Apprehensions of evil—Frightful discovery—Some remarks on
cannibalism—Second battle with the Happars—Savage spectacle—Mysterious
feast—Subsequent disclosures.
From the time of my casual encounter with Karky the artist, my life was
one of absolute wretchedness. Not a day passed but I was persecuted by
the solicitations of some of the natives to subject myself to the
odious operation of tattooing. Their importunities drove me half wild,
for I felt how easily they might work their will upon me regarding
this, or anything else which they took into their heads. Still,
however, the behaviour of the islanders toward me was as kind as ever.
Faraway was quite as engaging; Kory-Kory as devoted; and Mehevi the
king just as gracious and condescending as before. But I had now been
three months in their valley, as nearly as I could estimate; I had
grown familiar with the narrow limits to which my wanderings had been
confined; and I began bitterly to feel the state of captivity in which
I was held. There was no one with whom I could freely converse; no one
to whom I could communicate my thoughts; no one who could sympathize
with my sufferings. A thousand times I thought how much more endurable
would have been my lot had Toby still been with me. But I was left
alone, and the thought was terrible to me. Still, despite my griefs, I
did all in my power to appear composed and cheerful, well knowing that
by manifesting any uneasiness, or any desire to escape, I should only
frustrate my object.
It was during the period I was in this unhappy frame of mind, that the
painful malady under which I had been labouring—after having almost
completely subsided—began again to show itself, and with symptoms as
violent as ever. This added calamity nearly unmanned me; the recurrence
of the complaint proved that, without powerful remedial applications,
all hope of cure was futile; and when I reflected that just beyond the
elevations which bound me in, was the medical relief I needed, and
that, although so near, it was impossible for me to avail myself of it,
the thought was misery.
In this wretched situation, every circumstance which evinced the savage
nature of the beings at whose mercy I was, augmented the fearful
apprehensions that consumed me. An occurrence which happened about this
time affected me most powerfully.
I have already mentioned, that from the ridge-pole of Marheyo’s house
were suspended a number of packages enveloped in tappa. Many of these I
had often seen in the hands of the natives, and their contents had been
examined in my presence. But there were three packages hanging very
nearly over the place where I lay, which from their remarkable
appearance had often excited my curiosity. Several times I had asked
Kory-Kory to show me their contents; but my servitor, who in almost
every other particular had acceded to my wishes, always refused to
gratify me in this.
One day, returning unexpectedly from the Ti, my arrival seemed to throw
the inmates of the house into the greatest confusion. They were seated
together on the mats, and by the lines which extended from the roof to
the floor I immediately perceived that the mysterious packages were,
for some purpose or other, under inspection. The evident alarm the
savages betrayed filled me with forebodings of evil, and with an
uncontrollable desire to penetrate the secret so jealously guarded.
Despite the efforts of Marheyo and Kory-Kory to restrain me, I forced
my way into the midst of the circle, and just caught a glimpse of three
human heads, which others of the party were hurriedly enveloping in the
coverings from which they had been taken.
One of the three I distinctly saw. It was in a state of perfect
preservation, and from the slight glimpse I had of it, seemed to have
been subjected to some smoking operation which had reduced it to the
dry, hard, and mummy-like appearance it presented. The two long
scalp-locks were twisted up into balls upon the crown of the head, in
the same way that the individual had worn them during life. The sunken
cheeks were rendered yet more ghastly by the rows of glistening teeth
which protruded from between the lips, while the sockets of the
eyes—filled with oval bits of mother-of-pearl shell, with a black spot
in the centre—heightened the hideousness of its aspect.
Two of the three were heads of the islanders; but the third, to my
horror, was that of a white man. Although it had been quickly removed
from my sight, still the glimpse I had of it was enough to convince me
that I could not be mistaken.
Gracious God! what dreadful thoughts entered my mind. In solving this
mystery, perhaps I had solved another, and the fate of my lost
companion might be revealed in the shocking spectacle I had just
witnessed. I longed to have torn off the folds of cloth, and satisfied
the awful doubts under which I laboured. But before I had recovered
from the consternation into which I had been thrown, the fatal packages
were hoisted aloft and once more swung over my head. The natives now
gathered round me tumultuously, and laboured to convince me that what I
had just seen were the heads of three Happar warriors, who had been
slain in battle. This glaring falsehood added to my alarm, and it was
not until I reflected that I had observed the packages swinging from
their elevation before Toby’s disappearance, that I could at all
recover my composure.
But although this horrible apprehension had been dispelled, I had
discovered enough to fill me, in my present state of mind, with the
most bitter reflections. It was plain that I had seen the last relic of
some unfortunate wretch, who must have been massacred on the beach by
the savages, in one of those perilous trading adventures which I have
before described.
It was not, however, alone the murder of the stranger that overcame me
with gloom. I shuddered at the idea of the subsequent fate his
inanimate body might have met with. Was the same doom reserved for me?
Was I destined to perish like him—like him, perhaps, to be devoured,
and my head to be preserved as a fearful memento of the event? My
imagination ran riot in these horrid speculations, and I felt certain
that the worst possible evils would befall me. But whatever were my
misgivings, I studiously concealed them from the islanders, as well as
the full extent of the discovery I had made.
Although the assurances which the Typees had often given me, that they
never ate human flesh, had not convinced me that such was the case,
yet, having been so long a time in the valley without witnessing
anything which indicated the existence of the practice, I began to hope
that it was an event of very rare occurrence, and that I should be
spared the horror of witnessing it during my stay among them: but,
alas! these hopes were soon destroyed.
It is a singular fact, that in all our accounts of cannibal tribes we
have seldom received the testimony of an eye-witness to the revolting
practice. The horrible conclusion has almost always been derived from
the second-hand evidence of Europeans, or else from the admissions of
the savages themselves, after they have in some degree become
civilized. The Polynesians are aware of the detestation in which
Europeans hold this custom, and therefore invariably deny its
existence, and, with the craft peculiar to savages, endeavour to
conceal every trace of it.
But to my story.
About a week after my discovery of the contents of the mysterious
packages, I happened to be at the Ti, when another war-alarm was
sounded, and the natives, rushing to their arms, sallied out to resist
a second incursion of the Happar invaders. The same scene was again
repeated, only that on this occasion I heard at least fifteen reports
of muskets from the mountains during the time that the skirmish lasted.
An hour or two after its termination, loud pæans chanted through the
valley announced the approach of the victors. I stood with Kory-Kory
leaning against the railing of the pi-pi, awaiting their advance, when
a tumultuous crowd of islanders emerged with wild clamours from the
neighbouring groves. In the midst of them marched four men, one
preceding the other at regular intervals of eight or ten feet, with
poles of a corresponding length, extending from shoulder to shoulder,
to which were lashed with thongs of bark three long narrow bundles,
carefully wrapped in ample coverings of freshly plucked palm-leaves,
tacked together with slivers of bamboo. Here and there upon these green
winding-sheets might be seen the stains of blood, while the warriors
who carried the frightful burdens displayed upon their naked limbs
similar sanguinary marks. The shaven head of the foremost had a deep
gash upon it, and the clotted gore which had flowed from the wound
remained in dry patches around it. The savage seemed to be sinking
under the weight he bore. The bright tattooing upon his body was
covered with blood and dust; his inflamed eyes rolled in their sockets,
and his whole appearance denoted extraordinary suffering and exertion;
yet, sustained by some powerful impulse, he continued to advance, while
the throng around him with wild cheers sought to encourage him. The
other three men were marked about the arms and breasts with several
slight wounds, which they somewhat ostentatiously displayed.
These four individuals, having been the most active in the late
encounter, claimed the honour of bearing the bodies of their slain
enemies to the Ti. Such was the conclusion I drew from my own
observations, and, as far as I could understand, from the explanation
which Kory-Kory gave me.
The royal Mehevi walked by the side of these heroes. He carried in one
hand a musket, from the barrel of which was suspended a small canvas
pouch of powder, and in the other he grasped a short javelin, which he
held before him and regarded with fierce exultation. This javelin he
had wrested from a celebrated champion of the Happars, who had
ignominiously fled, and was pursued by his foes beyond the summit of
the mountain.
When within a short distance of the Ti, the warrior with the wounded
head, who proved to be Narmonee, tottered forward two or three steps,
and fell helplessly to the ground; but not before another had caught
the end of the pole from his shoulder, and placed it upon his own.
The excited throng of islanders, who surrounded the person of the king
and the dead bodies of the enemy, approached the spot where I stood,
brandishing their rude implements of warfare, many of which were
bruised and broken, and uttering continual shouts of triumph. When the
crowd drew up opposite the Ti, I set myself to watch their proceedings
most attentively; but scarcely had they halted when my servitor, who
had left my side for an instant, touched my arm, and proposed our
returning to Marheyo’s house. To this I objected; but, to my surprise,
Kory-Kory reiterated his request, and with an unusual vehemence of
manner. Still, however, I refused to comply, and was retreating before
him, as in his importunity he pressed upon me, when I felt a heavy hand
laid upon my shoulder, and turning round, encountered the bulky form of
Mow-Mow, a one-eyed chief, who had just detached himself from the crowd
below, and had mounted the rear of the pi-pi upon which we stood. His
cheek had been pierced by the point of a spear, and the wound imparted
a still more frightful expression to his hideously tattooed face,
already deformed by the loss of an eye. The warrior, without uttering a
syllable, pointed fiercely in the direction of Marheyo’s house, while
Kory-Kory, at the same time presenting his back, desired me to mount.
I declined this offer, but intimated my willingness to withdraw, and
moved slowly along the piazza, wondering what could be the cause of
this unusual treatment. A few minutes’ consideration convinced me that
the savages were about to celebrate some hideous rite in connexion with
their peculiar customs, and at which they were determined I should not
be present. I descended from the pi-pi, and attended by Kory-Kory, who
on this occasion did not show his usual commiseration for my lameness,
but seemed only anxious to hurry me on, walked away from the place. As
I passed through the noisy throng, which by this time completely
environed the Ti, I looked with fearful curiosity at the three
packages, which now were deposited upon the ground; but although I had
no doubt as to their contents, still their thick coverings prevented my
actually detecting the form of a human body.
The next morning, shortly after sunrise, the same thundering sounds
which had awakened me from sleep on the second day of the Feast of
Calabashes, assured me that the savages were on the eve of celebrating
another, and, as I fully believed, a horrible solemnity.
All the inmates of the house, with the exception of Marheyo, his son,
and Tinor, after assuming their gala dresses, departed in the direction
of the Taboo Groves.
Although I did not anticipate a compliance with my request, still, with
a view of testing the truth of my suspicions, I proposed to Kory-Kory
that, according to our usual custom in the morning, we should take a
stroll to the Ti: he positively refused; and when I renewed the
request, he evinced his determination to prevent my going there; and,
to divert my mind from the subject, he offered to accompany me to the
stream. We accordingly went, and bathed. On our coming back to the
house, I was surprised to find that all its inmates had returned, and
were lounging upon the mats as usual, although the drums still sounded
from the groves.
The rest of the day I spent with Kory-Kory and Fayaway, wandering about
a part of the valley situated in an opposite direction from the Ti, and
whenever I so much as looked towards that building, although it was
hidden from view by intervening trees, and at the distance of more than
a mile, my attendant would exclaim, “Taboo, taboo!”
At the various houses where we stopped, I found many of the inhabitants
reclining at their ease, or pursuing some light occupation, as if
nothing unusual were going forward; but amongst them all I did not
perceive a single chief or warrior. When I asked several of the people
why they were not at the “Hoolah Hoolah” (the feast), they uniformly
answered the question in a manner which implied that it was not
intended for them, but for Mehevi, Narmonee, Mow-Mow, Kolor, Womonoo,
Kalow, running over, in their desire to make me comprehend their
meaning, the names of all the principal chiefs.
Everything, in short, strengthened my suspicions with regard to the
nature of the festival they were now celebrating; and which amounted
almost to a certainty. While in Nukuheva I had frequently been informed
that the whole tribe were never present at these cannibal banquets, but
the chiefs and priests only; and everything I now observed agreed with
the account.
The sound of the drums continued without intermission the whole day,
and falling continually upon my ear, caused me a sensation of horror
which I am unable to describe. On the following day, hearing none of
those noisy indications of revelry, I concluded that the inhuman feast
was terminated, and feeling a kind of morbid curiosity to discover
whether the Ti might furnish any evidence of what had taken place
there, I proposed to Kory-Kory to walk there. To this proposition he
replied by pointing with his finger to the newly-risen sun, and then up
to the zenith, intimating that our visit must be deferred until noon.
Shortly after that hour we accordingly proceeded to the Taboo Groves,
and as soon as we entered their precincts, I looked fearfully round in
quest of some memorial of the scene which had so lately been acted
there; but everything appeared as usual. On reaching the Ti, we found
Mehevi and a few chiefs reclining on the mats, who gave me as friendly
a reception as ever. No allusions of any kind were made by them to the
recent events; and I refrained, for obvious reasons, from referring to
them myself.
After staying a short time, I took my leave. In passing along the
piazza, previously to descending from the pi-pi, I observed a curiously
carved vessel of wood, of considerable size, with a cover placed over
it, of the same material, and which resembled in shape a small canoe.
It was surrounded by a low railing of bamboos, the top of which was
scarcely a foot from the ground. As the vessel had been placed in its
present position since my last visit, I at once concluded that it must
have some connexion with the recent festival; and, prompted by a
curiosity I could not repress, in passing it I raised one end of the
cover; at the same moment the chiefs, perceiving my design, loudly
ejaculated, “Taboo! taboo!” But the slight glimpse sufficed; my eyes
fell upon the disordered members of a human skeleton, the bones still
fresh with moisture, and with particles of flesh clinging to them here
and there!
Kory-Kory, who had been a little in advance of me, attracted by the
exclamations of the chiefs, turned round in time to witness the
expression of horror on my countenance. He now hurried towards me,
pointing at the same time to the canoe, and exclaiming, rapidly,
“Puarkee! puarkee!” (Pig, pig.) I pretended to yield to the deception,
and repeated the words after him several times, as though acquiescing
in what he said. The other savages, either deceived by my conduct, or
unwilling to manifest their displeasure at what could not now be
remedied, took no further notice of the occurrence, and I immediately
left the Ti.
All that night I lay awake, revolving in my mind the fearful situation
in which I was placed. The last horrid revelation had now been made,
and the full sense of my condition rushed upon my mind with a force I
had never before experienced.
Where, thought I, desponding, is there the slightest prospect of
escape? The only person who seemed to possess the ability to assist me
was the stranger, Marnoo; but would he ever return to the valley? and
if he did, should I be permitted to hold any communication with him? It
seemed as if I were cut off from every source of hope, and that nothing
remained but passively to await whatever fate was in store for me. A
thousand times I endeavoured to account for the mysterious conduct of
the natives. For what conceivable purpose did they thus retain me a
captive? What could be their object in treating me with such apparent
kindness, and did it not cover some treacherous scheme? Or, if they had
no other design than to hold me a prisoner, how should I be able to
pass away my days in this narrow valley, deprived of all intercourse
with civilized beings, and for ever separated from friends and home?
One only hope remained to me. The French could not long defer a visit
to the bay, and if they should permanently locate any of their troops
in the valley, the savages could not for any length of time conceal my
existence from them. But what reason had I to suppose that I should be
spared until such an event occurred—an event which might be postponed
by a hundred different contingencies?