Mardi and a Voyage Thither

by Herman Melville

  This done, they earnestly eyed Yoomy; who, after much pondering, said-"I speak for Hautia; who by these berries says, I will enlighten you."

  "Oh, give me then that light! say, where is Yillah?" and I rushed upon the heralds.

  But eluding me, they looked reproachfully at Yoomy; and seemed offended.

  "Then, I am wrong," said Yoomy. "It is thus:-Taji, you have been enlightened, but the lily you seek is crushed."

  Then fell my heart, and the phantoms nodded; flinging upon me bilberries, like rose pearls, which bruised against my skin, left stains.

  Waving oleanders, they retreated.

  "Harm! treachery! beware!" cried Yoomy.

  Then they glided through the wood: one showering dead leaves along the path I trod, the others gayly waving bunches of spring-crocuses, yellow, white, and purple; and thus they vanished.

  Said Yoomy, "Sad your path, but merry Hautia's."

  "Then merry may she be, whoe'er she is; and though woe be mine, I turn not from that to Hautia; nor ever will I woo her, though she woo me till I die;-though Yillah never bless my eyes."

  CHAPTER CII

  They Depart From Mondoldo

  Night passed; and next morning we made preparations for leaving Mondoldo that day.

  But fearing anew, lest after our departure, the men of Amma might stir up against me the people of the isle, I determined to yield to the earnest solicitations of Borabolla, and leave Jarl behind, for a remembrance of Taji; if necessary, to vindicate his name. Apprised hereof, my follower was loth to acquiesce. His guiltless spirit feared not the strangers: less selfish considerations prevailed. He was willing to remain on the island for a time, but not without me.

  Yet, setting forth my reasons; and assuring him, that our tour would not be long in completing, when we would not fail to return, previous to sailing for Odo, he at last, but reluctantly, assented.

  At Mondoldo, we also parted with Samoa. Whether it was, that he feared the avengers, whom he may have thought would follow on my track; or whether the islands of Mardi answered not in attractiveness to the picture his fancy had painted; or whether the restraint put upon him by the domineering presence of King Media, was too irksome withal; or whether, indeed, he relished not those disquisitions with which Babbalanja regaled us: however it may have been, certain it was, that Samoa was impatient of the voyage. He besought permission to return to Odo, there to await my return; and a canoe of Mondoldo being about to proceed in that direction, permission was granted; and departing for the other side of the island, from thence he embarked.

  Long after, dark tidings came, that at early dawn he had been found dead in the canoe: three arrows in his side.

  Yoomy was at a loss to account for the departure of Samoa; who, while ashore, had expressed much desire to roam.

  Media, however, declared that he must be returning to some inamorata.

  But Babbalanja averred, that the Upoluan was not the first man, who had turned back, after beginning a voyage like our own.

  To this, after musing, Yoomy assented. Indeed, I had noticed, that already the Warbler had abated those sanguine assurances of success, with which he had departed from Odo. The futility of our search thus far, seemed ominous to him, of the end.

  On the eve of embarking, we were accompanied to the beach by Borabolla; who, with his own hand, suspended from the shark's mouth of Media's canoe, three red-ripe bunches of plantains, a farewell gift to his guests.

  Though he spoke not a word, Jarl was long in taking leave. His eyes seemed to say, I will see you no more.

  At length we pushed from the strand; Borabolla waving his adieus with a green leaf of banana; our comrade ruefully eyeing the receding canoes; and the multitude loudly invoking for us a prosperous voyage.

  But to my horror, there suddenly dashed through the crowd, the three specter sons of Aleema, escaped from their prison. With clenched hands, they stood in the water, and cursed me anew. And with that curse in our sails, we swept off.

  CHAPTER CIII

  As They Sail

  As the canoes now glided across the lagoon, I gave myself up to reverie; and revolving over all that the men of Amma had rehearsed of the history of Yillah, I one by one unriddled the mysteries, before so baffling. Now, all was made plain: no secret remaining, but the subsequent event of her disappearance. Yes, Hautia! enlightened I had been but where was Yillah?

  Then I recalled that last interview with Hautia's messengers, so full of enigmas; and wondered, whether Yoomy had interpreted aright.

  Unseen, and unsolicited; still pursuing me with omens, with taunts, and with wooings, mysterious Hautia appalled me. Vaguely I began to fear her. And the thought, that perhaps again and again, her heralds would haunt me, filled me with a nameless dread, which I almost shrank from acknowledging. Inwardly I prayed, that never more they might appear.

  While full of these thoughts, Media interrupted them by saying, that the minstrel was about to begin one of his chants, a thing of his own composing; and therefore, as he himself said, all critics must be lenient; for Yoomy, at times, not always, was a timid youth, distrustful of his own sweet genius for poesy.

  The words were about a curious hereafter, believed in by some people in Mardi: a sort of nocturnal Paradise, where the sun and its heat are excluded: one long, lunar day, with twinkling stars to keep company.

  THE SONG

  Far off in the sea is Marlena,

  A land of shades and streams,

  A land of many delights.

  Dark and bold, thy shores,

  Marlena; But green, and timorous, thy soft knolls,

  Crouching behind the woodlands.

  All shady thy hills; all gleaming thy springs,

  Like eyes in the earth looking at you.

  How charming thy haunts Marlena!

  — Oh, the waters that flow through Onimoo:

  Oh, the leaves that rustle through Ponoo:

  Oh, the roses that blossom in Tarma:

  Come, and see the valley of Vina:

  How sweet, how sweet, the Isles from Hind:

  'Tis aye afternoon of the full, full moon,

  And ever the season of fruit,

  And ever the hour of flowers,

  And never the time of rains and gales,

  All in and about Marlena.

  Soft sigh the boughs in the stilly air,

  Soft lap the beach the billows there;

  And in the woods or by the streams,

  You needs must nod in the Land of Dreams.

  "Yoomy," said old Mohi with a yawn, "you composed that song, then, did you?"

  "I did," said Yoomy, placing his turban a little to one side.

  "Then, minstrel, you shall sing me to sleep every night, especially with that song of Marlena; it is soporific as the airs of Nora-Bamma."

  "Mean you, old man, that my lines, setting forth the luxurious repose to be enjoyed hereafter, are composed with such skill, that the description begets the reality; or would you ironically suggest, that the song is a sleepy thing itself?"

  "An important discrimination," said Media; "which mean you, Mohi?"

  "Now, are you not a silly boy," said Babbalanja, "when from the ambiguity of his speech, you could so easily have derived something flattering, thus to seek to extract unpleasantness from it?

  Be wise, Yoomy; and hereafter, whenever a remark like that seems equivocal, be sure to wrest commendation from it, though you torture it to the quick."

  "And most sure am I, that I would ever do so; but often I so incline to a distrust of my powers, that I am far more keenly alive to censure, than to praise; and always deem it the more sincere of the two; and no praise so much elates me, as censure depresses."

  CHAPTER CIV

  Wherein Babbalanja Broaches A Diabolical Theory, And, In His Own Person, Proves It

  "A truce!" cried Media, "here comes a gallant before the wind.-Look, Taji!"

  Turning, we descried a sharp-prowed canoe, dashing on, under the pressure of an immense triangul
ar sail, whose outer edges were streaming with long, crimson pennons. Flying before it, were several small craft, belonging to the poorer sort of Islanders.

  "Out of his way there, ye laggards," cried Media, "or that mad prince, Tribonnora, will ride over ye with a rush!"

  "And who is Tribonnora," said Babbalanja, "that he thus bravely diverts himself, running down innocent paddlers?"

  "A harum-scarum young chief," replied Media, "heir to three islands; he likes nothing better than the sport you now see see him at."

  "He must be possessed by a devil," said Mohi.

  Said Babbalanja, "Then he is only like all of us." "What say you?" cried Media.

  "I say, as old Bardianna in the Nine hundred and ninety ninth book of his immortal Ponderings saith, that all men-"

  "As I live, my lord, he has swamped three canoes," cried Mohi, pointing off the beam.

  But just then a fiery fin-back whale, having broken into the paddock of the lagoon, threw up a high fountain of foam, almost under Tribonnora's nose; who, quickly turning about his canoe, cur-like slunk off; his steering-paddle between his legs.

  Comments over; "Babbalanja, you were going to quote," said Media.

  "Proceed."

  "Thank you, my lord. Says old Bardianna, 'All men are possessed by devils; but as these devils are sent into men, and kept in them, for an additional punishment; not garrisoning a fortress, but limboed in a bridewell; so, it may be more just to say, that the devils themselves are possessed by men, not men by them.'"

  "Faith!" cried Media, "though sometimes a bore, your old Bardianna is a trump."

  "I have long been of that mind, my lord. But let me go on. Says Bardianna, 'Devils are divers;-strong devils, and weak devils; knowing devils, and silly devils; mad devils, and mild devils; devils, merely devils; devils, themselves bedeviled; devils, doubly bedeviled."

  "And in the devil's name, what sort of a devil is yours?" cried Mohi.

  "Of him anon; interrupt me not, old man. Thus, then, my lord, as devils are divers, divers are the devils in men. Whence, the wide difference we see. But after all, the main difference is this:-that one man's devil is only more of a devil than another's; and be bedeviled as much as you will; yet, may you perform the most bedeviled of actions with impunity, so long as you only bedevil yourself. For it is only when your deviltry injures another, that the other devils conspire to confine yours for a mad one. That is to say, if you be easily handled. For there are many bedeviled Bedlamites in Mardi, doing an infinity of mischief, who are too brawny in the arms to be tied."

  "A very devilish doctrine that," cried Mohi. "I don't believe it."

  "My lord," said Babbalanja, "here's collateral proof;-the sage lawgiver Yamjamma, who flourished long before Bardianna, roundly asserts, that all men who knowingly do evil are bedeviled; for good is happiness; happiness the object of living; and evil is not good."

  "If the sage Yamjamma said that," said old Mohi, "the sage Yamjamma might have bettered the saying; it's not quite so plain as it might be."

  "Yamjamma disdained to be plain; he scorned to be fully comprehended by mortals. Like all oracles, he dealt in dark sayings. But old Bardianna was of another sort; he spoke right out, going straight to the point like a javelin; especially when he laid it down for a universal maxim, that minus exceptions, all men are bedeviled."

  "Of course, then," said Media, "you include yourself among the number."

  "Most assuredly; and so did old Bardianna; who somewhere says, that being thoroughly bedeviled himself, he was so much the better qualified to discourse upon the deviltries of his neighbors. But in another place he seems to contradict himself, by asserting, that he is not so sensible of his own deviltry as of other people's."

  "Hold!" cried Media, "who have we here?" and he pointed ahead of our prow to three men in the water, urging themselves along, each with a paddle.

  We made haste to overtake them.

  "Who are you?" said Media, "where from, and where bound?"

  "From Variora," they answered, "and bound to Mondoldo." "And did that devil Tribonnora swamp your canoe?" asked Media, offering to help them into ours.

  "We had no such useless incumbrance to lose," they replied, resting on their backs, and panting with their exertions. "If we had had a canoe, we would have had to paddle it along with us; whereas we have only our bodies to paddle."

  "You are a parcel of loons," exclaimed Media. "But go your ways, if you are satisfied with your locomotion, well and good."

  "Now, it is an extreme case, I grant," said Babbalanja, "but those poor devils there, help to establish old Bardianna's position.

  They belong to that species of our bedeviled race, called simpletons; but their devils harming none but themselves, are permitted to be at large with the fish. Whereas, Tribonnora's devil, who daily runs down canoes, drowning their occupants, belongs to the species of out and out devils; but being high in station, and strongly backed by kith and kin, Tribonnora can not be mastered, and put in a strait jacket.

  For myself, I think my devil is some where between these two extremes; at any rate, he belongs to that class of devils who harm not other devils."

  "I am not so sure of that," retorted Media. "Methinks this doctrine of yours, about all mankind being bedeviled, will work a deal of mischief; seeing that by implication it absolves you mortals from moral accountability. Further-more; as your doctrine is exceedingly evil, by Yamjamma's theory it follows, that you must be proportionably bedeviled; and since it harms others, your devil is of the number of those whom it is best to limbo; and since he is one of those that can be limboed, limboed he shall be in you."

  And so saying, he humorously commanded his attendants to lay hands upon the bedeviled philosopher, and place a bandage upon his mouth, that he might no more disseminate his devilish doctrine.

  Against this, Babbalanja demurred, protesting that he was no orangoutang, to be so rudely handled.

  "Better and better," said Media, "you but illustrate Bardianna's theory; that men are not sensible of their being bedeviled."

  Thus tantalized, Babbalanja displayed few signs of philosophy.

  Whereupon, said Media, "Assuredly his devil is foaming; behold his mouth!" And he commanded him to be bound hand and foot.

  At length, seeing all resistance ineffectual, Babbalanja submitted; but not without many objurgations.

  Presently, however, they released him; when Media inquired, how he relished the application of his theory; and whether he was still' of old Bardianna's mind?

  To which, haughtily adjusting his robe, Babbalanja replied, "The strong arm, my lord, is no argument, though it overcomes all logic."

  END OF VOL. I.

  VOL. II

  CHAPTER I

  Maramma

  We were now voyaging straight for Maramma; where lived and reigned, in mystery, the High Pontiff of the adjoining isles: prince, priest, and god, in his own proper person: great lord paramount over many kings in Mardi; his hands full of scepters and crosiers.

  Soon, rounding a lofty and insulated shore, the great central peak of the island came in sight; domineering over the neighboring hills; the same aspiring pinnacle, descried in drawing near the archipelago in the Chamois.

  "Tall Peak of Ofo!" cried Babbalanja, "how comes it that thy shadow so broods over Mardi; flinging new shades upon spots already shaded by the hill-sides; shade upon shade!"

  "Yet, so it is," said Yoomy, sadly, "that where that shadow falls, gay flowers refuse to spring; and men long dwelling therein become shady of face and of soul. 'Hast thou come from out the shadows of Ofo?' inquires the stranger, of one with a clouded brow."

  "It was by this same peak," said Mohi, "that the nimble god Roo, a great sinner above, came down from the skies, a very long time ago.

  Three skips and a jump, and he landed on the plain. But alas, poor Roo! though easy the descent, there was no climbing back."

  "No wonder, then," said Babbalanja, "that the peak is inaccessible to man. Though, with a stran
ge infatuation, many still make pilgrimages thereto; and wearily climb and climb, till slipping from the rocks, they fall headlong backward, and oftentimes perish at its base."

  "Ay," said Mohi, "in vain, on all sides of the Peak, various paths are tried; in vain new ones are cut through the cliffs and the brambles:-Ofo yet remains inaccessible."

  "Nevertheless," said Babbalanja, "by some it is believed, that those, who by dint of hard struggling climb so high as to become invisible from the plain; that these have attained the summit; though others much doubt, whether their be-coming invisible is not because of their having fallen, and perished by the way."

  "And wherefore," said Media, "do you mortals undertake the ascent at all? why not be content on the plain? and even if attainable, what would you do upon that lofty, clouded summit? Or how can you hope to breathe that rarefied air, unfitted for your human lungs?"

  "True, my lord," said Babbalanja; "and Bardianna asserts that the plain alone was intended for man; who should be content to dwell under the shade of its groves, though the roots thereof descend into the darkness of the earth. But, my lord, you well know, that there are those in Mardi, who secretly regard all stories connected with this peak, as inventions of the people of Maramma. They deny that any thing is to be gained by making a pilgrimage thereto. And for warranty, they appeal to the sayings of the great prophet Alma."

  Cried Mohi, "But Alma is also quoted by others, in vindication of the pilgrimages to Ofo. They declare that the prophet himself was the first pilgrim that thitherward journeyed: that from thence he departed to the skies."

  Now, excepting this same peak, Maramma is all rolling hill and dale, like the sea after a storm; which then seems not to roll, but to stand still, poising its mountains. Yet the landscape of Maramma has not the merriness of meadows; partly because of the shadow of Ofo, and partly because of the solemn groves in which the Morais and temples are buried.