Typee

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER XI

  Officiousness of Kory-Kory--His devotion--A bath in the stream--Want of refinement of the Typee damsels--Stroll with Mehevi--A Typee highway--The Taboo groves--The hoolah hoolah ground--The Ti--Timeworn savages--Hospitality of Mehevi--Midnight musings--Adventure in the dark--Distinguished honours paid to the visitors--Strange procession, and return to the house of Marheyo.

  When Mehevi had departed from the house, as related in the precedingchapter, Kory-Kory commenced the functions of the post assigned him. Hebrought us various kinds of food; and, as if I were an infant, insistedupon feeding me with his own hands. To this procedure I, of course, mostearnestly objected, but in vain; and having laid a calabash of kokoobefore me, he washed his fingers in a vessel of water, and then puttinghis hand into the dish, and rolling the food into little balls, put themone after another into my mouth. All my remonstrances against this measureonly provoked so great a clamor on his part, that I was obliged toacquiesce; and the operation of feeding being thus facilitated, the mealwas quickly despatched. As for Toby, he was allowed to help himself afterhis own fashion.

  The repast over, my attendant arranged the mats for repose, and, biddingme lie down, covered me with a large robe of tappa, at the same timelooking approvingly upon me, and exclaiming, "Ki-Ki, muee muee, ah! moeemoee mortarkee," (eat plenty, ah! sleep very good.) The philosophy of thissentiment I did not pretend to question; for deprived of sleep for severalpreceding nights, and the pain in my limb having much abated, I now feltinclined to avail myself of the opportunity afforded me.

  The next morning, on waking, I found Kory-Kory stretched out on one sideof me, while my companion lay upon the other. I felt sensibly refreshedafter a night of sound repose, and immediately agreed to the propositionof my valet that I should repair to the water and wash, although dreadingthe suffering that the exertion might produce. From this apprehension,however, I was quickly relieved; for Kory-Kory, leaping from the pi-pi,and then backing himself up against it, like a porter in readiness toshoulder a trunk, with loud vociferations, and a superabundance ofgestures gave me to understand that I was to mount upon his back, and bethus transported to the stream, which flowed perhaps two hundred yardsfrom the house.

  Our appearance upon the verandah in front of the habitation drew togetherquite a crowd, who stood looking on, and conversing with one another inthe most animated manner. They reminded one of a group of idlers gatheredabout the door of a village tavern, when the equipage of somedistinguished traveller is brought round previous to his departure. Assoon as I clasped my arms about the neck of the devoted fellow, and hejogged off with me, the crowd--composed chiefly of young girls andboys--followed after, shouting and capering with infinite glee, andaccompanied us to the banks of the stream.

  On gaining it, Kory-Kory, wading up to his hips in the water, carried mehalf-way across, and deposited me on a smooth black stone, which rose afew inches above the surface. The amphibious rabble at our heels plungedin after us; and, climbing to the summit of the grass-grown rocks, withwhich the bed of the brook was here and there broken, waited curiously towitness our morning ablutions. I felt somewhat embarrassed by the presenceof the female portion of the company, but, nevertheless, removed my frock,and washed myself down to my waist in the stream. As soon as Kory-Korycomprehended from my motions that this was to be the extent of myperformance, he appeared perfectly aghast with astonishment, and rushingtoward me, poured out a torrent of words in eager deprecation of solimited an operation, enjoining me by unmistakable signs to immerse mywhole body. To this I was forced to consent; and the honest fellowregarding me as a froward, inexperienced child, whom it was his duty toserve at the risk of offending, lifted me from, the rock, and tenderlybathed my limbs. This over, and resuming my seat, I could not avoidbursting into admiration of the scene around me.

  From the verdant surfaces of the large stones that lay scattered about,the natives were now sliding off into the water, diving and duckingbeneath the surface in all directions; the young girls springing buoyantlyinto the air, with their long tresses dancing about their shoulders, theireyes sparkling like drops of dew in the sun, and their gay laughterpealing forth at every frolicsome incident.

  On the afternoon of the day that I took my first bath in the valley, wereceived another visit from Mehevi. The noble savage seemed to be in thesame pleasant mood, and was quite as cordial in his manner as before.After remaining about an hour, he rose from the mats, and motioning toleave the house, invited Toby and myself to accompany him. I pointed to myleg; but Mehevi in his turn pointed to Kory-Kory, and removed thatobjection; so, mounting upon the faithful fellow's shoulders again--likethe old man of the sea astride of Sinbad--I followed after the chief.

  The nature of the route we now pursued struck me more forcibly thananything I had yet seen, as illustrating the indolent disposition of theislanders. The path was obviously the most beaten one in the valley,several others leading from either side into it, and perhaps forsuccessive generations it had formed the principal avenue of the place.And yet, until I grew more familiar with its impediments, it seemed asdifficult to travel as the recesses of a wilderness. Part of it sweptaround an abrupt rise of ground, the surface of which was broken byfrequent inequalities, and thickly strewn with projecting masses of rocks,whose summits were often hidden from view by the drooping foliage of theluxurious vegetation. Sometimes directly over, sometimes evading theseobstacles with a wide circuit, the path wound along--one moment climbingover a sudden eminence, smooth with continued wear, then descending on theother side into a steep glen, and crossing the flinty channel of a brook.Here it pursued the depths of a glade, occasionally obliging you to stoopbeneath vast horizontal branches; and now you stepped over huge trunks andboughs that lay rotting across the track.

  Such was the grand thoroughfare of Typee. After proceeding a littledistance along it--Kory-Kory panting and blowing with the weight of hisburden--I dismounted from his back, and grasping the long spear of Meheviin my hand, assisted my steps over the numerous obstacles of the road;preferring this mode of advance to one which, from the difficulties of theway, was equally painful to myself and my wearied servitor.

  Our journey was soon at an end; for, scaling a sudden height, we cameabruptly upon the place of our destination. I wish that it were possibleto sketch in words this spot as vividly as I recollect it.

  Here were situated the Taboo groves of the valley--the scene of many aprolonged feast, of many a horrid rite. Beneath the dark shadows of theconsecrated bread-fruit trees there reigned a solemn twilight--acathedral-like gloom. The frightful genius of pagan worship seemed tobrood in silence over the place, breathing its spell upon every objectaround. Here and there, in the depths of these awful shades, half screenedfrom sight by masses of overhanging foliage, rose the idolatrous altars ofthe savages, built of enormous blocks of black and polished stone, placedone upon another, without cement, to the height of twelve or fifteen feet,and surmounted by a rustic open temple, enclosed with a low picket ofcanes, within which might be seen, in various stages of decay, offeringsof bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, and the putrefying relics of some recentsacrifice.

  In the midst of the wood was the hallowed "hoolah hoolah" ground--set apartfor the celebration of the fantastical religious ritual of thesepeople--comprising an extensive oblong pi-pi, terminating at either end ina lofty terraced altar, guarded by ranks of hideous wooden idols, and withthe two remaining sides flanked by ranges of bamboo sheds, opening towardsthe interior of the quadrangle thus formed. Vast trees, standing in themiddle of this space, and throwing over it an umbrageous shade, had theirmassive trunks built round with slight stages, elevated a few feet abovethe ground, and railed in with canes, forming so many rustic pulpits, fromwhich the priests harangued their devotees.

  This holiest of spots was defended from profanation by the strictestedicts of the all-pervading "taboo," which condemned to instant death thesacrilegious female who should enter or
touch its sacred precincts, oreven so much as press with her feet the ground made holy by the shadowsthat it cast.

  Access was had to the enclosure through an embowered entrance on one side,facing a number of towering cocoa-nut trees, planted at intervals along alevel area of a hundred yards. At the farther extremity of this space wasto be seen a building of considerable size, reserved for the habitation ofthe priests and religious attendants of the grove.

  In its vicinity was another remarkable edifice, built as usual upon thesummit of a pi-pi, and at least two hundred feet in length, though notmore than twenty in breadth. The whole front of this latter structure wascompletely open, and from one end to the other ran a narrow verandah,fenced in on the edge of the pi-pi with a picket of canes. Its interiorpresented the appearance of an immense lounging-place, the entire floorbeing strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between parallel trunksof cocoa-nut trees, selected for the purpose from the straightest and mostsymmetrical the vale afforded.

  To this building, denominated in the language of the natives, the "Ti,"Mehevi now conducted us. Thus far we had been accompanied by a troop ofthe natives of both sexes; but as soon as we approached its vicinity, thefemales gradually separated themselves from the crowd, and standing aloof,permitted us to pass on. The merciless prohibitions of the taboo extendedlikewise to this edifice, and were enforced by the same dreadful penaltythat secured the hoolah hoolah ground from the imaginary pollution of awoman's presence.

  On entering the house, I was surprised to see six muskets ranged againstthe bamboo on one side, from the barrels of which depended as many smallcanvas pouches, partly filled with powder. Disposed about these muskets,like the cutlasses that decorate the bulkhead of a man-of-war's cabin,were a great variety of rude spears and paddles, javelins, and war-clubs.This then, said I to Toby, must be the armoury of the tribe.

  As we advanced farther along the building, we were struck with the aspectof four or five hideous old wretches, on whose decrepid forms time andtattooing seemed to have obliterated every trace of humanity. Owing to thecontinued operation of this latter process, which only terminates amongthe warriors of the island after all the figures stretched upon theirlimbs in youth have been blended together--an effect, however, producedonly in cases of extreme longevity--the bodies of these men were of auniform dull green colour--the hue which the tattooing gradually assumes asthe individual advances in age. Their skin had a frightful scalyappearance, which, united with its singular colour, made their limbs not alittle resemble dusty specimens of verde-antique. Their flesh, in parts,hung upon them in huge folds, like the overlapping plaits on the flank ofa rhinoceros. Their heads were completely bald, whilst their faces werepuckered into a thousand wrinkles, and they presented no vestige of abeard. But the most remarkable peculiarity about them was the appearanceof their feet; the toes, like the radiating lines of the mariner'scompass, pointed to every quarter of the horizon. This was doubtlessattributable to the fact, that during nearly a hundred years of existencethe said toes never had been subjected to any artificial confinement, andin their old age, being averse to close neighbourhood, bid one anotherkeep open order.

  These repulsive-looking creatures appeared to have lost the use of theirlower limbs altogether; sitting upon the floor cross-legged, in a state oftorpor. They never heeded us in the least, scarcely looking conscious ofour presence, while Mehevi seated us upon the mats, and Kory-Kory gaveutterance to some unintelligible gibberish.

  In a few moments, a boy entered with a wooden trencher of poee-poee; andin regaling myself with its contents, I was obliged again to submit to theofficious intervention of my indefatigable servitor. Various other dishesfollowed, the chief manifesting the most hospitable importunity inpressing us to partake, and to remove all bashfulness on our part, set usno despicable example in his own person.

  The repast concluded, a pipe was lighted, which passed from mouth tomouth, and yielding to its soporific influence, the quiet of the place,and the deepening shadows of approaching night, my companion and I sankinto a kind of drowsy repose, while the chief and Kory-Kory seemed to beslumbering beside us.

  I awoke from an uneasy nap, about midnight, as I supposed; and, raisingmyself partly from the mat, became sensible that we were enveloped inutter darkness. Toby lay still asleep, but our late companions haddisappeared. The only sound that interrupted the silence of the place wasthe asthmatic breathing of the old men I have mentioned, who reposed at alittle distance from us. Besides them, as well as I could judge, there wasno one else in the house.

  Apprehensive of some evil, I roused my comrade, and we were engaged in awhispered conference concerning the unexpected withdrawal of the natives,when all at once, from the depths of the grove, in full view of us wherewe lay, shoots of flame were seen to rise, and in a few momentsilluminated the surrounding trees, casting, by contrast, into still deepergloom the darkness around us.

  While we continued gazing at this sight, dark figures appeared moving toand fro before the flames; while others, dancing and capering about,looked like so many demons.

  Regarding this new phenomenon with no small degree of trepidation, I saidto my companion, "What can all this mean, Toby?"

  "Oh, nothing," replied he; "getting the fire ready, I suppose."

  "Fire!" exclaimed I, while my heart took to beating like a trip-hammer,"what fire?"

  "Why, the fire to cook us, to be sure; what else would the cannibals bekicking up such a row about, if it were not for that?"

  "Oh, Toby! have done with your jokes; this is no time for them: somethingis about to happen, I feel confident."

  "Jokes, indeed!" exclaimed Toby, indignantly. "Did you ever hear me joke?Why, for what do you suppose the devils have been feeding us up in thiskind of style for during the last three days, unless it were for somethingthat you are too much frightened at to talk about? Look at that Kory-Korythere!--has he not been stuffing you with his confounded mushes, just inthe way they treat swine before they kill them? Depend upon it, we will beeaten this blessed night, and there is the fire we shall be roasted by."

  This view of the matter was not at all calculated to allay myapprehensions, and I shuddered when I reflected that we were indeed at themercy of a tribe of cannibals, and that the dreadful contingency to whichToby had alluded was by no means removed beyond the bounds of possibility.

  "There! I told you so! they are coming for us!" exclaimed my companion thenext moment, as the forms of four of the islanders were seen in boldrelief against the illuminated background, mounting the pi-pi, andapproaching us.

  They came on noiselessly, nay, stealthily, and glided along through thegloom that surrounded us, as if about to spring upon some object they werefearful of disturbing before they should make sure of it. Gracious Heaven!the horrible reflections which crowded upon me that moment! A cold sweatstood upon my brow, and spell-bound with terror, I awaited my fate.

  Suddenly the silence was broken by the well-remembered tones of Mehevi,and at the kindly accents of his voice, my fears were immediatelydissipated. "Tommo, Toby, ki ki!" (eat). He had waited to address us,until he had assured himself that we were both awake, at which he seemedsomewhat surprised.

  "Ki ki! is it?" said Toby, in his gruff tones; "well, cook us first, willyou--but what's this?" he added, as another savage appeared, bearing beforehim a large trencher of wood, containing some kind of steaming meat, asappeared from the odours it diffused, and which he deposited at the feetof Mehevi. "A baked baby, I dare say! but I will have none of it, nevermind what it is. A pretty fool I should make of myself, indeed, waked uphere in the middle of the night, stuffing and guzzling, and all to make afat meal for a parcel of bloody-minded cannibals one of these mornings!No; I see what they are at very plainly, so I am resolved to starve myselfinto a bunch of bones and gristle, and then, if they serve me up, they arewelcome! But, I say, Tommo, you are not going to eat any of that messthere, in the dark, are you? Why, how can you tell what it is?"

  "By tasting it, to be sure," said I, masti
cating a morsel that Kory-Koryhad just put in my mouth; "and excellently good it is, too, very much likeveal."

  "A baked baby, by the soul of Captain Cook!" burst forth Toby, withamazing vehemence. "Veal? why, there never was a calf on the island tillyou landed. I tell you, you are bolting down mouthfuls from a deadHappar's carcass, as sure as you live, and no mistake!"

  Emetics and lukewarm water! What a sensation in the abdominal regions!Sure enough, where could the fiends incarnate have obtained meat? But Iresolved to satisfy myself at all hazards; and turning to Mehevi, I soonmade the ready chief understand that I wished a light to be brought. Whenthe taper came, I gazed eagerly into the vessel, and recognized themutilated remains of a juvenile porker! "Puarkee!" exclaimed Kory-Kory,looking complacently at the dish; and from that day to this I have neverforgotten that such is the designation of a pig in the Typee lingo.

  The next morning, after being again abundantly feasted by the hospitableMehevi, Toby and myself arose to depart. But the chief requested us topostpone our intention. "Abo, abo" (Wait, wait), he said, and accordinglywe resumed our seats, while, assisted by the zealous Kory-Kory, heappeared to be engaged in giving directions to a number of the nativesoutside, who were busily employed in making arrangements, the nature ofwhich we could not comprehend. But we were not left long in our ignorance,for a few moments only had elapsed, when the chief beckoned us toapproach, and we perceived that he had been marshalling a kind of guard ofhonour to escort us on our return to the house of Marheyo.

  The procession was led off by two venerable-looking savages, each providedwith a spear, from the end of which streamed a pennon of milk-white tappa.After them went several youths, bearing aloft calabashes of poee-poee; andfollowed in their turn by four stalwart fellows, sustaining long bamboos,from the tops of which hung suspended, at least twenty feet from theground, large baskets of green bread-fruit. Then came a troop of boys,carrying bunches of ripe bananas, and baskets made of woven leaflets ofcocoa-nut boughs, filled with the young fruit of the tree, the nakedshells, stripped of their husks, peeping forth from the verdantwicker-work that surrounded them. Last of all came a burly islander,holding over his head a wooden trencher, in which lay disposed theremnants of our midnight feast, hidden from view, however, by a coveringof bread-fruit leaves.

  Astonished as I was at this exhibition, I could not avoid smiling at itsgrotesque appearance, and the associations it naturally called up. Mehevi,it seemed, was bent on replenishing old Marheyo's larder, fearful,perhaps, that without this precaution his guests might not fare as well asthey could desire.

  As soon as I descended from the pi-pi, the procession formed anew,enclosing us in its centre; where I remained, part of the time carried byKory-Kory, and occasionally relieving him from his burden by limping alongwith a spear. When we moved off in this order, the natives struck up amusical recitative, which, with various alternations, they continued untilwe arrived at the place of our destination.

  As we proceeded on our way, bands of young girls, darting from thesurrounding groves, hung upon our skirts, and accompanied us with shoutsof merriment and delight, which almost drowned the deep notes of therecitative. On approaching old Marheyo's domicile, its inmates rushed outto receive us; and while the gifts of Mehevi were being disposed of, thesuperannuated warrior did the honours of his mansion with all the warmthof hospitality evinced by an English squire, when he regales his friendsat some fine old patrimonial mansion.