University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER VIII.

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 side 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.

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 endeavour to reach it, and if we found our expectations
realised 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
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 an hundred
yards on our journey. But, ungrateful as the task was, we set
about it with exemplary patience, and after a snail-like progress
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 endeavouring
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
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 death-like 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 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 right-about

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.

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 trousers 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
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-humouredly
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 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 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.