Typee

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER XXXI

  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 wasone of absolute wretchedness. Not a day passed but I was persecuted by thesolicitations of some of the natives to subject myself to the odiousoperation of tattooing. Their importunities drove me half wild, for I felthow easily they might work their will upon me regarding this, or anythingelse which they took into their heads. Still, however, the behaviour ofthe islanders toward me was as kind as ever. Faraway was quite asengaging; Kory-Kory as devoted; and Mehevi the king just as gracious andcondescending 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 limitsto which my wanderings had been confined; and I began bitterly to feel thestate of captivity in which I was held. There was no one with whom I couldfreely converse; no one to whom I could communicate my thoughts; no onewho could sympathize with my sufferings. A thousand times I thought howmuch 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, despitemy griefs, I did all in my power to appear composed and cheerful, wellknowing that by manifesting any uneasiness, or any desire to escape, Ishould only frustrate my object.

  It was during the period I was in this unhappy frame of mind, that thepainful malady under which I had been labouring--after having almostcompletely subsided--began again to show itself, and with symptoms asviolent as ever. This added calamity nearly unmanned me; the recurrence ofthe complaint proved that, without powerful remedial applications, allhope of cure was futile; and when I reflected that just beyond theelevations 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, thethought was misery.

  In this wretched situation, every circumstance which evinced the savagenature of the beings at whose mercy I was, augmented the fearfulapprehensions that consumed me. An occurrence which happened about thistime affected me most powerfully.

  I have already mentioned, that from the ridge-pole of Marheyo's house weresuspended a number of packages enveloped in tappa. Many of these I hadoften seen in the hands of the natives, and their contents had beenexamined in my presence. But there were three packages hanging very nearlyover the place where I lay, which from their remarkable appearance hadoften excited my curiosity. Several times I had asked Kory-Kory to show metheir contents; but my servitor, who in almost every other particular hadacceded to my wishes, always refused to gratify me in this.

  One day, returning unexpectedly from the Ti, my arrival seemed to throwthe inmates of the house into the greatest confusion. They were seatedtogether on the mats, and by the lines which extended from the roof to thefloor I immediately perceived that the mysterious packages were, for somepurpose or other, under inspection. The evident alarm the savages betrayedfilled me with forebodings of evil, and with an uncontrollable desire topenetrate the secret so jealously guarded. Despite the efforts of Marheyoand Kory-Kory to restrain me, I forced my way into the midst of thecircle, and just caught a glimpse of three human heads, which others ofthe party were hurriedly enveloping in the coverings from which they hadbeen taken.

  One of the three I distinctly saw. It was in a state of perfectpreservation, and from the slight glimpse I had of it, seemed to have beensubjected to some smoking operation which had reduced it to the dry, hard,and mummy-like appearance it presented. The two long scalp-locks weretwisted up into balls upon the crown of the head, in the same way that theindividual had worn them during life. The sunken cheeks were rendered yetmore ghastly by the rows of glistening teeth which protruded from betweenthe lips, while the sockets of the eyes--filled with oval bits ofmother-of-pearl shell, with a black spot in the centre--heightened thehideousness 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 mysight, still the glimpse I had of it was enough to convince me that Icould not be mistaken.

  Gracious God! what dreadful thoughts entered my mind. In solving thismystery, perhaps I had solved another, and the fate of my lost companionmight be revealed in the shocking spectacle I had just witnessed. I longedto have torn off the folds of cloth, and satisfied the awful doubts underwhich I laboured. But before I had recovered from the consternation intowhich I had been thrown, the fatal packages were hoisted aloft and oncemore 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 ofthree Happar warriors, who had been slain in battle. This glaringfalsehood added to my alarm, and it was not until I reflected that I hadobserved the packages swinging from their elevation before Toby'sdisappearance, that I could at all recover my composure.

  But although this horrible apprehension had been dispelled, I haddiscovered enough to fill me, in my present state of mind, with the mostbitter reflections. It was plain that I had seen the last relic of someunfortunate wretch, who must have been massacred on the beach by thesavages, in one of those perilous trading adventures which I have beforedescribed.

  It was not, however, alone the murder of the stranger that overcame mewith gloom. I shuddered at the idea of the subsequent fate his inanimatebody might have met with. Was the same doom reserved for me? Was Idestined to perish like him--like him, perhaps, to be devoured, and my headto be preserved as a fearful memento of the event? My imagination ran riotin these horrid speculations, and I felt certain that the worst possibleevils would befall me. But whatever were my misgivings, I studiouslyconcealed them from the islanders, as well as the full extent of thediscovery I had made.

  Although the assurances which the Typees had often given me, that theynever 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 whichindicated the existence of the practice, I began to hope that it was anevent of very rare occurrence, and that I should be spared the horror ofwitnessing it during my stay among them: but, alas! these hopes were soondestroyed.

  It is a singular fact, that in all our accounts of cannibal tribes we haveseldom received the testimony of an eye-witness to the revolting practice.The horrible conclusion has almost always been derived from thesecond-hand evidence of Europeans, or else from the admissions of thesavages themselves, after they have in some degree become civilized. ThePolynesians are aware of the detestation in which Europeans hold thiscustom, and therefore invariably deny its existence, and, with the craftpeculiar to savages, endeavour to conceal every trace of it.

  But to my story.

  About a week after my discovery of the contents of the mysteriouspackages, 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 secondincursion of the Happar invaders. The same scene was again repeated, onlythat on this occasion I heard at least fifteen reports of muskets from themountains during the time that the skirmish lasted. An hour or two afterits termination, loud paeans chanted through the valley announced theapproach of the victors. I stood with Kory-Kory leaning against therailing of the pi-pi, awaiting their advance, when a tumultuous crowd ofislanders emerged with wild clamours from the neighbouring groves. In themidst of them marched four men, one preceding the other at regularintervals of eight or ten feet, with poles of a corresponding length,extending from shoulder to shoulder, to which were lashed with thongs ofbark three long narrow bundles, carefully wrapped in ample coverings offreshly plucked palm-leaves, tacked together with slivers of bamboo. Hereand there upon these green winding-sheets might be seen the stains ofblood, while the warriors who carried the frightful burdens displayed upontheir naked limbs similar sanguinary marks. The shaven head of theforemost had a deep gash upon it, and the clotted gore which had flo
wedfrom the wound remained in dry patches around it. The savage seemed to besinking under the weight he bore. The bright tattooing upon his body wascovered 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, whilethe throng around him with wild cheers sought to encourage him. The otherthree men were marked about the arms and breasts with several slightwounds, 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 Icould understand, from the explanation which Kory-Kory gave me.

  The royal Mehevi walked by the side of these heroes. He carried in onehand a musket, from the barrel of which was suspended a small canvas pouchof powder, and in the other he grasped a short javelin, which he heldbefore him and regarded with fierce exultation. This javelin he hadwrested from a celebrated champion of the Happars, who had ignominiouslyfled, 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 fellhelplessly to the ground; but not before another had caught the end of thepole from his shoulder, and placed it upon his own.

  The excited throng of islanders, who surrounded the person of the king andthe dead bodies of the enemy, approached the spot where I stood,brandishing their rude implements of warfare, many of which were bruisedand broken, and uttering continual shouts of triumph. When the crowd drewup opposite the Ti, I set myself to watch their proceedings mostattentively; but scarcely had they halted when my servitor, who had leftmy side for an instant, touched my arm, and proposed our returning toMarheyo's house. To this I objected; but, to my surprise, Kory-Koryreiterated his request, and with an unusual vehemence of manner. Still,however, I refused to comply, and was retreating before him, as in hisimportunity he pressed upon me, when I felt a heavy hand laid upon myshoulder, and turning round, encountered the bulky form of Mow-Mow, aone-eyed chief, who had just detached himself from the crowd below, andhad mounted the rear of the pi-pi upon which we stood. His cheek had beenpierced by the point of a spear, and the wound imparted a still morefrightful expression to his hideously tattooed face, already deformed bythe loss of an eye. The warrior, without uttering a syllable, pointedfiercely in the direction of Marheyo's house, while Kory-Kory, at the sametime presenting his back, desired me to mount.

  I declined this offer, but intimated my willingness to withdraw, and movedslowly along the piazza, wondering what could be the cause of this unusualtreatment. A few minutes' consideration convinced me that the savages wereabout to celebrate some hideous rite in connexion with their peculiarcustoms, and at which they were determined I should not be present. Idescended from the pi-pi, and attended by Kory-Kory, who on this occasiondid not show his usual commiseration for my lameness, but seemed onlyanxious to hurry me on, walked away from the place. As I passed throughthe noisy throng, which by this time completely environed the Ti, I lookedwith fearful curiosity at the three packages, which now were depositedupon the ground; but although I had no doubt as to their contents, stilltheir thick coverings prevented my actually detecting the form of a humanbody.

  The next morning, shortly after sunrise, the same thundering sounds whichhad 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, andTinor, after assuming their gala dresses, departed in the direction of theTaboo Groves.

  Although I did not anticipate a compliance with my request, still, with aview 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 tothe Ti: he positively refused; and when I renewed the request, he evincedhis determination to prevent my going there; and, to divert my mind fromthe subject, he offered to accompany me to the stream. We accordinglywent, and bathed. On our coming back to the house, I was surprised to findthat all its inmates had returned, and were lounging upon the mats asusual, although the drums still sounded from the groves.

  The rest of the day I spent with Kory-Kory and Fayaway, wandering about apart of the valley situated in an opposite direction from the Ti, andwhenever I so much as looked towards that building, although it was hiddenfrom 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 inhabitantsreclining at their ease, or pursuing some light occupation, as if nothingunusual were going forward; but amongst them all I did not perceive asingle chief or warrior. When I asked several of the people why they werenot at the "Hoolah Hoolah" (the feast), they uniformly answered thequestion in a manner which implied that it was not intended for them, butfor Mehevi, Narmonee, Mow-Mow, Kolor, Womonoo, Kalow, running over, intheir desire to make me comprehend their meaning, the names of all theprincipal chiefs.

  Everything, in short, strengthened my suspicions with regard to the natureof the festival they were now celebrating; and which amounted almost to acertainty. While in Nukuheva I had frequently been informed that the wholetribe were never present at these cannibal banquets, but the chiefs andpriests only; and everything I now observed agreed with the account.

  The sound of the drums continued without intermission the whole day, andfalling continually upon my ear, caused me a sensation of horror which Iam unable to describe. On the following day, hearing none of those noisyindications of revelry, I concluded that the inhuman feast was terminated,and feeling a kind of morbid curiosity to discover whether the Ti mightfurnish any evidence of what had taken place there, I proposed toKory-Kory to walk there. To this proposition he replied by pointing withhis finger to the newly-risen sun, and then up to the zenith, intimatingthat our visit must be deferred until noon. Shortly after that hour weaccordingly proceeded to the Taboo Groves, and as soon as we entered theirprecincts, I looked fearfully round in quest of some memorial of the scenewhich had so lately been acted there; but everything appeared as usual. Onreaching 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 weremade 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 carvedvessel of wood, of considerable size, with a cover placed over it, of thesame material, and which resembled in shape a small canoe. It wassurrounded by a low railing of bamboos, the top of which was scarcely afoot from the ground. As the vessel had been placed in its presentposition since my last visit, I at once concluded that it must have someconnexion with the recent festival; and, prompted by a curiosity I couldnot repress, in passing it I raised one end of the cover; at the samemoment the chiefs, perceiving my design, loudly ejaculated, "Taboo!taboo!" But the slight glimpse sufficed; my eyes fell upon the disorderedmembers of a human skeleton, the bones still fresh with moisture, and withparticles of flesh clinging to them here and there!

  Kory-Kory, who had been a little in advance of me, attracted by theexclamations of the chiefs, turned round in time to witness the expressionof horror on my countenance. He now hurried towards me, pointing at thesame time to the canoe, and exclaiming, rapidly, "Puarkee! puarkee!" (Pig,pig.) I pretended to yield to the deception, and repeated the words afterhim several times, as though acquiescing in what he said. The othersavages, either deceived by my conduct, or unwilling to manifest theirdispleasure at what could not now be remedied, took no further notice ofthe occurrence, and I immediately left the Ti.

  All that night I lay awake, revolving in my mind the
fearful situation inwhich I was placed. The last horrid revelation had now been made, and thefull sense of my condition rushed upon my mind with a force I had neverbefore 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 thestranger, 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 ifI were cut off from every source of hope, and that nothing remained butpassively to await whatever fate was in store for me. A thousand times Iendeavoured to account for the mysterious conduct of the natives. For whatconceivable purpose did they thus retain me a captive? What could be theirobject in treating me with such apparent kindness, and did it not coversome treacherous scheme? Or, if they had no other design than to hold me aprisoner, how should I be able to pass away my days in this narrow valley,deprived of all intercourse with civilized beings, and for ever separatedfrom friends and home?

  One only hope remained to me. The French could not long defer a visit tothe bay, and if they should permanently locate any of their troops in thevalley, the savages could not for any length of time conceal my existencefrom them. But what reason had I to suppose that I should be spared untilsuch an event occurred--an event which might be postponed by a hundreddifferent contingencies?