University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XI.

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.

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 pourtrayed. 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 honoured 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 heart's 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
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
boars' 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-coloured 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 coloured 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 the
splendid islander was the elaborated tattooing displayed on every
noble limb. All imaginable lines and curves and figures were
delineated over his whole body, and in their grotesque variety
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, recognised 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 endeavour 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 endeavoured to make us comprehend the
full extent of the kindly feelings by which he was actuated. The
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 neighbouring 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 colour, 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
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 endeavoured 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 posture-master,
vainly endeavoured to expostulate with the natives by
signs and gestures. To have looked at my companion, as, sympathising
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
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
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
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
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 roots
from every other part of his face, was suffered to droop in hairy
pendants, two of which garnished his upper 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 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 neighbouring groves, as if
about to give a hostile meeting to some cannibal knight. But
he 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 labour performed by the old lady: but she seemed to work
from some irresistible impulse; her limbs continually swaying to
and fro, as if 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 morsel 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 favourite. 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
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 Fayaway
were as soft and delicate as those of any countess; for an
entire exemption from rude labour 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 pourtrayed. 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 constraind
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.

The females are very little embellished in this way, and
Fayaway, with 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 pinheads,
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 were 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
with fanciful articles of jewellery, 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.