MIDNIGHT REFLECTIONS--MORNING VISITORS--A WARRIOR IN COSTUME--A SAVAGE
AESCULAPIUS--PRACTICE OF THE HEALING ART--BODY SERVANT--A DWELLING-HOUSE
OF THE VALLEY DESCRIBED--PORTRAITS OF ITS INMATES
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 countenance 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 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 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 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-heads 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-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 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 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 each 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 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 ‘Frannee’ 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 cocoanut 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
cocoanut 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 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, 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 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 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
cocoanut 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 screenwork, 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 cocoanut 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 cocoanut 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 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 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, custard,
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 ate 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 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 each side,
imbedded in the red 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 particularizing 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 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.
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 each 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 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.