Strange custom of the islanders—Their chanting, and the peculiarity of
their voice—Rapture of the king at first hearing a song—A new dignity
conferred on the author—Musical instruments in the valley—Admiration of
the savages at beholding a pugilistic performance—Swimming
infant—Beautiful tresses of the girls—Ointment for the hair.
Sadly discursive as I have already been, I must still further entreat
the reader’s patience, as I am about to string together, without any
attempt at order, a few odds and ends of things not hitherto mentioned,
but which are either curious in themselves, or peculiar to the Typees.
There was one singular custom, observed in old Marheyo’s domestic
establishment, which often excited my surprise. Every night, before
retiring, the inmates of the house gathered together on the mats, and
squatting upon their haunches, after the universal practice of these
islanders, would commence a low, dismal, and monotonous chant,
accompanying the voice with the instrumental melody produced by two
small half-rotten sticks tapped slowly together, a pair of which were
held in the hands of each person present. Thus would they employ
themselves for an hour or two, sometimes longer. Lying in the gloom
which wrapped the farther end of the house, I could not avoid looking
at them, although the spectacle suggested nothing but unpleasant
reflections. The flickering rays of the “armor” nut just served to
reveal their savage lineaments, without dispelling the darkness that
hovered about them.
Sometimes when, after falling into a kind of doze, and awaking suddenly
in the midst of these doleful chantings, my eye would fall upon the
wild-looking group engaged in their strange occupation, with their
naked tattooed limbs, and shaven heads disposed in a circle, I was
almost tempted to believe that I gazed upon a set of evil beings in the
act of working a frightful incantation.
What was the meaning or purpose of this custom, whether it was
practised merely as a diversion, or whether it was a religious
exercise, a sort of family prayers, I never could discover.
The sounds produced by the natives on these occasions were of a most
singular description; and had I not actually been present, I never
would have believed that such curious noises could have been produced
by human beings.
To savages, generally, is imputed a guttural articulation. This,
however, is not always the case, especially among the inhabitants of
the Polynesian Archipelago. The labial melody with which the Typee
girls carry on an ordinary conversation, giving a musical prolongation
to the final syllable of every sentence, and chirping out some of the
words with a liquid, bird-like accent, was singularly pleasing.
The men, however, are not quite so harmonious in their utterance; and
when excited upon any subject, would work themselves up into a sort of
wordy paroxysm, during which all descriptions of rough-sided sounds
were projected from their mouths, with a force and rapidity which was
absolutely astonishing.
Although these savages are remarkably fond of chanting, still they
appear to have no idea whatever of singing, at least as the art is
practised among other nations.
I never shall forget the first time I happened to roar out a stave in
the presence of the noble Mehevi. It was a stanza from the “Bavarian
Broom-seller.” His Typean majesty, with all his court, gazed upon me in
amazement, as if I had displayed some preternatural faculty which
Heaven had denied to them. The king was delighted with the verse; but
the chorus fairly transported him. At his solicitation, I sang it again
and again, and nothing could be more ludicrous than his vain attempts
to catch the air and the words. The royal savage seemed to think that
by screwing all the features of his face into the end of his nose, he
might possibly succeed in the undertaking, but it failed to answer the
purpose; and in the end he gave it up, and consoled himself by
listening to my repetition of the sounds fifty times over.
Previous to Mehevi’s making the discovery, I had never been aware that
there was anything of the nightingale about me; but I was now promoted
to the place of court minstrel, in which capacity I was afterwards
perpetually called upon to officiate.
Besides the sticks and the drums, there are no other musical
instruments among the Typees, except one which might appropriately be
denominated a nasal flute. It is somewhat longer than an ordinary fife,
is made of a beautiful scarlet-coloured reed, and has four or five
stops, with a large hole near one end, which latter is held just
beneath the left nostril. The other nostril being closed by a peculiar
movement of the muscles about the nose, the breath is forced into the
tube, and produces a soft dulcet sound, which is varied by the fingers
running at random over the stops. This is a favourite recreation with
the females, and one in which Fayaway greatly excelled. Awkward as such
an instrument may appear, it was, in Fayaway’s delicate little hands,
one of the most graceful I have ever seen. A young lady in the act of
tormenting a guitar, strung about her neck by a couple of yards of blue
ribbon, is not half so engaging.
Singing was not the only means I possessed of diverting the royal
Mehevi and his easy-going subjects. Nothing afforded them more pleasure
than to see me go through the attitudes of a pugilistic encounter. As
not one of the natives had soul enough in him to stand up like a man,
and allow me to hammer away at him, for my own personal gratification
and that of the king, I was necessitated to fight with an imaginary
enemy, whom I invariably made to knock under to my superior prowess.
Sometimes, when this sorely battered shadow retreated precipitately
towards a group of the savages, and, following him up, I rushed among
them, dealing my blows right and left, they would disperse in all
directions, much to the enjoyment of Mehevi, the chiefs, and
themselves.
The noble art of self-defence appeared to be regarded by them as the
peculiar gift of the white man; and I make little doubt but that they
supposed armies of Europeans were drawn up provided with nothing else
but bony fists and stout hearts, with which they set to in column, and
pummelled one another at the word of command.
One day, in company with Kory-Kory, I had repaired to the stream for
the purpose of bathing, when I observed a woman sitting upon a rock in
the midst of the current, and watching with the liveliest interest the
gambols of something, which at first I took to be an uncommonly large
species of frog that was sporting in the water near her. Attracted by
the novelty of the sight, I waded towards the spot where she sat, and
could hardly credit the evidence of my senses when I beheld a little
infant, the period of whose birth could not have extended back many
days, paddling about as if it had just risen to the surface, after
being hatched into existence at the bottom. Occasionally the delighted
parent reached out her hand towards it, when the little thing, uttering
a faint cry, and striking out its tiny limbs, would sidle for the rock,
and the next moment be clasped to its mother’s bosom. This was repeated
again and again, the baby remaining in the stream about a minute at a
time. Once or twice it made wry faces at swallowing a mouthful of
water, and choked and spluttered as if on the point of strangling. At
such times, however, the mother snatched it up, and by a process
scarcely to be mentioned obliged it to eject the fluid. For several
weeks afterward I observed the woman bringing her child down to the
stream regularly every day, in the cool of the morning and evening, and
treating it to a bath. No wonder that the South Sea islanders are so
amphibious a race, when they are thus launched into the water as soon
as they see the light. I am convinced that it is as natural for a human
being to swim as it is for a duck. And yet, in civilized communities,
how many able-bodied individuals die, like so many drowning kittens,
from the occurrence of the most trivial accidents!
The long, luxuriant, and glossy tresses of the Typee damsels often
attracted my admiration. A fine head of hair is the pride and joy of
every woman’s heart! Whether, against the express will of Providence,
it is twisted up on the crown of the head and there coiled away;
whether it be built up in a great tower, with combs and pins, or is
plastered over the head in sleek, shiny folds; or whether it be
permitted to flow over the shoulders in natural ringlets, it is always
the pride of the owner, and the glory of the toilette.
The Typee girls devote much of their time to the dressing of their hair
and redundant locks. After bathing, as they sometimes do five or six
times every day, the hair is carefully dried, and if they have been in
the sea, invariably washed in fresh water, and anointed with a
highly-scented oil extracted from the meat of the cocoa-nut. This oil
is obtained in great abundance, by the following very simple process:—
A large vessel of wood, with holes perforated in the bottom, is filled
with the pounded meat, and exposed to the rays of the sun. As the
oleaginous matter exudes, it falls in drops through the apertures into
a wide-mouthed calabash placed underneath. After a sufficient quantity
has thus been collected, the oil undergoes a purifying process, and is
then poured into the small spherical shells of the nuts of the
moo-tree, which are hollowed out to receive it. These nuts are then
hermetically sealed with a resinous gum, and the vegetable fragrance of
their green rind soon imparts to the oil a delightful odour. After a
lapse of a few weeks, the exterior shell of the nuts becomes quite dry
and hard, and assumes a beautiful carnation tint; and when opened they
are found to be about two-thirds full of an ointment of a light yellow
colour, and diffusing the sweetest perfume. This elegant little odorous
globe would not be out of place even upon the toilette of a queen. Its
merits as a preparation for the hair are undeniable,—it imparts to it a
superb gloss and a silky fineness.