never held any other view. Moreover, we made the cruise because we
wanted to, and not because it was a safe or daring thing to do.
_Where to find a Dream Ship_.--This, as I think has been sufficiently
demonstrated in the foregoing pages, is the most difficult question of
all to answer at the present time.
I have given here the design and sail plan of my dream ship, and if it
meets with your approval sufficiently to impel you to have a replica,
and if you are willing and able to spend in the neighbourhood of L2,500
or about $12,500, I can only suggest going to Porsgrund, Norway, or
better still Randers, Denmark (where her timbers could be of Danish
oak), and have her built. For this particular type of boat, Scandinavia
cannot be equalled, let alone beaten. But in these days, building boats
is a pastime for millionaires only.
From this giddy pinnacle of affluence we fall to the next best thing,
which is a second-hand boat as like the dream ship in seaworthiness and
handiness as it is possible to procure, and that is what I have been
searching for ever since the dream cruise ended. There are no more pilot
boats of the dream-ship type being built in Norway. Steam has dethroned
them, and those still in use are either too old to buy or too invaluable
to sell. So, we are reduced to the inevitable compromise, and
personally, I think I have found it in an English, Bristol Channel Pilot
cutter, for which I paid L450 or, at par, about $2,250.
Yes, I have another dream ship. I have notified Peter. I have cabled
to Samoa. Next time....
But that is another dream.
THE END
[Illustration: Chapter XVII tailpiece]
*APPENDIX**
State of Affairs Aboard the Ship--Contents of her Larder--Length of
South Seamen's Voyages--Account of a Flying Whale-man--Determination to
Leave the Vessel--The Bay of Nukuheva--The Typees--Invasion of their
Valley by Porter--Reflections--Glen of Tior--Interview Between the Old
King and the French Admiral.
*From "Typee" by Herman Melville, copyright 1892 by Elizabeth S.
Melville. Reprinted by permission of The Page Company, publishers of
the works of Herman Melville, as follows: Typee, Omoo, Moby Dick, White
Jacket
Our ship had not been many days in the harbour of Nukuheva before I came
to the determination of leaving her. That my reasons for resolving to
take this step were numerous and weighty, may be inferred from the fact
that I chose rather to risk my fortunes among the savages of the island,
than to endure another voyage on board the _Dolly_. To use the concise,
point-blank phrase of the sailors, I had made up my mind to "run away."
Now, as a meaning is generally attached to these two words no way
flattering to the individual to whom they are applied, it behooves me,
for the sake of my own character, to offer some explanation of my
conduct.
When I entered on board the _Dolly_, I signed, as a matter of course,
the ship's articles, thereby voluntarily engaging, and legally binding
myself to serve in a certain capacity for the period of the voyage; and,
special considerations apart, I was of course bound to fulfil the
agreement. But in all contracts, if one party fail to perform his share
of the compact, is not the other virtually absolved from his liability?
Who is there who will not answer in the affirmative?
Having settled the principle, then, let me apply it to the particular
case in question. In numberless instances had not only, the implied but
the specified conditions of the articles been violated on the part of
the ship in which I served. The usage on board of her was tyrannical;
the sick had been inhumanly neglected; the provisions had been doled out
in scanty allowance; and her cruises were unreasonably protracted. The
captain was the author of these abuses; it was in vain to think that he
would either remedy them, or alter his conduct, which was arbitrary and
violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints and
remonstrances was--the butt-end of a hand-spike, so convincingly
administered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.
To whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law and equity on
the other side of the Cape; and unfortunately, with a very few
exceptions, our crew was composed of a parcel of dastardly and
mean-spirited wretches, divided among themselves, and only united in
enduring without resistance the unmitigated tyranny of the captain. It
would have been mere madness for any two or three of the number,
unassisted by the rest, to attempt making a stand against his ill-usage.
They would only have called down upon themselves the particular
vengeance of this "Lord of the Plank," and subjected their shipmates to
additional hardships.
But, after all, these things could have been endured awhile, had we
entertained the hope of being speedily delivered from them by the due
completion of the term of our servitude. But what a dismal prospect
awaited us in this quarter! The longevity of Cape Horn whaling voyages
is proverbial, frequently extending over a period of four or five years.
Some long-haired, bare-necked youths, who, forced by the united
influences of Captain Marryat and hard times, embark at Nantucket for a
pleasure excursion to the Pacific, and whose anxious mothers provide
them with bottled milk for the occasion, oftentimes return very
respectable middle-aged gentlemen.
The very preparations made for one of these expeditions are enough to
frighten one. As the vessel carries out no cargo, her hold is filled
with provisions for her own consumption. The owners, who officiate as
caterers for the voyage, supply the larder with an abundance of
dainties. Delicate morsels of beef and pork, cut on scientific
principles from every part of the animal, and of all conceivable shapes
and sizes, are carefully packed in salt, and stored away in barrels;
affording a never-ending variety in their different degrees of
toughness, and in the peculiarities of their saline properties. Choice
old water, too, decanted into stout six-barrel casks, and two pints of
which are allowed every day to each soul on board; together with ample
store of sea-bread, previously reduced to a state of petrifaction, with
a view to preserve it either from decay or consumption in the ordinary
mode, are likewise provided for the nourishment and gastronomic
enjoyment of the crew.
But not to speak of the quality of these articles of sailors' fare, the
abundance in which they are put on board a whaling vessel is almost
incredible. Oftentimes, when we had occasion to break out in the hold,
and I beheld the successive tiers of casks and barrels, whose contents
were all destined to be consumed in due course by the ship's company, my
heart sank within me.
Although, as a general case, a ship unlucky in falling in with whales
continues to cruise after them until she has barely sufficient
provisions remaining to take her home, turning round then quietly and
making the best of her way to her friends, yet there are instances when
even this natural obstacle to the further prosecution of the voyage is
overcome by headstrong captains, who, bartering the fruits of their
hard-earned toils for a new supply of provisions in some of the ports of
Chili or Peru, begin the voyage afresh, with unabated zeal and
perseverance. It is in vain that the owners write urgent letters to him
to sail for home, and for their sake to bring back the ship, since it
appears he can put nothing in her. Not he. He has registered a vow; he
will fill his vessel with good sperm oil, or failing to do so, never
again strike Yankee soundings.
I heard of one whaler, which after many years' absence was given up for
lost. The last that had been heard of her was a shadowy report of her
having touched at some of those unstable islands in the far Pacific,
whose eccentric wanderings are carefully noted in each new edition of
the South Sea charts. After a long interval, however, the
_Perseverance_--for that was her name--was spoken somewhere in the
vicinity of the ends of the earth, cruising along as leisurely as ever,
her sails all bepatched and bequilted with rope-yarns, her spars fished
with old pipe stores, and her rigging knotted and spliced in every
possible direction. Her crew was composed of some twenty venerable
Greenwich-pensioner-looking old salts, who just managed to hobble about
deck. The ends of all the running ropes, with the exception of the
signal halyards and poop-down-haul, were rove through snatch-blocks, and
led to the capstan or windlass, so that not a yard was braced or a sail
set without the assistance of machinery.
Her hull was incrusted with barnacles, which completely encased her.
Three pet sharks followed in her wake, and every day came alongside to
regale themselves from the contents of the cook's bucket, which were
pitched over to them. A vast shoal of bonetas and albicores always kept
her company.
Such was the account I heard of this vessel, and the remembrance of it
always haunted me; what eventually became of her I never learned; at any
rate, she never reached home, and I suppose she is still regularly
tacking twice in the twenty-four hours somewhere off Desolate Island, or
the Devil's-Tail Peak.
Having said thus much touching the usual length of these voyages, when I
inform the reader that ours had as it were just commenced, we being only
fifteen months out, and even at that time hailed as a late arrival and
boarded for news, he will readily perceive that there was little to
encourage one in looking forward to the future, especially as I had
always had a presentiment that we should make an unfortunate voyage, and
our experience so far had justified the expectation.
I may here state, and on my faith as an honest man, that though more
than three years have elapsed since I left this same identical vessel,
she still continues in the Pacific; and but a few days since I saw her
reported in the papers as having touched at the Sandwich Islands,
previous to going on the coast of Japan.
But to return to my narrative. Placed in these circumstances then, with
no prospect of matters mending if I remained aboard the _Dolly_, I at
once made up my mind to leave her: to be sure it was rather an
inglorious thing to steal away privily from those at whose hands I had
received wrongs and outrages that I could not resent; but how was such a
course to be avoided when it was the only alternative left me? Having
made up my mind, I proceeded to acquire all the information I could
obtain relating to the island and its inhabitants, with a view of
shaping my plans of escape accordingly. The result of these inquiries I
will now state, in order that the ensuing narrative may be the better
understood.
The bay of Nukuheva, in which we were then lying, is an expanse of water
not unlike in figure the space included within the limits of a
horse-shoe. It is, perhaps, nine miles in circumference. You approach
it from the sea by a narrow entrance, flanked on either side by two
small twin islets which soar conically to the height of some five
hundred feet. From these the shore recedes on both hands, and describes
a deep semicircle.
From the verge of the water the land rises uniformly on all sides, with
green and sloping acclivities, until from gently rolling hillsides and
moderate elevations it insensibly swells into lofty and majestic
heights, whose blue outlines ranged all around, close in the view. The
beautiful aspect of the shore is heightened by deep and romantic glens,
which come down to it at almost equal distances, all apparently
radiating from a common centre, and the upper extremities of which are
lost to the eye beneath the shadow of the mountains. Down each of these
little valleys flows a clear stream, here and there assuming the form of
a slender cascade, then stealing invisibly along until it bursts upon
the sight again in larger and more noisy waterfalls, and at last
demurely wanders along to the sea.
The houses of the natives, constructed of the yellow bamboo, tastefully
twisted together in a kind of wickerwork, and thatched with the long
tapering leaves of the palmetto, are scattered irregularly along these
valleys beneath the shady branches of the cocoanut trees.
Nothing can exceed the imposing scenery of this bay. Viewed from our
ship as she lay at anchor in the middle of the harbour, it presented the
appearance of a vast natural amphitheatre in decay, and overgrown with
vines, the deep glens that furrowed its sides appearing like enormous
fissures caused by the ravages of time. Very often when lost in
admiration at its beauty I have experienced a pang of regret that a
scene so enchanting should be hidden from the world in these remote
seas, and seldom meet the eyes of devoted lovers of nature.
Besides this bay the shores of the island are indented by several other
extensive inlets, into which descend broad and verdant valleys. These
are inhabited by as many distinct tribes of savages, who, although
speaking kindred dialects of a common language, and having the same
religion and laws, have from time immemorial waged hereditary warfare
against each other. The intervening mountains, generally two or three
thousand feet above the level of the sea, geographically define the
territories of each of these hostile tribes, who never cross them, save
on some expedition of war or plunder. Immediately adjacent to Nukuheva,
and only separated from it by the mountains seen from the harbour, lies
the lovely valley of Happar, whose inmates cherish the most friendly
relations with the inhabitants of Nukuheva. On the other side of
Happar, and closely adjoining it, is the magnificent valley of the
dreaded Typees, the unappeasable enemies of both these tribes.
These celebrated warriors appear to inspire the other islanders with
unspeakable terrors. Their very name is a frightful one; for the word
"Typee" in the Marquesan dialect signifies a lover of human flesh. It
is rather singular that the title should have been bestowed upon them
exclusively, inasmuch as the natives of all this group are irreclaimable
cannibals. The name may, perhaps, have been given to denote the
peculiar ferocity of this clan, and to convey a special stigma along
with it.
These same Typees enjoy a prodigious notoriety all over the islands.
The natives of Nukuheva would frequently recount in pantomime to our
ship's company their terrible feats, and would show the marks of wounds
they had received in desperate encounters with them. When ashore they
would try to frighten us by pointing to one of their own number, and
calling him a Typee, manifesting no little surprise that we did not take
to our heels at so terrible an announcement. It was quite amusing, too,
to see with what earnestness they disclaimed all cannibal propensities
on their own part, while they denounced their enemies--the Typees--as
inveterate gormandizers of human flesh; but this is a peculiarity to
which I shall hereafter have occasion to allude.
Although I was convinced that the inhabitants of our bay were as arrant
cannibals as any of the other tribes on the island, still I could not
but feel a particular and most unqualified repugnance to the aforesaid
Typees. Even before visiting the Marquesas, I had heard from men who
had touched at the group on former voyages some revolting stories in
connection with these savages; and fresh in my remembrance was the
adventure of the master of the _Katherine_, who only a few months
previous, imprudently venturing into this bay in an armed boat for the
purpose of barter, was seized by the natives, carried back a little
distance into this valley, and was saved from a cruel death only by the
intervention of a young girl, who facilitated his escape by night along
the beach to Nukuheva.
I had heard, too, of an English vessel that many years ago, after a
weary cruise, sought to enter the bay of Nukuheva, and arriving within
two or three miles of the land, was met by a large canoe filled with
natives, who offered to lead the way to the place of their destination.
The captain, unacquainted with the localities of the island, joyfully
acceded to the proposition--the canoe paddled on, and the ship followed.
She was soon conducted to a beautiful inlet, and dropped her anchor in
its waters beneath the shadows of the lofty shore. That same night the
perfidious Typees, who had thus inveigled her into their fatal bay,
flocked aboard the doomed vessel by hundreds, and at a given signal
murdered every soul on board.
I shall never forget the observation of one of our crew as we were
passing slowly by the entrance of this bay on our way to Nukuheva. As
we stood gazing over the side at the verdant headlands, Ned, pointing
with his hand in the direction of the treacherous valley, exclaimed,
"There--there's Typee. Oh, the bloody cannibals, what a meal they'd
make of us if we were to take it into our heads to land! but they say
they don't like sailor's flesh, it's too salt. I say, maty, how should
you like to be shoved ashore there, eh?" I little thought, as I
shuddered at the question, that in the space of a few weeks I should
actually be a captive in that self-same valley.
The French, although they had gone through the ceremony of hoisting
their colours for a few hours at all the principal places of the group,
had not as yet visited the bay of Typee, anticipating a fierce
resistance on the part of the savages there, which for the present at
least they wished to avoid. Perhaps they were not a little influenced in
the adoption of this unusual policy from a recollection of the warlike
reception given by the Typees to the forces of Captain Porter, about the
year 1814, when that brave and accomplished officer endeavoured to
subjugate the clan merely to gratify the mortal hatred of his allies the
Nukuhevas and Happars.
On that occasion I have been told that a considerable detachment of
sailors and marines from the frigate _Essex_, accompanied by at least
two thousand warriors of Happar and Nukuheva, landed in boats and canoes
at the head of the bay, and after penetrating a little distance into the
valley, met with the stoutest resistance from its inmates. Valiantly,
although with much loss, the Typees disputed every inch of ground, and
after some hard fighting obliged the assailants to retreat and abandon
their design of conquest.
The invaders, on their march back to the sea, consoled themselves for
their repulse by setting fire to every house and temple on their route;
and a long line of smoking ruins defaced the once-smiling bosom of the
valley, and proclaimed to its pagan inhabitants the spirit that reigned
in the breasts of Christian soldiers. Who can wonder at the deadly
hatred of the Typees to all foreigners after such unprovoked atrocities?
Thus it is that they whom we denominate "savages" are made to deserve
the title. When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descry
the "big canoe" of the European rolling through the blue waters toward
their shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open arms
stand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to their
bosoms the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; and
the instinctive feeling of love within their breasts is soon converted
into the bitterest hate.
The enormities perpetrated in the South Seas upon some of the
inoffensive islanders well-nigh pass belief. These things are seldom
proclaimed at home; they happen at the very ends of the earth; they are
done in a corner, and there are none to reveal them. But there is,
nevertheless, many a petty trader that has navigated the Pacific, whose
course from island to island might be traced by a series of cold-blooded
robberies, kidnappings, and murders, the iniquity of which might be
considered almost sufficient to sink her guilty timbers to the bottom of
the sea.
Sometimes vague accounts of such things reach our firesides, and we
coolly censure them as wrong, impolitic, needlessly severe, and
dangerous to the crews of other vessels. How different is our tone when
we read the highly wrought description of the massacre of the crew of
the _Hobomak_ by the Feejees! how we sympathize for the unhappy victims,
and with what horror do we regard the diabolical heathens, who, after
all, have but avenged the unprovoked injuries which they have received!
We breathe nothing but vengeance, and equip armed vessels to traverse
thousands of miles of ocean in order to execute summary punishment upon
the offenders. On arriving at their destination, they burn, slaughter,
and destroy, according to the tenor of written instructions, and sailing
away from the scene of devastation, call upon all Christendom to applaud
their courage and their justice.
How often is the term "savages" incorrectly applied! None really
deserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by travellers.
They have discovered heathens and barbarians, whom by horrible cruelties
they have exasperated into savages. It may be asserted, without fear of
contradiction, that in all the cases of outrages committed by
Polynesians, Europeans have at some time or other been the aggressors,
and that the cruel and bloodthirsty disposition of some of the islanders
is mainly to be ascribed to the influence of such examples.
But to return. Owing to the mutual hostilities of the different tribes
I have mentioned, the mountainous tracts which separate their respective
territories remain altogether uninhabited; the natives invariably
dwelling in the depths of the valleys, with a view of securing
themselves from the predatory incursions of their enemies, who often
lurk along their borders, ready to cut off any imprudent straggler, or
make a descent upon the inmates of some sequestered habitation. I
several times met with very aged men, who from this cause had never
passed the confines of their native vale, some of them having never even
ascended midway up the mountains in the whole course of their lives, and
who, accordingly, had little idea of the appearance of any other part of
the island, the whole of which is not perhaps more than sixty miles in
circuit. The little space in which some of these clans pass away their
days would seem almost incredible.
The glen of Tior will furnish a curious illustration of this. The
inhabited part is not more than four miles in length, and varies in
breadth from half a mile to less than a quarter. The rocky vine-clad
cliffs on one side tower almost perpendicularly from their base to the
height of at least fifteen hundred feet; while across the vale--in
striking contrast to the scenery opposite--grass-grown elevations rise
one above another in blooming terraces. Hemmed in by these stupendous
barriers, the valley would be altogether shut out from the rest of the
world, were it not that it is accessible from the sea at one end and by
a narrow defile at the other.
The impression produced upon my mind, when I first visited this
beautiful glen, will never be obliterated.
I had come from Nukuheva by water in the ship's boat, and when we
entered the bay of Tior it was high noon. The heat had been intense, as
we had been floating upon the long smooth swell of the ocean, for there
was but little wind. The sun's rays had expended all their fury upon
us; and to add to our discomfort, we had omitted to supply ourselves
with water previous to starting. What with heat and thirst together, I
became so impatient to get ashore, that when at last we glided toward
it, I stood up in the bow of the boat ready for a spring. As she shot
two-thirds of her length high upon the beach, propelled by three or four
strong strokes of the oars, I leaped among a parcel of juvenile savages,
who stood prepared to give us a kind reception; and with them at my
heels, yelling like so many imps, I rushed forward across the open
ground in the vicinity of the sea, and plunged, diver fashion, into the
recesses of the first grove that offered.