for fuel. A party of them caught sight of him as he
fell, and sounding the alarm, had lifted him up; and after ineffectually
endeavoring to restore him at the brook, had hurried forward
with him to the house.

This incident threw a dark cloud over our prospects. It reminded
us that we were hemmed in by hostile tribes, whose territories
we could not hope to pass, on our route to Nukuheva, without
encountering the effects of their savage resentment. There appeared
to be no avenue opened to our escape but the sea, which
washed the lower extremity of the vale.

Our Typee friends availed themselves of the recent disaster of
Toby to exhort us to a due appreciation of the blessings we enjoyed

[figure description] Page 130.[end figure description]

among them; contrasting their own generous reception of us
with the animosity of their neighbors. They likewise dwelt upon
the cannibal propensities of the Happars, a subject which they
were perfectly aware could not fail to alarm us; while at the
same time they earnestly disclaimed all participation in so horrid
a custom. Nor did they omit to call upon us to admire the natural
loveliness of their own abode, and the lavish abundance with
which it produced all manner of luxuriant fruits; exalting it in
this particular above any of the surrounding valleys.

Kory-Kory seemed to experience so heartfelt a desire to infuse into
our minds proper views on these subjects, that, assisted in his endeavors
by the little knowledge of the language we had acquired,
he actually made us comprehend a considerable part of what he
said. To facilitate our correct apprehension of his meaning, he
at first condensed his ideas into the smallest possible compass.

“Happar keekeeno nuee,” he exclaimed; “nuee, nuee, ki ki
kannaka!—ah! owle motarkee!” which signifies, “Terrible fellows
those Happars!—devour an amazing quantity of men!—ah,
shocking bad!” Thus far he explained himself by a variety of
gestures, during the performance of which he would dart out of the
house, and point abhorrently towards the Happar valley; running
in to us again with a rapidity that showed he was fearful we
would lose one part of his meaning before he could complete the
other; and continuing his illustrations by seizing the fleshy part
of my arm in his teeth, intimating by the operation that the people
who lived over in that direction would like nothing better than
to treat me in that manner.

Having assured himself that we were fully enlightened on this
point, he proceeded to another branch of his subject. “Ah!
Typee motarkee!—nuee, nuee mioree—nuee, nuee wai—nuee,
nuee poee-poee—nuee, nuee kokoo—ah! nuee, nuee kiki—ah!
nuee, nuee, nuee!” Which, literally interpreted as before, would
imply, “Ah, Typee! isn't it a fine place though!—no danger of

[figure description] Page 131.[end figure description]

starving here, I tell you!—plenty of bread-fruit—plenty of water—
plenty of pudding—ah! plenty of everything! ah! heaps,
heaps, heaps!” All this was accompanied by a running commentary
of signs and gestures which it was impossible not to
comprehend.

As he continued his harangue, however, Kory-Kory, in emulation
of our more polished orators, began to launch out rather
diffusely into other branches of his subject, enlarging probably
upon the moral reflections it suggested; and proceeded in such a
strain of unintelligible and stunning gibberish, that he actually
gave me the headache for the rest of the day.

p273-157 CHAPTER XIV.

A great Event happens in the Valley—The Island Telegraph—Something
befalls Toby—Fayaway displays a tender heart—Melancholy
reflections—Mysterious conduct of the Islanders—Devotion of Kory-Kory—
A rural couch—A luxury—Kory-Kory strikes a light à la
Typee.

[figure description] Page 132.[end figure description]

In the course of a few days Toby had recovered from the effects
of his adventure with the Happar warriors; the wound on his
head rapidly healing under the vegetable treatment of the good
Tinor. Less fortunate than my companion, however, I still
continued to languish under a complaint the origin and nature of
which were still a mystery. Cut off as I was from all intercourse
with the civilized world, and feeling the inefficacy of
anything the natives could do to relieve me; knowing, too, that
so long as I remained in my present condition, it would be impossible
for me to leave the valley, whatever opportunity might
present itself; and apprehensive that ere long we might be exposed
to some caprice on the part of the islanders, I now gave
up all hopes of recovery, and became a prey to the most gloomy
thoughts. A deep dejection fell upon me, which neither the
friendly remonstrances of my companion, the devoted attentions
of Kory-Kory, nor all the soothing influences of Fayaway could
remove.

One morning as I lay on the mats in the house, plunged in
melancholy reverie, and regardless of everything around me,
Toby, who had left me about an hour, returned in haste, and with
great glee told me to cheer up and be of good heart; for he believed,
from what was going on among the natives, that there were
boats approaching the bay.

[figure description] Page 133.[end figure description]

These tidings operated upon me like magic. The hour of our
deliverance was at hand, and starting up, I was soon convinced
that something unusual was about to occur. The word “botee!
botee!” was vociferated in all directions: and shouts were heard
in the distance, at first feebly and faintly; but growing louder
and nearer at each successive repetition, until they were caught
up by a fellow in a cocoa-nut tree a few yards off, who sounding
them in turn, they were reiterated from a neighboring grove, and
so died away gradually from point to point, as the intelligence
penetrated into the farthest recesses of the valley. This was the
vocal telegraph of the islanders; by means of which condensed
items of information could be carried in a very few minutes from the
sea to their remotest habitation, a distance of at least eight or nine
miles. On the present occasion it was in active operation; one
piece of information following another with inconceivable rapidity.

The greatest commotion now appeared to prevail. At every
fresh item of intelligence the natives betrayed the liveliest interest,
and redoubled the energy with which they employed
themselves in collecting fruit to sell to the expected visitors.
Some were tearing off the husks from cocoa-nuts; some perched
in the trees were throwing down bread-fruit to their companions,
who gathered them into heaps as they fell; while others were
plying their fingers rapidly in weaving leafen baskets in which to
carry the fruit.

There were other matters too going on at the same time.
Here you would see a stout warrior polishing his spear with a bit
of old tappa, or adjusting the folds of the girdle about his waist;
and there you might descry a young damsel decorating herself
with flowers, as if having in her eye some maidenly conquest;
while, as in all cases of hurry and confusion in every part of the
world, a number of individuals kept hurrying to and fro, with
amazing vigor and perseverance, doing nothing themselves, and
hindering others.

[figure description] Page 134.[end figure description]

Never before had we seen the islanders in such a state of bustle
and excitement; and the scene furnished abundant evidence of
the fact—that it was only at long intervals any such events
occur.

When I thought of the length of time that might intervene before
a similar chance of escape would be presented, I bitterly
lamented that I had not the power of availing myself effectually
of the present opportunity.

From all that we could gather, it appeared that the natives were
fearful of arriving too late upon the beach, unless they made extraordinary
exertions. Sick and lame as I was, I would have
started with Toby at once, had not Kory-Kory not only refused
to carry me, but manifested the most invincible repugnance to our
leaving the neighborhood of the house. The rest of the savages
were equally opposed to our wishes, and seemed grieved and astonished
at the earnestness of my solicitations. I clearly perceived
that while my attendant avoided all appearance of constraining
my movements, he was nevertheless determined to thwart my
wishes. He seemed to me on this particular occasion, as well as
often afterwards, to be executing the orders of some other person
with regard to me, though at the same time feeling towards me
the most lively affection.

Toby, who had made up his mind to accompany the islanders
if possible, as soon as they were in readiness to depart, and who
for that reason had refrained from showing the same anxiety that
I had done, now represented to me that it was idle for me to
entertain the hope of reaching the beach in time to profit by any
opportunity that might then be presented.

“Do you not see,” said he, “the savages themselves are fearful
of being too late, and I should hurry forward myself at once did
I not think that if I showed too much eagerness I should destroy
all our hopes of reaping any benefit from this fortunate event.
If you will only endeavor to appear tranquil or unconcerned, you

[figure description] Page 135.[end figure description]

will quiet their suspicions, and I have no doubt they will then let
me go with them to the beach, supposing that I merely go out of
curiosity. Should I succeed in getting down to the boats, I
will make known the condition in which I have left you, and
measures may then be taken to secure our escape.”

In the expediency of this I could not but acquiesce; and as
the natives had now completed their preparations, I watched
with the liveliest interest the reception that Toby's application
might meet with. As soon as they understood from my companion
that I intended to remain, they appeared to make no
objection to his proposition, and even hailed it with pleasure.
Their singular conduct on this occasion not a little puzzled me
at the time, and imparted to subsequent events an additional
mystery.

The islanders were now to be seen hurrying along the path which
led to the sea. I shook Toby warmly by the hand, and gave him
my Payta hat to shield his wounded head from the sun, as he had
lost his own. He cordially returned the pressure of my hand,
and solemnly promising to return as soon as the boats should leave
the shore, sprang from my side, and the next minute disappeared
in a turn of the grove.

In spite of the unpleasant reflections that crowded upon my
mind, I could not but be entertained by the novel and animated
sight which now met my view. One after another the natives
crowded along the narrow path, laden with every variety of fruit.
Here, you might have seen one, who, after ineffectually endeavoring
to persuade a surly porker to be conducted in leading strings,
was obliged at last to seize the perverse animal in his arms, and
carry him struggling against his naked breast, and squealing
without intermission. There went two, who at a little distance
might have been taken for the Hebrew spies, on their return to
Moses with the goodly bunch of grapes. One trotted before the
other at a distance of a couple of yards, while between them,

[figure description] Page 136.[end figure description]

from a pole resting on their shoulders, was suspended a huge
cluster of bananas, which swayed to and fro with the rocking
gait at which they proceeded. Here ran another, perspiring
with his exertions, and bearing before him a quantity of cocoa-nuts,
who, fearful of being too late, heeded not the fruit that
dropped from his basket, and appeared solely intent upon reaching
his destination, careless how many of his cocoa-nuts kept company
with him.

In a short time the last straggler was seen hurrying on his way,
and the faint shouts of those in advance died insensibly upon the
ear. Our part of the valley now appeared nearly deserted by its
inhabitants, Kory-Kory, his aged father, and a few decrepid old
people, being all that were left.

Towards sunset the islanders in small parties began to return
from the beach, and among them, as they drew near to the house,
I sought to descry the form of my companion. But one after
another they passed the dwelling, and I caught no glimpse of him.
Supposing, however, that he would soon appear with some of the
members of the household, I quieted my apprehensions, and waited
patiently to see him advancing in company with the beautiful
Fayaway. At last, I perceived Tinor coming forward, followed
by the girls and young men who usually resided in the house of
Marheyo; but with them came not my comrade, and, filled with a
thousand alarms, I eagerly sought to discover the cause of his delay.

My earnest questions appeared to embarrass the natives greatly.
All their accounts were contradictory: one giving me to understand
that Toby would be with me in a very short time; another
that he did not know where he was; while a third, violently inveighing
against him, assured me that he had stolen away, and
would never come back. It appeared to me, at the time, that in
making these various statements they endeavored to conceal from
me some terrible disaster, lest the knowledge of it should over-power
me.

[figure description] Page 137.[end figure description]

Fearful lest some fatal calamity had overtaken him, I sought
out young Fayaway, and endeavored to learn from her, if possible,
the truth.

This gentle being had early attracted my regard, not only from
her extraordinary beauty, but from the attractive cast of her
countenance, singularly expressive of intelligence and humanity.
Of all the natives she alone seemed to appreciate the effect which
the peculiarity of the circumstances in which we were placed
had produced upon the minds of my companion and myself. In
addressing me—especially when I lay reclining upon the mats
suffering from pain—there was a tenderness in her manner which
it was impossible to misunderstand or resist. Whenever she entered
the house, the expression of her face indicated the liveliest
sympathy for me; and moving towards the place where I lay,
with one arm slightly elevated in a gesture of pity, and her large
glistening eyes gazing intently into mine, she would murmur
plaintively, “Awha! awha! Tommo,” and seat herself mournfully
beside me.

Her manner convinced me that she deeply compassionated my
situation, as being removed from my country and friends, and
placed beyond the reach of all relief. Indeed, at times I was
almost led to believe that her mind was swayed by gentle impulses
hardly to be anticipated from one in her condition; that
she appeared to be conscious there were ties rudely severed, which
had once bound us to our homes; that there were sisters and
brothers anxiously looking forward to our return, who were, perhaps,
never more to behold us.

In this amiable light did Fayaway appear in my eyes; and
reposing full confidence in her candor and intelligence, I now
had recourse to her, in the midst of my alarm, with regard to my
companion.

My questions evidently distressed her. She looked round from
one to another of the bystanders, as if hardly knowing what

[figure description] Page 138.[end figure description]

answer to give me. At last, yielding to my importunities, she overcame
her scruples, and gave me to understand that Toby had gone
away with the boats which had visited the bay, but had promised
to return at the expiration of three days. At first I accused him
of perfidiously deserting me; but as I grew more composed, I
upbraided myself for imputing so cowardly an action to him, and
tranquillized myself with the belief that he had availed himself
of the opportunity to go round to Nukuheva, in order to make
some arrangement by which I could be removed from the valley.
At any rate, thought I, he will return with the medicines I require,
and then, as soon as I recover, there will be no difficulty
in the way of our departure.

Consoling myself with these reflections, I lay down that night
in a happier frame of mind than I had done for some time. The
next day passed without any allusion to Toby on the part of the
natives, who seemed desirous of avoiding all reference to the subject.
This raised some apprehensions in my breast; but when
night came, I congratulated myself that the second day had now
gone by, and that on the morrow Toby would again be with me.
But the morrow came and went, and my companion did not appear.
Ah! thought I, be reckons three days from the morning
of his departure,—to-morrow he will arrive. But that weary day
also closed upon me, without his return. Even yet I would not
despair; I thought that something detained him—that he was
waiting for the sailing of a boat, at Nukuheva, and that in a day
or two at farthest I should see him again. But day after day of
renewed disappointment passed by; at last hope deserted me, and
I fell a victim to despair.

Yes, thought I, gloomily, he has secured his own escape, and
cares not what calamity may befall his unfortunate comrade.
Fool that I was, to suppose that any one would willingly encounter
the perils of this valley, after having once got beyond its
limits! He has gone, and has left me to combat alone all the

[figure description] Page 139.[end figure description]

dangers by which I am surrounded. Thus would I sometimes
seek to derive a desperate consolation from dwelling upon the perfidy
of Toby: whilst at other times I sunk under the bitter remorse
which I felt as having by my own imprudence brought upon myself
the fate which I was sure awaited me.

At other times I thought that perhaps after all these treacherous
savages had made away with him, and thence the confusion into
which they were thrown by my questions, and their contradictory
answers; or he might be a captive in some other part of the valley;
or, more dreadful still, might have met with that fate at which my
very soul shuddered. But all these speculations were vain; no
tidings of Toby ever reached me; he had gone never to return.

The conduct of the islanders appeared inexplicable. All reference
to my lost comrade was carefully evaded, and if at any
time they were forced to make some reply to my frequent inquiries
on the subject, they would uniformly denounce him as an ungrateful
runaway, who had deserted his friend, and taken himself
off to that vile and detestable place Nukuheva.

But whatever might have been his fate, now that he was gone,
the natives multiplied their acts of kindness and attention towards
myself, treating me with a degree of deference which could hardly
have been surpassed had I been some celestial visitant. Kory-Kory
never for one moment left my side, unless it were to execute
my wishes. The faithful fellow, twice every day, in the
cool of the morning and in the evening, insisted upon carrying me
to the stream, and bathing me in its refreshing water.

Frequently in the afternoon he would carry me to a particular
part of the stream, where the beauty of the scene produced a soothing
influence upon my mind. At this place the waters flowed
between grassy banks, planted with enormous bread-fruit trees,
whose vast branches interlacing overhead, formed a leafy canopy;
near the stream were several smooth black rocks. One of these,
projecting several feet above the surface of the water, had upon

[figure description] Page 140.[end figure description]

its summit a shallow cavity, which, filled with freshly-gathered
leaves, formed a delightful couch.

Here I often lay for hours, covered with a gauze-like veil of
tappa, while Fayaway, seated beside me, and holding in her hand
a fan woven from the leaflets of a young cocoa-nut bough, brushed
aside the insects that occasionally lighted on my face, and Kory-Kory,
with a view of chasing away my melancholy, performed a
thousand antics in the water before us.

As my eye wandered along this romantic stream, it would fall
upon the half-immersed figure of a beautiful girl, standing in the
transparent water, and catching in a little net a species of diminutive
shell-fish, of which these people are extravagantly fond.
Sometimes a chattering group would be seated upon the edge of a
low rock in the midst of the brook, busily engaged in thinning
and polishing the shells of cocoa-nuts, by rubbing them briskly
with a small stone in the water, an operation which soon converts
them into a light and elegant drinking vessel, somewhat resembling
goblets made of tortoise-shell.

But the tranquillizing influences of beautiful scenery, and the
exhibition of human life under so novel and charming an aspect,
were not my only sources of consolation.

Every evening the girls of the house gathered about me on the
mats, and after chasing away Kory-Kory from my side—who,
nevertheless, retired only to a little distance and watched their
proceedings with the most jealous attention—would anoint my
whole body with a fragrant oil, squeezed from a yellow root, previously
pounded between a couple of stones, and which in their
language is denominated “aka.” And most refreshing and agreeable
are the juices of the “aka,” when applied to one's limbs
by the soft palms of sweet nymphs, whose bright eyes are beaming
upon you with kindness; and I used to hail with delight the
daily recurrence of this luxurious operation, in which I forgot all
my troubles, and buried for the time every feeling of sorrow.

[figure description] Page 141.[end figure description]

Sometimes in the cool of the evening my devoted servitor would
lead me out upon the pi-pi in front of the house, and seating me
near its edge, protect my body from the annoyance of the insects
which occasionally hovered in the air, by wrapping me round
with a large roll of tappa. He then bustled about, and employed
himself at least twenty minutes in adjusting everything to secure
my personal comfort.

Having perfected his arrangements, he would get my pipe, and,
lighting it, would hand it to me. Often he was obliged to strike
a light for the occasion, and as the mode he adopted was entirely
different from what I had ever seen or heard of before I will
describe it.

A straight, dry, and partly decayed stick of the Habiscus, about
six feet in length, and half as many inches in diameter, with a
smaller bit of wood not more than a foot long, and scarcely an
inch wide, is as invariably to be met with in every house in
Typee as a box of lucifer matches in the corner of a kitchen cupboard
at home.

The islander, placing the larger stick obliquely against some
object, with one end elevated at an angle of forty-five degrees,
mounts astride of it like an urchin about to gallop off upon a
cane, and then grasping the smaller one firmly in both hands, he
rubs its pointed end slowly up and down the extent of a few
inches on the principal stick, until at last he makes a narrow
groove in the wood, with an abrupt termination at the point
furthest from him, where all the dusty particles which the friction
creates are accumulated in a little heap.

At first Kory-Kory goes to work quite leisurely, but gradually
quickens his pace, and waxing warm in the employment, drives
the stick furiously along the smoking channel, plying his hands
to and fro with amazing rapidity, the perspiration starting from
every pore. As he approaches the climax of his effort, he pants
and gasps for breath, and his eyes almost start from their sockets

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with the violence of his exertions. This is the critical stage of
the operation; all his previous labors are vain if he cannot sustain
the rapidity of the movement until the reluctant spark is
produced. Suddenly he stops, becomes perfectly motionless.
His hands still retain their hold of the smaller stick, which is
pressed convulsively against the further end of the channel
among the fine powder there accumulated, as if he had just
pierced through and through some little viper that was wriggling
and struggling to escape from his clutches. The next moment a
delicate wreath of smoke curls spirally into the air, the heap of
dusty particles glows with fire, and Kory-Kory, almost breathless,
dismounts from his steed.

This operation appeared to me to be the most laborious species
of work performed in Typee; and had I possessed a sufficient
intimacy with the language to have conveyed my ideas upon the
subject, I should certainly have suggested to the most influential
of the natives the expediency of establishing a college of vestals
to be centrally located in the valley, for the purpose of keeping
alive the indispensable article of fire; so as to supersede the
necessity of such a vast outlay of strength and good temper, as
were usually squandered on these occasions. There might, however,
be special difficulties in carrying this plan into execution.

What a striking evidence does this operation furnish of the
wide difference between the extreme of savage and civilized life!
A gentleman of Typee can bring up a numerous family of children
and give them all a highly respectable cannibal education,
with infinitely less toil and anxiety than he expends in the simple
process of striking a light; whilst a poor European artisan, who
through the instrumentality of a lucifer performs the same operation
in one second, is put to his wit's end to provide for his
starving offspring that food which the children of a Polynesian
father, without troubling their parents, pluck from the branches
of every tree around them.

p273-168 CHAPTER XV.

Kindness of Marheyo and the rest of the Islanders—A full Description of
the Bread-fruit Tree—Different Modes of preparing the Fruit.

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All the inhabitants of the valley treated me with great kindness;
but as to the household of Marheyo, with whom I was now
permanently domiciled, nothing could surpass their efforts to
minister to my comfort. To the gratification of my palate they
paid the most unwearied attention. They continually invited
me to partake of food, and when after eating heartily I declined
the viands they continued to offer me, they seemed to think that
my appetite stood in need of some piquant stimulant to excite its
activity.

In pursuance of this idea, old Marheyo himself would hie him
away to the sea-shore by the break of day, for the purpose of
collecting various species of rare sea-weed; some of which
among these people are considered a great luxury. After a
whole day spent in this employment, he would return about
nightfall with several cocoa-nut shells filled with different descriptions
of kemp. In preparing these for use he manifested all
the ostentation of a professed cook, although the chief mystery
of the affair appeared to consist in pouring water in judicious
quantities upon the slimy contents of his cocoa-nut shells.

The first time he submitted one of these saline salads to my
critical attention I naturally thought that anything collected at
such pains must possess peculiar merits; but one mouthful was a
complete dose; and great was the consternation of the old warrior
at the rapidity with which I ejected his epicurean treat.

How true it is, that the rarity of any particular article

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enhances its value amazingly. In some part of the valley—I know
not where, but probably in the neighborhood of the sea—the
girls were sometimes in the habit of procuring small quantities of
salt, a thimble-full or so being the result of the united labors
of a party of five or six employed for the greater part of the
day. This precious commodity they brought to the house, enveloped
in multitudinous folds of leaves; and as a special mark
of the esteem in which they held me, would spread an immense
leaf on the ground, and dropping one by one a few minute particles
of the salt upon it, invite me to taste them.

From the extravagant value placed upon the article, I verily
believe, that with a bushel of common Liverpool salt all the real
estate in Typee might have been purchased. With a small pinch
of it in one hand, and a quarter section of a bread-fruit in the
other, the greatest chief in the valley would have laughed at all
the luxuries of a Parisian table.

The celebrity of the bread-fruit tree, and the conspicuous place
it occupies in a Typee bill of fare, induces me to give at some
length a general description of the tree, and the various modes in
which the fruit is prepared.

The bread-fruit tree, in its glorious prime, is a grand and
towering object, forming the same feature in a Marquesan landscape
that the patriarchal elm does in New-England scenery.
The latter tree it not a little resembles in height, in the wide
spread of its stalwart branches, and in its venerable and imposing
aspect.

The leaves of the bread-fruit are of great size, and their edges
are cut and scolloped as fantastically as those of a lady's lace
collar. As they annually tend towards decay, they almost rival in
the brilliant variety of their gradually changing hues the fleeting
shades of the expiring dolphin. The autumnal tints of our
American forests, glorious as they are, sink into nothing in comparison
with this tree.

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