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A Romance of the South Sea

H >> Herman Melville >> A Romance of the South Sea




What a transition! The dark figures around us leaped to their
feet, clapped their hands in transport, and shouted again and
again the talismanic syllables, the utterance of which appeared
to have settled everything.

When this commotion had a little subsided, the principal chief
squatted once more before me, and throwing himself into a sudden
rage, poured forth a string of philippics, which I was at no loss
to understand, from the frequent recurrence of the word Happar,
as being directed against the natives of the adjoining valley.
In all these denunciations my companion and I acquiesced, while
we extolled the character of the warlike Typees. To be sure our
panegyrics were somewhat laconic, consisting in the repetition of
that name, united with the potent adjective 'motarkee'. But this
was sufficient, and served to conciliate the good will of the
natives, with whom our congeniality of sentiment on this point
did more towards inspiring a friendly feeling than anything else
that could have happened.

At last the wrath of the chief evaporated, and in a few moments
he was as placid as ever. Laying his hand upon his breast, he
gave me to understand that his name was 'Mehevi', and that, in
return, he wished me to communicate my appellation. I hesitated
for an instant, thinking that it might be difficult for him to
pronounce my real name, and then with the most praiseworthy
intentions intimated that I was known as 'Tom'. But I could not
have made a worse selection; the chief could not master it.
'Tommo,' 'Tomma', 'Tommee', everything but plain 'Tom'. As he
persisted in garnishing the, word with an additional syllable, I
compromised the matter with him at the word 'Tommo'; and by that
name I went during the entire period of my stay in the valley.
The same proceeding was gone through with Toby, whose mellifluous
appellation was more easily caught.

An exchange of names is equivalent to a ratification of good will
and amity among these simple people; and as we were aware of this
fact, we were delighted that it had taken place on the present
occasion.

Reclining upon our mats, we now held a kind of levee, giving
audience to successive troops of the natives, who introduced
themselves to us by pronouncing their respective names, and
retired in high good humour on receiving ours in return. During
this ceremony the greatest merriment prevailed nearly every
announcement on the part of the islanders being followed by a
fresh sally of gaiety, which induced me to believe that some of
them at least were innocently diverting the company at our
expense, by bestowing upon themselves a string of absurd titles,
of the humour of which we were of course entirely ignorant.

All this occupied about an hour, when the throng having a little
diminished, I turned to Mehevi and gave him to understand that we
were in need of food and sleep. Immediately the attentive chief
addressed a few words to one of the crowd, who disappeared, and
returned in a few moments with a calabash of 'poee-poee', and two
or three young cocoanuts stripped of their husks, and with their
shells partly broken. We both of us forthwith placed one of
these natural goblets to our lips, and drained it in a moment of
the refreshing draught it contained. The poee-poee was then
placed before us, and even famished as I was, I paused to
consider in what manner to convey it to my mouth.

This staple article of food among the Marquese islanders is
manufactured from the produce of the bread-fruit tree. It
somewhat resembles in its plastic nature our bookbinders' paste,
is of a yellow colour, and somewhat tart to the taste.

Such was the dish, the merits of which I was now eager to
discuss. I eyed it wistfully for a moment, and then, unable any
longer to stand on ceremony, plunged my hand into the yielding
mass, and to the boisterous mirth of the natives drew it forth
laden with the poee-poee, which adhered in lengthy strings to
every finger. So stubborn was its consistency, that in conveying
my heavily-weighted hand to my mouth, the connecting links almost
raised the calabash from the mats on which it had been placed.
This display of awkwardness--in which, by-the-bye, Toby kept me
company--convulsed the bystanders with uncontrollable laughter.

As soon as their merriment had somewhat subsided, Mehevi,
motioning us to be attentive, dipped the forefinger of his right
hand in the dish, and giving it a rapid and scientific twirl,
drew it out coated smoothly with the preparation. With a second
peculiar flourish he prevented the poee-poee from dropping to the
ground as he raised it to his mouth, into which the finger was
inserted and drawn forth perfectly free from any adhesive matter.

This performance was evidently intended for our instruction; so I
again essayed the feat on the principles inculcated, but with
very ill success.

A starving man, however, little heeds conventional proprieties,
especially on a South-Sea Island, and accordingly Toby and I
partook of the dish after our own clumsy fashion, beplastering
our faces all over with the glutinous compound, and daubing our
hands nearly to the wrist. This kind of food is by no means
disagreeable to the palate of a European, though at first the
mode of eating it may be. For my own part, after the lapse of a
few days I became accustomed to its singular flavour, and grew
remarkably fond of it.

So much for the first course; several other dishes followed it,
some of which were positively delicious. We concluded our
banquet by tossing off the contents of two more young cocoanuts,
after which we regaled ourselves with the soothing fumes of
tobacco, inhaled from a quaintly carved pipe which passed round
the circle.

During the repast, the natives eyed us with intense curiosity,
observing our minutest motions, and appearing to discover
abundant matter for comment in the most trifling occurrence.
Their surprise mounted the highest, when we began to remove our
uncomfortable garments, which were saturated with rain. They
scanned the whiteness of our limbs, and seemed utterly unable to
account for the contrast they presented to the swarthy hue of our
faces embrowned from a six months' exposure to the scorching sun
of the Line. They felt our skin, much in the same way that a
silk mercer would handle a remarkably fine piece of satin; and
some of them went so far in their investigation as to apply the
olfactory organ.

Their singular behaviour almost led me to imagine that they never
before had beheld a white man; but a few moments' reflection
convinced me that this could not have been the case; and a more
satisfactory reason for their conduct has since suggested itself
to my mind.

Deterred by the frightful stories related of its inhabitants,
ships never enter this bay, while their hostile relations with
the tribes in the adjoining valleys prevent the Typees from
visiting that section of the island where vessels occasionally
lie. At long intervals, however, some intrepid captain will
touch on the skirts of the bay, with two or three armed boats'
crews and accompanied by interpreters. The natives who live near
the sea descry the strangers long before they reach their waters,
and aware of the purpose for which they come, proclaim loudly the
news of their approach. By a species of vocal telegraph the
intelligence reaches the inmost recesses of the vale in an
inconceivably short space of time, drawing nearly its whole
population down to the beach laden with every variety of fruit.
The interpreter, who is invariably a 'tabooed Kanaka'*, leaps
ashore with the goods intended for barter, while the boats, with
their oars sloped, and every man on his thwart, lie just outside
the surf, heading off the shore, in readiness at the first
untoward event to escape to the open sea. As soon as the traffic
is concluded, one of the boats pulls in under cover of the
muskets of the others, the fruit is quickly thrown into her, and
the transient visitors precipitately retire from what they justly
consider so dangerous a vicinity.

* The word 'Kanaka' is at the present day universally used in the
South Seas by Europeans to designate the Islanders. In the
various dialects of the principal groups it is simply a sexual
designation applied to the males; but it is now used by the
natives in their intercourse with foreigners in the same sense in
which the latter employ it.

A 'Tabooed Kanaka' is an islander whose person has been made to a
certain extent sacred by the operation of a singular custom
hereafter to be explained.



The intercourse occurring with Europeans being so restricted, no
wonder that the inhabitants of the valley manifested so much
curiosity with regard to us, appearing as we did among them under
such singular circumstances. I have no doubt that we were the
first white men who ever penetrated thus far back into their
territories, or at least the first who had ever descended from
the head of the vale. What had brought us thither must have
appeared a complete mystery to them, and from our ignorance of
the language it was impossible for us to enlighten them. In
answer to inquiries which the eloquence of their gestures enabled
us to comprehend, all that we could reply was, that we had come
from Nukuheva, a place, be it remembered, with which they were at
open war. This intelligence appeared to affect them with the
most lively emotions. 'Nukuheva motarkee?' they asked. Of
course we replied most energetically in the negative.

Then they plied us with a thousand questions, of which we could
understand nothing more than that they had reference to the
recent movements of the French, against whom they seemed to
cherish the most fierce hatred. So eager were they to obtain
information on this point, that they still continued to propound
their queries long after we had shown that we were utterly unable
to answer them. Occasionally we caught some indistinct idea of
their meaning, when we would endeavour by every method in our
power to communicate the desired intelligence. At such times
their gratification was boundless, and they would redouble their
efforts to make us comprehend them more perfectly. But all in
vain; and in the end they looked at us despairingly, as if we
were the receptacles of invaluable information; but how to come
at it they knew not.

After a while the group around us gradually dispersed, and we
were left about midnight (as we conjectured) with those who
appeared to be permanent residents of the house. These
individuals now provided us with fresh mats to lie upon, covered
us with several folds of tappa, and then extinguishing the tapers
that had been burning, threw themselves down beside us, and after
a little desultory conversation were soon sound asleep.



CHAPTER ELEVEN

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.

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