prompt:
Chapter: KING MEHEVI!--A goodly sounding title--and why should I not bestow
it upon the foremost man in the valley of Typee? The republican
missionaries of Oahu cause to be gazetted in the Court Journal,
published at Honolulu, the most trivial movement of 'his gracious
majesty' King Kammehammaha III, and 'their highnesses the princes of the
blood royal'.* And who is his 'gracious majesty', and what the
quality of this blood royal'?--His 'gracious majesty' is a fat, lazy,
negro-looking blockhead, with as little character as power. He has
lost the noble traits of the barbarian, without acquiring the redeeming
graces of a civilized being; and, although a member of the Hawiian
Temperance Society, is a most inveterate dram-drinker.

*Accounts like these are sometimes copied into English and American
journals. They lead the reader to infer that the arts and customs of
civilized life are rapidly refining the natives of the Sandwich Islands.
But let no one be deceived by these accounts. The chiefs swagger about
in gold lace and broadcloth, while the great mass of the common people
are nearly as primitive in their appearance as in the days of Cook. In
the progress of events at these islands, the two classes are receding
from each other; the chiefs are daily becoming more luxurious and
extravagant in their style of living, and the common people more and
more destitute of the necessaries and decencies of life. But the end
to which both will arrive at last will be the same: the one are fast
destroying themselves by sensual indulgences, and the other are
fast being destroyed by a complication of disorders, and the want of
wholesome food. The resources of the domineering chiefs are wrung from
the starving serfs, and every additional bauble with which they bedeck
themselves is purchased by the sufferings of their bondsmen; so that the
measure of gew-gaw refinement attained by the chiefs is only an index
to the actual state in which the greater portion of the population lie
grovelling.

The 'blood royal' is an extremely thick, depraved fluid; formed
principally of raw fish, bad brandy, and European sweetmeats, and is
charged with a variety of eruptive humours, which are developed in
sundry blotches and pimples upon the august face of 'majesty itself',
and the angelic countenances of the 'princes and princesses of the blood
royal'!

Now, if the farcical puppet of a chief magistrate in the Sandwich
Islands be allowed the title of King, why should it be withheld from
the noble savage Mehevi, who is a thousand times more worthy of the
appellation? All hail, therefore, Mehevi, King of the Cannibal Valley,
and long life and prosperity to his Typeean majesty! May Heaven for many
a year preserve him, the uncompromising foe of Nukuheva and the French,
if a hostile attitude will secure his lovely domain from the remorseless
inflictions of South Sea civilization.

Previously to seeing the Dancing Widows I had little idea that there
were any matrimonial relations subsisting in Typee, and I should as soon
have thought of a Platonic affection being cultivated between the sexes,
as of the solemn connection of man and wife. To be sure, there were old
Marheyo and Tinor, who seemed to have a sort of nuptial understanding
with one another; but for all that, I had sometimes observed a
comical-looking old gentleman dressed in a suit of shabby tattooing, who
had the audacity to take various liberties with the lady, and that too
in the very presence of the old warrior her husband, who looked on
as good-naturedly as if nothing was happening. This behaviour, until
subsequent discoveries enlightened me, puzzled me more than anything
else I witnessed in Typee.

As for Mehevi, I had supposed him a confirmed bachelor, as well as most
of the principal chiefs. At any rate, if they had wives and families,
they ought to have been ashamed of themselves; for sure I am, they never
troubled themselves about any domestic affairs. In truth, Mehevi seemed
to be the president of a club of hearty fellows, who kept 'Bachelor's
Hall' in fine style at the Ti. I had no doubt but that they regarded
children as odious incumbrances; and their ideas of domestic felicity
were sufficiently shown in the fact, that they allowed no meddlesome
housekeepers to turn topsy-turvy those snug little arrangements they had
made in their comfortable dwelling. I strongly suspected however, that
some of these jolly bachelors were carrying on love intrigues with
the maidens of the tribe; although they did not appear publicly to
acknowledge them. I happened to pop upon Mehevi three or four times when
he was romping--in a most undignified manner for a warrior king--with
one of the prettiest little witches in the valley. She lived with an
old woman and a young man, in a house near Marheyo's; and although in
appearance a mere child herself, had a noble boy about a year old, who
bore a marvellous resemblance to Mehevi, whom I should certainly have
believed to have been the father, were it not that the little fellow
had no triangle on his face--but on second thoughts, tattooing is not
hereditary. Mehevi, however, was not the only person upon whom the
damsel Moonoony smiled--the young fellow of fifteen, who permanently
resided in the home with her, was decidedly in her good graces. I
sometimes beheld both him and the chief making love at the same time. Is
it possible, thought I, that the valiant warrior can consent to give
up a corner in the thing he loves? This too was a mystery which, with
others of the same kind, was afterwards satisfactorily explained.

During the second day of the Feast of Calabashes, Kory-Kory--being
determined that I should have some understanding on these matters--had,
in the course of his explanations, directed my attention to
a peculiarity I had frequently remarked among many of the
females;--principally those of a mature age and rather matronly
appearance. This consisted in having the right hand and the left foot
most elaborately tattooed; whilst the rest of the body was wholly free
from the operation of the art, with the exception of the minutely dotted
lips and slight marks on the shoulders, to which I have previously
referred as comprising the sole tattooing exhibited by Fayaway, in
common with other young girls of her age. The hand and foot thus
embellished were, according to Kory-Kory, the distinguishing badge of
wedlock, so far as that social and highly commendable institution is
known among those people. It answers, indeed, the same purpose as the
plain gold ring worn by our fairer spouses.

After Kory-Kory's explanation of the subject, I was for some time
studiously respectful in the presence of all females thus distinguished,
and never ventured to indulge in the slightest approach to flirtation
with any of their number. Married women, to be sure!--I knew better than
to offend them.

A further insight, however, into the peculiar domestic customs of the
inmates of the valley did away in a measure with the severity of my
scruples, and convinced me that I was deceived in some at least of my
conclusions. A regular system of polygamy exists among the islanders;
but of a most extraordinary nature,--a plurality of husbands, instead of
wives! and this solitary fact speaks volumes for the gentle disposition
of the male population.

Where else, indeed, could such a practice exist, even for a single
day?--Imagine a revolution brought about in a Turkish seraglio, and
the harem rendered the abode of bearded men; or conceive some beautiful
woman in our own country running distracted at the sight of her numerous
lovers murdering one another before her eyes, out of jealousy for the
unequal distribution of her favours!--Heaven defend us from such a state
of things!--We are scarcely amiable and forbearing enough to submit to
it.

I was not able to learn what particular ceremony was observed in forming
the marriage contract, but am inclined to think that it must have been
of a very simple nature. Perhaps the mere 'popping the question', as
it is termed with us, might have been followed by an immediate nuptial
alliance. At any rate, I have more than one reason to believe that
tedious courtships are unknown in the valley of Typee.

The males considerably outnumber the females. This holds true of many
of the islands of Polynesia, although the reverse of what is the case in
most civilized countries. The girls are first wooed and won, at a very
tender age, by some stripling in the household in which they reside.
This, however, is a mere frolic of the affections, and no formal
engagement is contracted. By the time this first love has a little
subsided, a second suitor presents himself, of graver years, and carries
both boy and girl away to his own habitation. This disinterested and
generous-hearted fellow now weds the young couple--marrying damsel
and lover at the same time--and all three thenceforth live together
as harmoniously as so many turtles. I have heard of some men who in
civilized countries rashly marry large families with their wives, but
had no idea that there was any place where people married supplementary
husbands with them. Infidelity on either side is very rare. No man
has more than one wife, and no wife of mature years has less than two
husbands,--sometimes she has three, but such instances are not
frequent. The marriage tie, whatever it may be, does not appear to be
indissoluble; for separations occasionally happen. These, however,
when they do take place, produce no unhappiness, and are preceded by no
bickerings; for the simple reason, that an ill-used wife or a henpecked
husband is not obliged to file a bill in Chancery to obtain a divorce.
As nothing stands in the way of a separation, the matrimonial yoke sits
easily and lightly, and a Typee wife lives on very pleasant and sociable
terms with her husband. On the whole, wedlock, as known among these
Typees, seems to be of a more distinct and enduring nature than
is usually the case with barbarous people. A baneful promiscuous
intercourse of the sexes is hereby avoided, and virtue, without being
clamorously invoked, is, as it were, unconsciously practised.

The contrast exhibited between the Marquesas and other islands of the
Pacific in this respect, is worthy of being noticed. At Tahiti the
marriage tie was altogether unknown; and the relation of husband
and wife, father and son, could hardly be said to exist. The Arreory
Society--one of the most singular institutions that ever existed in any
part of the world--spread universal licentiousness over the island. It
was the voluptuous character of these people which rendered the disease
introduced among them by De Bougainville's ships, in 1768, doubly
destructive. It visited them like a plague, sweeping them off by
hundreds.

Notwithstanding the existence of wedlock among the Typees, the
Scriptural injunction to increase and multiply seems to be but
indifferently attended to. I never saw any of those large families in
arithmetical or step-ladder progression which one often meets with at
home. I never knew of more than two youngsters living together in the
same home, and but seldom even that number. As for the women, it was
very plain that the anxieties of the nursery but seldom disturbed the
serenity of their souls; and they were never seen going about the valley
with half a score of little ones tagging at their apron-strings, or
rather at the bread-fruit-leaf they usually wore in the rear.

The ratio of increase among all the Polynesian nations is very small;
and in some places as yet uncorrupted by intercourse with Europeans,
the births would appear not very little to outnumber the deaths; the
population in such instances remaining nearly the same for several
successive generations, even upon those islands seldom or never
desolated by wars, and among people with whom the crime of infanticide
is altogether unknown. This would seem expressively ordained by
Providence to prevent the overstocking of the islands with a race too
indolent to cultivate the ground, and who, for that reason alone, would,
by any considerable increase in their numbers, be exposed to the most
deplorable misery. During the entire period of my stay in the valley of
Typee, I never saw more than ten or twelve children under the age of six
months, and only became aware of two births.

It is to the absence of the marriage tie that the late rapid decrease
of the population of the Sandwich Islands and of Tahiti is in part to be
ascribed. The vices and diseases introduced among these unhappy people
annually swell the ordinary mortality of the islands, while, from the
same cause, the originally small number of births is proportionally
decreased. Thus the progress of the Hawaiians and Tahitians to utter
extinction is accelerated in a sort of compound ratio.

I have before had occasion to remark, that I never saw any of the
ordinary signs of a pace of sepulture in the valley, a circumstance
which I attributed, at the time, to my living in a particular part
of it, and being forbidden to extend my rambles to any considerable
distance towards the sea. I have since thought it probable, however,
that the Typees, either desirous of removing from their sight the
evidences of mortality, or prompted by a taste for rural beauty, may
have some charming cemetery situation in the shadowy recesses along
the base of the mountains. At Nukuheva, two or three large quadrangular
'pi-pis', heavily flagged, enclosed with regular stone walls, and shaded
over and almost hidden from view by the interlacing branches of
enormous trees, were pointed out to me as burial-places. The bodies, I
understood, were deposited in rude vaults beneath the flagging, and were
suffered to remain there without being disinterred. Although nothing
could be more strange and gloomy than the aspect of these places, where
the lofty trees threw their dark shadows over rude blocks of stone,
a stranger looking at them would have discerned none of the ordinary
evidences of a place of sepulture.

During my stay in the valley, as none of its inmates were so
accommodating as to die and be buried in order to gratify my curiosity
with regard to their funeral rites, I was reluctantly obliged to
remain in ignorance of them. As I have reason to believe, however, the
observances of the Typees in these matters are the same with those of
all the other tribes in the island, I will here relate a scene I chanced
to witness at Nukuheva.

A young man had died, about daybreak, in a house near the beach. I had
been sent ashore that morning, and saw a good deal of the preparations
they were making for his obsequies. The body, neatly wrapped in a new
white tappa, was laid out in an open shed of cocoanut boughs, upon a
bier constructed of elastic bamboos ingeniously twisted together. This
was supported about two feet from the ground, by large canes planted
uprightly in the earth. Two females, of a dejected appearance, watched
by its side, plaintively chanting and beating the air with large grass
fans whitened with pipe-clay. In the dwelling-house adjoining a numerous
company we assembled, and various articles of food were being prepared
for consumption. Two or three individuals, distinguished by head-dresses
of beautiful tappa, and wearing a great number of ornaments, appeared
to officiate as masters of the ceremonies. By noon the entertainment had
fairly begun and we were told that it would last during the whole of
the two following days. With the exception of those who mourned by
the corpse, every one seemed disposed to drown the sense of the late
bereavement in convivial indulgence. The girls, decked out in their
savage finery, danced; the old men chanted; the warriors smoked and
chatted; and the young and lusty, of both sexes, feasted plentifully,
and seemed to enjoy themselves as pleasantly as they could have done had
it been a wedding.

The islanders understand the art of embalming, and practise it with such
success that the bodies of their great chiefs are frequently preserved
for many years in the very houses where they died. I saw three of these
in my visit to the Bay of Tior. One was enveloped in immense folds of
tappa, with only the face exposed, and hung erect against the side of
the dwelling. The others were stretched out upon biers of bamboo, in
open, elevated temples, which seemed consecrated to their memory. The
heads of enemies killed in battle are invariably preserved and hung up
as trophies in the house of the conqueror. I am not acquainted with the
process which is in use, but believe that fumigation is the principal
agency employed. All the remains which I saw presented the appearance of
a ham after being suspended for some time in a smoky chimney.

But to return from the dead to the living. The late festival had drawn
together, as I had every reason to believe, the whole population of the
vale, and consequently I was enabled to make some estimate with regard
to its numbers. I should imagine that there were about two thousand
inhabitants in Typee; and no number could have been better adapted to
the extent of the valley. The valley is some nine miles in length,
and may average one in breadth; the houses being distributed at wide
intervals throughout its whole extent, principally, however, towards the
head of the vale. There are no villages; the houses stand here and there
in the shadow of the groves, or are scattered along the banks of the
winding stream; their golden-hued bamboo sides and gleaming white thatch
forming a beautiful contrast to the perpetual verdure in which they are
embowered. There are no roads of any kind in the valley. Nothing but a
labyrinth of footpaths twisting and turning among the thickets without
end.

The penalty of the Fall presses very lightly upon the valley of Typee;
for, with the one solitary exception of striking a light, I scarcely saw
any piece of work performed there which caused the sweat to stand upon
a single brow. As for digging and delving for a livelihood, the thing is
altogether unknown. Nature has planted the bread-fruit and the banana,
and in her own good time she brings them to maturity, when the idle
savage stretches forth his hand, and satisfies his appetite.

Ill-fated people! I shudder when I think of the change a few years
will produce in their paradisaical abode; and probably when the most
destructive vices, and the worst attendances on civilization, shall have
driven all peace and happiness from the valley, the magnanimous
French will proclaim to the world that the Marquesas Islands have been
converted to Christianity! and this the Catholic world will doubtless
consider as a glorious event. Heaven help the 'Isles of the Sea'!--The
sympathy which Christendom feels for them, has, alas! in too many
instances proved their bane.

How little do some of these poor islanders comprehend when they look
around them, that no inconsiderable part of their disasters originate
in certain tea-party excitements, under the influence of which
benevolent-looking gentlemen in white cravats solicit alms, and old
ladies in spectacles, and young ladies in sober russet gowns, contribute
sixpences towards the creation of a fund, the object of which is to
ameliorate the spiritual condition of the Polynesians, but whose end has
almost invariably been to accomplish their temporal destruction!

Let the savages be civilized, but civilize them with benefits, and not
with evils; and let heathenism be destroyed, but not by destroying the
heathen. The Anglo-Saxon hive have extirpated Paganism from the greater
part of the North American continent; but with it they have likewise
extirpated the greater portion of the Red race. Civilization is
gradually sweeping from the earth the lingering vestiges of Paganism,
and at the same time the shrinking forms of its unhappy worshippers.

Among the islands of Polynesia, no sooner are the images overturned, the
temples demolished, and the idolators converted into NOMINAL Christians,
that disease, vice, and premature death make their appearance. The
depopulated land is then recruited from the rapacious, hordes of
enlightened individuals who settle themselves within its borders,
and clamorously announce the progress of the Truth. Neat villas, trim
gardens, shaven lawns, spires, and cupolas arise, while the poor savage
soon finds himself an interloper in the country of his fathers, and
that too on the very site of the hut where he was born. The spontaneous
fruits of the earth, which God in his wisdom had ordained for the
support of the indolent natives, remorselessly seized upon and
appropriated by the stranger, are devoured before the eyes of the
starving inhabitants, or sent on board the numerous vessels which now
touch at their shores.

When the famished wretches are cut off in this manner from their natural
supplies, they are told by their benefactors to work and earn their
support by the sweat of their brows! But to no fine gentleman born to
hereditary opulence, does this manual labour come more unkindly than
to the luxurious Indian when thus robbed of the bounty of heaven.
Habituated to a life of indolence, he cannot and will not exert himself;
and want, disease, and vice, all evils of foreign growth, soon terminate
his miserable existence.

But what matters all this? Behold the glorious result!--The abominations
of Paganism have given way to the pure rites of the Christian
worship,--the ignorant savage has been supplanted by the refined
European! Look at Honolulu, the metropolis of the Sandwich Islands!--A
community of disinterested merchants, and devoted self-exiled heralds of
the Cross, located on the very spot that twenty years ago was defiled by
the presence of idolatry. What a subject for an eloquent Bible-meeting
orator! Nor has such an opportunity for a display of missionary rhetoric
been allowed to pass by unimproved!--But when these philanthropists send
us such glowing accounts of one half of their labours, why does their
modesty restrain them from publishing the other half of the good they
have wrought?--Not until I visited Honolulu was I aware of the fact that
the small remnant of the natives had been civilized into draught-horses;
and evangelized into beasts of burden. But so it is. They have been
literally broken into the traces, and are harnessed to the vehicles of
their spiritual instructors like so many dumb brutes!

          . . . . . . .

Lest the slightest misconception should arise from anything thrown out
in this chapter, or indeed in any other part of the volume, let me here
observe that against the cause of missions in, the abstract no Christian
can possibly be opposed: it is in truth a just and holy cause. But
if the great end proposed by it be spiritual, the agency employed to
accomplish that end is purely earthly; and, although the object in
view be the achievement of much good, that agency may nevertheless be
productive of evil. In short, missionary undertaking, however it may
blessed of heaven, is in itself but human; and subject, like everything
else, to errors and abuses. And have not errors and abuses crept into
the most sacred places, and may there not be unworthy or incapable
missionaries abroad, as well as ecclesiastics of similar character
at home? May not the unworthiness or incapacity of those who assume
apostolic functions upon the remote islands of the sea more easily
escape detection by the world at large than if it were displayed in
the heart of a city? An unwarranted confidence in the sanctity of its
apostles--a proneness to regard them as incapable of guile--and
an impatience of the least suspicion to their rectitude as men or
Christians, have ever been prevailing faults in the Church. Nor is this
to be wondered at: for subject as Christianity is to the assaults of
unprincipled foes, we are naturally disposed to regard everything like
an exposure of ecclesiastical misconduct as the offspring of malevolence
or irreligious feeling. Not even this last consideration, however shall
deter me from the honest expression of my sentiments.

There is something apparently wrong in the practical operations of
the Sandwich Islands Mission. Those who from pure religious motives
contribute to the support of this enterprise should take care to
ascertain that their donations, flowing through many devious channels,
at last effect their legitimate object, the conversion of the Hawaiians.
I urge this not because I doubt the moral probity of those who disburse
the funds, but because I know that they are not rightly applied. To read
pathetic accounts of missionary hardships, and glowing descriptions of
conversion, and baptisms, taking place beneath palm-trees, is one thing;
and to go to the Sandwich Islands and see the missionaries dwelling
in picturesque and prettily furnished coral-rock villas, whilst the
miserable natives are committing all sorts of immorality around them, is
quite another.

In justice to the missionaries, however, I will willingly admit, that
where-ever evils may have resulted from their collective mismanagement
of the business of the mission, and from the want of vital piety evinced
by some of their number, still the present deplorable condition of the
Sandwich Islands is by no means wholly chargeable against them. The
demoralizing influence of a dissolute foreign population, and the
frequent visits of all descriptions of vessels, have tended not a little
to increase the evils alluded to. In a word, here, as in every case
where civilization has in any way been introduced among those whom we
call savages, she has scattered her vices, and withheld her blessings.

As wise a man as Shakespeare has said, that the bearer of evil tidings
hath but a losing office; and so I suppose will it prove with me, in
communicating to the trusting friends of the Hawiian Mission what has
been disclosed in various portions of this narrative. I am persuaded,
however, that as these disclosures will by their very nature attract
attention, so they will lead to something which will not be without
ultimate benefit to the cause of Christianity in the Sandwich Islands.

I have but one more thing to add in connection with this subject--those
things which I have stated as facts will remain facts, in spite of
whatever the bigoted or incredulous may say or write against them. My
reflections, however, on those facts may not be free from error. If such
be the case, I claim no further indulgence than should be conceded to
every man whose object is to do good.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: Tommo believes that Mehevi's status is akin to being a "King," but again notes that Mehevi's behavior is less formal than many Europeans Kings. For example, Tommo has seen Mehevi, on a few occasions, making love to a young native girl. Tommo always thought Mehevi was a bachelor, but now he knows that Mahevi has a steady relationship with this girl. Furthermore, she has a child that looks like him. Native culture differs from European culture in that women have more than one husband or lover. Mehevi's woman, for example, lives with another man, who makes love to her as well. On certain occasions, Tommo has seen both Mehevi and the other man courting the woman at the same time. Generally, Tommo has observed that women often live with one man who first appears to be her husband, but then another man moves in as well and he becomes her lover too. Tommo believes this practice takes place because there are far fewer men than women in the Typee valley. The idea of having two male lovers is widely accepted by everyone. For example, he has often seen another man trying to make love to Tinor, the matron of his house. Even though Marheyo, Tinor's "husband," watches the whole exchange, he does not seem to care. Although Typee women have more than one lover, it is notable that they seem to stick with certain men, rather than just sleeping with everyone. Many other native Polynesians, such as the Tahitians, tend to have no fixed relationship with any set person. Their open sexuality has led to trouble with European men. As such, large groups of Tahitian women have been killed off as a result of contracting European venereal diseases. The narrator has never seen a death amongst the Typees, so he cannot report on the Typee practices in that regard, but he generally believes that bodies are embalmed before being buried.


prompt:
Chapter: I HAVE already mentioned that the influence exerted over the people
of the valley by their chiefs was mild in the extreme; and as to any
general rule or standard of conduct by which the commonality were
governed in their intercourse with each other, so far as my observation
extended, I should be almost tempted to say, that none existed on the
island, except, indeed, the mysterious 'Taboo' be considered as such.
During the time I lived among the Typees, no one was ever put upon his
trial for any offence against the public. To all appearance there
were no courts of law or equity. There was no municipal police for the
purpose of apprehending vagrants and disorderly characters. In
short, there were no legal provisions whatever for the well-being and
conservation of society, the enlightened end of civilized legislation.
And yet everything went on in the valley with a harmony and smoothness
unparalleled, I will venture to assert, in the most select, refined, and
pious associations of mortals in Christendom. How are we to explain this
enigma? These islanders were heathens! savages! ay, cannibals! and how
came they without the aid of established law, to exhibit, in so eminent
a degree, that social order which is the greatest blessing and highest
pride of the social state?

It may reasonably be inquired, how were these people governed? how were
their passions controlled in their everyday transactions? It must have
been by an inherent principle of honesty and charity towards each other.
They seemed to be governed by that sort of tacit common-sense law which,
say what they will of the inborn lawlessness of the human race, has
its precepts graven on every breast. The grand principles of virtue and
honour, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes, are the same
all the world over: and where these principles are concerned, the right
or wrong of any action appears the same to the uncultivated as to the
enlightened mind. It is to this indwelling, this universally diffused
perception of what is just and noble, that the integrity of the
Marquesans in their intercourse with each other, is to be attributed.
In the darkest nights they slept securely, with all their worldly wealth
around them, in houses the doors of which were never fastened. The
disquieting ideas of theft or assassination never disturbed them.

Each islander reposed beneath his own palmetto thatching, or sat under
his own bread-fruit trees, with none to molest or alarm him. There was
not a padlock in the valley, nor anything that answered the purpose
of one: still there was no community of goods. This long spear, so
elegantly carved, and highly polished, belongs to Wormoonoo: it is far
handsomer than the one which old Marheyo so greatly prizes; it is the
most valuable article belonging to its owner. And yet I have seen it
leaning against a cocoanut tree in the grove, and there it was found
when sought for. Here is a sperm-whale tooth, graven all over with
cunning devices: it is the property of Karluna; it is the most precious
of the damsel's ornaments. In her estimation its price is far above
rubies--and yet there hangs the dental jewel by its cord of braided
bark, in the girl's house, which is far back in the valley; the door is
left open, and all the inmates have gone off to bathe in the stream.*

*The strict honesty which the inhabitants of nearly all the Polynesian
Islands manifest toward each other, is in striking contrast with the
thieving propensities some of them evince in their intercourse with
foreigners. It would almost seem that, according to their peculiar code
of morals, the pilfering of a hatchet or a wrought nail from a European,
is looked upon as a praiseworthy action. Or rather, it may be presumed,
that bearing in mind the wholesale forays made upon them by their
nautical visitors, they consider the property of the latter as a fair
object of reprisal. This consideration, while it serves to reconcile an
apparent contradiction in the moral character of the islanders, should
in some measure alter that low opinion of it which the reader of South
Sea voyages is too apt to form.

So much for the respect in which 'personal property' is held in Typee;
how secure an investment of 'real property' may be, I cannot take upon
me to say. Whether the land of the valley was the joint property of its
inhabitants, or whether it was parcelled out among a certain number of
landed proprietors who allowed everybody to 'squat' and 'poach' as
much as he or she pleased, I never could ascertain. At any rate, musty
parchments and title-deeds there were none on the island; and I am half
inclined to believe that its inhabitants hold their broad valleys in fee
simple from Nature herself; to have and to hold, so long as grass grows
and water runs; or until their French visitors, by a summary mode of
conveyancing, shall appropriate them to their own benefit and behoof.

Yesterday I saw Kory-Kory hie him away, armed with a long pole, with
which, standing on the ground, he knocked down the fruit from the
topmost boughs of the trees, and brought them home in his basket of
cocoanut leaves. Today I see an islander, whom I know to reside in a
distant part of the valley, doing the self-same thing. On the sloping
bank of the stream are a number of banana-trees I have often seen a
score or two of young people making a merry foray on the great golden
clusters, and bearing them off, one after another, to different parts
of the vale, shouting and trampling as they went. No churlish old
curmudgeon could have been the owner of that grove of bread-fruit trees,
or of these gloriously yellow bunches of bananas.

From what I have said it will be perceived that there is a vast
difference between 'personal property' and 'real estate' in the valley
of Typee. Some individuals, of course, are more wealthy than others.
For example, the ridge-pole of Marheyo's house bends under the weight of
many a huge packet of tappa; his long couch is laid with mats placed one
upon the other seven deep. Outside, Tinor has ranged along in her
bamboo cupboard--or whatever the place may be called--a goodly array of
calabashes and wooden trenchers. Now, the house just beyond the grove,
and next to Marheyo's, occupied by Ruaruga, is not quite so well
furnished. There are only three moderate-sized packages swinging
overhead: there are only two layers of mats beneath; and the calabashes
and trenchers are not so numerous, nor so tastefully stained and carved.
But then, Ruaruga has a house--not so pretty a one, to be sure--but just
as commodious as Marheyo's; and, I suppose, if he wished to vie with
his neighbour's establishment, he could do so with very little trouble.
These, in short, constituted the chief differences perceivable in the
relative wealth of the people in Typee.

Civilization does not engross all the virtues of humanity: she has not
even her full share of them. They flourish in greater abundance and
attain greater strength among many barbarous people. The hospitality
of the wild Arab, the courage of the North American Indian, and the
faithful friendship of some of the Polynesian nations, far surpass
anything of a similar kind among the polished communities of Europe. If
truth and justice, and the better principles of our nature, cannot
exist unless enforced by the statute-book, how are we to account for the
social condition of the Typees? So pure and upright were they in all the
relations of life, that entering their valley, as I did, under the most
erroneous impressions of their character, I was soon led to exclaim in
amazement: 'Are these the ferocious savages, the blood-thirsty cannibals
of whom I have heard such frightful tales! They deal more kindly with
each other, and are more humane than many who study essays on virtue and
benevolence, and who repeat every night that beautiful prayer breathed
first by the lips of the divine and gentle Jesus.' I will frankly
declare that after passing a few weeks in this valley of the Marquesas,
I formed a higher estimate of human nature than I had ever before
entertained. But alas! since then I have been one of the crew of a
man-of-war, and the pent-up wickedness of five hundred men has nearly
overturned all my previous theories.

There was one admirable trait in the general character of the Typees
which, more than anything else, secured my admiration: it was the
unanimity of feeling they displayed on every occasion. With them
there hardly appeared to be any difference of opinion upon any subject
whatever. They all thought and acted alike. I do not conceive that they
could support a debating society for a single night: there would be
nothing to dispute about; and were they to call a convention to take
into consideration the state of the tribe, its session would be a
remarkably short one. They showed this spirit of unanimity in every
action of life; everything was done in concert and good fellowship. I
will give an instance of this fraternal feeling.

One day, in returning with Kory-Kory from my accustomed visit to the
Ti, we passed by a little opening in the grove; on one side of which,
my attendant informed me, was that afternoon to be built a dwelling of
bamboo. At least a hundred of the natives were bringing materials to the
ground, some carrying in their hands one or two of the canes which were
to form the sides, others slender rods of the habiscus, strung with
palmetto leaves, for the roof. Every one contributed something to the
work; and by the united, but easy, and even indolent, labours of all,
the entire work was completed before sunset. The islanders, while
employed in erecting this tenement, reminded me of a colony of beavers
at work. To be sure, they were hardly as silent and demure as those
wonderful creatures, nor were they by any means as diligent. To tell the
truth they were somewhat inclined to be lazy, but a perfect tumult of
hilarity prevailed; and they worked together so unitedly, and seemed
actuated by such an instinct of friendliness, that it was truly
beautiful to behold.

Not a single female took part in this employment: and if the degree of
consideration in which the ever-adorable sex is held by the men be--as
the philosophers affirm--a just criterion of the degree of refinement
among a people, then I may truly pronounce the Typees to be as polished
a community as ever the sun shone upon. The religious restrictions of
the taboo alone excepted, the women of the valley were allowed every
possible indulgence. Nowhere are the ladies more assiduously courted;
nowhere are they better appreciated as the contributors to our highest
enjoyments; and nowhere are they more sensible of their power. Far
different from their condition among many rude nations, where the women
are made to perform all the work while their ungallant lords and masters
lie buried in sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt
from toil, if toil it might be called that, even in the tropical
climate, never distilled one drop of perspiration. Their light household
occupations, together with the manufacture of tappa, the platting of
mats, and the polishing of drinking-vessels, were the only employments
pertaining to the women. And even these resembled those pleasant
avocations which fill up the elegant morning leisure of our fashionable
ladies at home. But in these occupations, slight and agreeable though
they were, the giddy young girls very seldom engaged. Indeed these
wilful care-killing damsels were averse to all useful employment.

Like so many spoiled beauties, they ranged through the groves--bathed
in the stream--danced--flirted--played all manner of mischievous pranks,
and passed their days in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.

During my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a single quarrel,
nor anything that in the slightest degree approached even to a dispute.
The natives appeared to form one household, whose members were bound
together by the ties of strong affection. The love of kindred I did not
so much perceive, for it seemed blended in the general love; and where
all were treated as brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell who were
actually related to each other by blood.

Let it not be supposed that I have overdrawn this picture. I have
not done so. Nor let it be urged, that the hostility of this tribe
to foreigners, and the hereditary feuds they carry on against their
fellow-islanders beyond the mountains, are facts which contradict me.
Not so; these apparent discrepancies are easily reconciled. By many a
legendary tale of violence and wrong, as well as by events which have
passed before their eyes, these people have been taught to look upon
white men with abhorrence. The cruel invasion of their country by Porter
has alone furnished them with ample provocation; and I can sympathize
in the spirit which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to
his valley with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon
the beach, with his back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay the
intruding European.

As to the origin of the enmity of this particular clan towards the
neighbouring tribes, I cannot so confidently speak. I will not say that
their foes are the aggressors, nor will I endeavour to palliate their
conduct. But surely, if our evil passions must find vent, it is far
better to expend them on strangers and aliens, than in the bosom of
the community in which we dwell. In many polished countries civil
contentions, as well as domestic enmities, are prevalent, and the same
time that the most atrocious foreign wars are waged. How much less
guilty, then, are our islanders, who of these three sins are only
chargeable with one, and that the least criminal!

The reader will ere long have reason to suspect that the Typees are not
free from the guilt of cannibalism; and he will then, perhaps, charge me
with admiring a people against whom so odious a crime is chargeable. But
this only enormity in their character is not half so horrible as it
is usually described. According to the popular fictions, the crews of
vessels, shipwrecked on some barbarous coast, are eaten alive like so
many dainty joints by the uncivil inhabitants; and unfortunate voyagers
are lured into smiling and treacherous bays; knocked on the head with
outlandish war-clubs; and served up without any prelimary dressing. In
truth, so horrific and improbable are these accounts, that many sensible
and well-informed people will not believe that any cannibals exist; and
place every book of voyages which purports to give any account of them,
on the same shelf with Blue Beard and Jack the Giant-Killer. While
others, implicitly crediting the most extravagant fictions, firmly
believe that there are people in the world with tastes so depraved that
they would infinitely prefer a single mouthful of material humanity to
a good dinner of roast beef and plum pudding. But here, Truth, who loves
to be centrally located, is again found between the two extremes; for
cannibalism to a certain moderate extent is practised among several of
the primitive tribes in the Pacific, but it is upon the bodies of slain
enemies alone, and horrible and fearful as the custom is, immeasurably
as it is to be abhorred and condemned, still I assert that those who
indulge in it are in other respects humane and virtuous.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: For those interested in how the Typees managed to govern themselves, the narrator notes that he never witnessed anyone put on trial or accused of any wrongdoing. The Typees seem to govern themselves according to common-sense law, almost like an honor code. The narrator never sees a single quarrel during his whole stay in the valley. He thinks that people might get along well because they attach little importance to the idea of ownership. Although some families have larger huts than others , no one ever tries to purchase land, or to buy a banana tree, as Europeans would. Another striking quality is the general unanimity of most ideas. People rarely argue, it seems, because they always agree with one another. The Typees do not have a culture that hinges on ideological debate. Their social climate is peaceful and always agreeable. With such gentility, it is amazing, the narrator thinks, that Europeans believe these natives to be savages


prompt:
Chapter: THERE was no instance in which the social and kindly dispositions of the
Typees were more forcibly evinced than in the manner the conducted their
great fishing parties. Four times during my stay in the valley the young
men assembled near the full of the moon, and went together on these
excursions. As they were generally absent about forty-eight hours, I was
led to believe that they went out towards the open sea, some distance
from the bay. The Polynesians seldom use a hook and line, almost always
employing large well-made nets, most ingeniously fabricated from the
twisted fibres of a certain bark. I examined several of them which had
been spread to dry upon the beach at Nukuheva. They resemble very much
our own seines, and I should think they were nearly as durable.

All the South Sea Islanders are passionately fond of fish; but none
of them can be more so than the inhabitants of Typee. I could not
comprehend, therefore, why they so seldom sought it in their waters, for
it was only at stated times that the fishing parties were formed, and
these occasions were always looked forward to with no small degree of
interest.

During their absence the whole population of the place were in a
ferment, and nothing was talked of but 'pehee, pehee' (fish, fish).
Towards the time when they were expected to return the vocal telegraph
was put into operation--the inhabitants, who were scattered throughout
the length of the valley, leaped upon rocks and into trees, shouting
with delight at the thoughts of the anticipated treat. As soon as the
approach of the party was announced, there was a general rush of the
men towards the beach; some of them remaining, however, about the Ti in
order to get matters in readiness for the reception of the fish, which
were brought to the Taboo Groves in immense packages of leaves, each one
of them being suspended from a pole carried on the shoulders of two men.

I was present at the Ti on one of these occasions, and the sight was
most interesting. After all the packages had arrived, they were laid in
a row under the verandah of the building and opened.

The fish were all quite small, generally about the size of a herring,
and of every variety. About one-eighth of the whole being reserved
for the use of the Ti itself, the remainder was divided into numerous
smaller packages, which were immediately dispatched in every direction
to the remotest parts of the valley. Arrived at their destination, these
were in turn portioned out, and equally distributed among the various
houses of each particular district. The fish were under a strict Taboo,
until the distribution was completed, which seemed to be effected in the
most impartial manner. By the operation of this system every man, woman,
and child in the vale, were at one and the same time partaking of this
favourite article of food.

Once I remember the party arrived at midnight; but the unseasonableness
of the tour did not repress the impatience of the islanders. The
carriers dispatched from the Ti were to be seen hurrying in all
directions through the deep groves; each individual preceded by a boy
bearing a flaming torch of dried cocoanut boughs, which from time to
time was replenished from the materials scattered along the path. The
wild glare of these enormous flambeaux, lighting up with a startling
brilliancy the innermost recesses of the vale, and seen moving rapidly
along beneath the canopy of leaves, the savage shout of the excited
messengers sounding the news of their approach, which was answered
on all sides, and the strange appearance of their naked bodies, seen
against the gloomy background, produced altogether an effect upon my
mind that I shall long remember.

It was on this same occasion that Kory-Kory awakened me at the dead
hour of night, and in a sort of transport communicated the intelligence
contained in the words 'pehee perni' (fish come). As I happened to have
been in a remarkably sound and refreshing slumber, I could not imagine
why the information had not been deferred until morning, indeed, I felt
very much inclined to fly into a passion and box my valet's ears; but on
second thoughts I got quietly up, and on going outside the house was not
a little interested by the moving illumination which I beheld.

When old Marheyo received his share of the spoils, immediate
preparations were made for a midnight banquet; calabashes of poee-poee
were filled to the brim; green bread-fruit were roasted; and a huge cake
of 'amar' was cut up with a sliver of bamboo and laid out on an immense
banana-leaf.

At this supper we were lighted by several of the native tapers, held in
the hands of young girls. These tapers are most ingeniously made. There
is a nut abounding in the valley, called by the Typees 'armor', closely
resembling our common horse-chestnut. The shell is broken, and the
contents extracted whole. Any number of these are strung at pleasure
upon the long elastic fibre that traverses the branches of the cocoanut
tree. Some of these tapers are eight or ten feet in length; but being
perfectly flexible, one end is held in a coil, while the other is
lighted. The nut burns with a fitful bluish flame, and the oil that it
contains is exhausted in about ten minutes. As one burns down, the next
becomes ignited, and the ashes of the former are knocked into a cocoanut
shell kept for the purpose. This primitive candle requires continual
attention, and must be constantly held in the hand. The person so
employed marks the lapse of time by the number of nuts consumed, which
is easily learned by counting the bits of tappa distributed at regular
intervals along the string.

I grieve to state so distressing a fact, but the inhabitants of
Typee were in the habit of devouring fish much in the same way that
a civilized being would eat a radish, and without any more previous
preparation. They eat it raw; scales, bones, gills, and all the inside.
The fish is held by the tail, and the head being introduced into the
mouth, the animal disappears with a rapidity that would at first nearly
lead one to imagine it had been launched bodily down the throat.

Raw fish! Shall I ever forget my sensations when I first saw my island
beauty devour one. Oh, heavens! Fayaway, how could you ever have
contracted so vile a habit? However, after the first shock had subsided,
the custom grew less odious in my eyes, and I soon accustomed myself to
the sight. Let no one imagine, however, that the lovely Fayaway was in
the habit of swallowing great vulgar-looking fishes: oh, no; with her
beautiful small hand she would clasp a delicate, little, golden-hued
love of a fish and eat it as elegantly and as innocently as though it
were a Naples biscuit. But alas! it was after all a raw fish; and all I
can say is, that Fayaway ate it in a more ladylike manner than any other
girl of the valley.

When at Rome do as the Romans do, I held to be so good a proverb, that
being in Typee I made a point of doing as the Typees did. Thus I
ate poee-poee as they did; I walked about in a garb striking for its
simplicity; and I reposed on a community of couches; besides doing many
other things in conformity with their peculiar habits; but the farthest
I ever went in the way of conformity, was on several occasions to regale
myself with raw fish. These being remarkably tender, and quite small,
the undertaking was not so disagreeable in the main, and after a few
trials I positively began to relish them; however, I subjected them to a
slight operation with a knife previously to making my repast.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: The generosity of the Typees can easily be seen in the way they conduct their fishing parties. The Typees adore fish, but catching fresh fish is not done everyday because it involves natives carefully heading to the ocean. When it is done, however, everyone shares in the bounty. When the fishermen return with their catch, the fish are systematically doled out to the entire community with according to their family size. One night around midnight, the narrator is sleeping when Marheyo wakes him to say that the fish have come. Marheyo heads to Ti to claim his distribution. When he gets back, everyone in the house is roused. A fire is made and other food dishes are prepared. The fish are then eaten, in accordance with the local style--in their entirety, and raw. Even the gentle and beautiful Fayaway grasps numerous small fish in her hand and engulfs them in her mouth. The narrator, although initially repulsed, comes to also eat these raw whole fish and with time, he even comes to enjoy them


prompt:
Chapter: I THINK I must enlighten the reader a little about the natural history
of the valley.

Whence, in the name of Count Buffon and Baron Cuvier, came those dogs
that I saw in Typee? Dogs!--Big hairless rats rather; all with smooth,
shining speckled hides--fat sides, and very disagreeable faces. Whence
could they have come? That they were not the indigenous production of
the region, I am firmly convinced. Indeed they seemed aware of their
being interlopers, looking fairly ashamed, and always trying to hide
themselves in some dark corner. It was plain enough they did not feel at
home in the vale--that they wished themselves well out of it, and back
to the ugly country from which they must have come.

Scurvy curs! they were my abhorrence; I should have liked nothing
better than to have been the death of every one of them. In fact, on one
occasion, I intimated the propriety of a canine crusade to Mehevi; but
the benevolent king would not consent to it. He heard me very patiently;
but when I had finished, shook his head, and told me in confidence that
they were 'taboo'.

As for the animal that made the fortune of the ex-lord-mayor
Whittington, I shall never forget the day that I was lying in the house
about noon, everybody else being fast asleep; and happening to raise
my eyes, met those of a big black spectral cat, which sat erect in the
doorway, looking at me with its frightful goggling green orbs, like one
of those monstrous imps that torment some of Teniers' saints! I am one
of those unfortunate persons to whom the sight of these animals are, at
any time an insufferable annoyance.

Thus constitutionally averse to cats in general, the unexpected
apparition of this one in particular utterly confounded me. When I had
a little recovered from the fascination of its glance, I started up; the
cat fled, and emboldened by this, I rushed out of the house in pursuit;
but it had disappeared. It was the only time I ever saw one in the
valley, and how it got there I cannot imagine. It is just possible that
it might have escaped from one of the ships at Nukuheva. It was in vain
to seek information on the subject from the natives, since none of them
had seen the animal, the appearance of which remains a mystery to me to
this day.

Among the few animals which are to be met with in Typee, there was none
which I looked upon with more interest than a beautiful golden-hued
species of lizard. It measured perhaps five inches from head to tail,
and was most gracefully proportioned. Numbers of those creatures were
to be seen basking in the sunshine upon the thatching of the houses, and
multitudes at all hours of the day showed their glittering sides as they
ran frolicking between the spears of grass or raced in troops up and
down the tall shafts of the cocoanut trees. But the remarkable beauty
of these little animals and their lively ways were not their only claims
upon my admiration. They were perfectly tame and insensible to fear.
Frequently, after seating myself upon the ground in some shady place
during the heat of the day, I would be completely overrun with them.
If I brushed one off my arm, it would leap perhaps into my hair: when I
tried to frighten it away by gently pinching its leg, it would turn for
protection to the very hand that attacked it.

The birds are also remarkably tame. If you happened to see one perched
upon a branch within reach of your arm, and advanced towards it, it did
not fly away immediately, but waited quietly looking at you, until you
could almost touch it, and then took wing slowly, less alarmed at your
presence, it would seem, than desirous of removing itself from your
path. Had salt been less scarce in the valley than it was, this was the
very place to have gone birding with it. I remember that once, on an
uninhabited island of the Gallipagos, a bird alighted on my outstretched
arm, while its mate chirped from an adjoining tree. Its tameness, far
from shocking me, as a similar occurrence did Selkirk, imparted to
me the most exquisite thrill of delight I ever experienced, and with
somewhat of the same pleasure did I afterwards behold the birds and
lizards of the valley show their confidence in the kindliness of man.

Among the numerous afflictions which the Europeans have entailed upon
some of the natives of the South Seas, is the accidental introduction
among them of that enemy of all repose and ruffler of even tempers--the
Mosquito. At the Sandwich Islands and at two or three of the Society
group, there are now thriving colonies of these insects, who promise ere
long to supplant altogether the aboriginal sand-flies. They sting, buzz,
and torment, from one end of the year to the other, and by incessantly
exasperating the natives materially obstruct the benevolent labours of
the missionaries.

From this grievous visitation, however the Typees are as yet wholly
exempt; but its place is unfortunately in some degree supplied by the
occasional presence of a minute species of fly, which, without stinging,
is nevertheless productive of no little annoyance. The tameness of the
birds and lizards is as nothing when compared to the fearless confidence
of this insect. He will perch upon one of your eye-lashes, and go to
roost there if you do not disturb him, or force his way through your
hair, or along the cavity of the nostril, till you almost fancy he is
resolved to explore the very brain itself. On one occasion I was so
inconsiderate as to yawn while a number of them were hovering around
me. I never repeated the act. Some half-dozen darted into the open
apartment, and began walking about its ceiling; the sensation was
dreadful. I involuntarily closed my mouth, and the poor creatures being
enveloped in inner darkness, must in their consternation have stumbled
over my palate, and been precipitated into the gulf beneath. At any
rate, though I afterwards charitably held my mouth open for at least
five minutes, with a view of affording egress to the stragglers, none of
them ever availed themselves of the opportunity.

There are no wild animals of any kind on the island unless it be decided
that the natives themselves are such. The mountains and the interior
present to the eye nothing but silent solitudes, unbroken by the roar
of beasts of prey, and enlivened by few tokens even of minute animated
existence. There are no venomous reptiles, and no snakes of any
description to be found in any of the valleys.

In a company of Marquesan natives the weather affords no topic of
conversation. It can hardly be said to have any vicissitudes. The rainy
season, it is true, brings frequent showers, but they are intermitting
and refreshing. When an islander bound on some expedition rises from his
couch in the morning, he is never solicitous to peep out and see how the
sky looks, or ascertain from what quarter the wind blows. He is always
sure of a 'fine day', and the promise of a few genial showers he hails
with pleasure. There is never any of that 'remarkable weather' on the
islands which from time immemorial has been experienced in America, and
still continues to call forth the wondering conversational exclamations
of its elderly citizens. Nor do there even occur any of those eccentric
meteorological changes which elsewhere surprise us. In the valley of
Typee ice-creams would never be rendered less acceptable by sudden
frosts, nor would picnic parties be deferred on account of inauspicious
snowstorms: for there day follows day in one unvarying round of summer
and sunshine, and the whole year is one long tropical month of June just
melting into July.

It is this genial climate which causes the cocoanuts to flourish as they
do. This invaluable fruit, brought to perfection by the rich soil of the
Marquesas, and home aloft on a stately column more than a hundred feet
from the ground, would seem at first almost inaccessible to the simple
natives. Indeed the slender, smooth, and soaring shaft, without a single
limb or protuberance of any kind to assist one in mounting it, presents
an obstacle only to be overcome by the surprising agility and ingenuity
of the islanders. It might be supposed that their indolence would lead
them patiently to await the period when the ripened nuts, slowly parting
from their stems, fall one by one to the ground. This certainly would
be the case, were it not that the young fruit, encased in a soft green
husk, with the incipient meat adhering in a jelly-like pellicle to its
sides, and containing a bumper of the most delicious nectar, is what
they chiefly prize. They have at least twenty different terms to express
as many progressive stages in the growth of the nut. Many of them reject
the fruit altogether except at a particular period of its growth, which,
incredible as it may appear, they seemed to me to be able to ascertain
within an hour or two. Others are still more capricious in their
tastes; and after gathering together a heap of the nuts of all ages, and
ingeniously tapping them, will first sip from one and then from another,
as fastidiously as some delicate wine-bibber experimenting glass in hand
among his dusty demi-johns of different vintages.

Some of the young men, with more flexible frames than their comrades,
and perhaps with more courageous souls, had a way of walking up
the trunk of the cocoanut trees which to me seemed little less than
miraculous; and when looking at them in the act, I experienced that
curious perplexity a child feels when he beholds a fly moving feet
uppermost along a ceiling.

I will endeavour to describe the way in which Narnee, a noble young
chief, sometimes performed this feat for my peculiar gratification; but
his preliminary performances must also be recorded. Upon my signifying
my desire that he should pluck me the young fruit of some particular
tree, the handsome savage, throwing himself into a sudden attitude of
surprise, feigns astonishment at the apparent absurdity of the request.
Maintaining this position for a moment, the strange emotions depicted on
his countenance soften down into one of humorous resignation to my will,
and then looking wistfully up to the tufted top of the tree, he
stands on tip-toe, straining his neck and elevating his arm, as though
endeavouring to reach the fruit from the ground where he stands. As
if defeated in this childish attempt, he now sinks to the earth
despondingly, beating his breast in well-acted despair; and then,
starting to his feet all at once, and throwing back his head, raises
both hands, like a school-boy about to catch a falling ball. After
continuing this for a moment or two, as if in expectation that the fruit
was going to be tossed down to him by some good spirit in the tree-top,
he turns wildly round in another fit of despair, and scampers off to the
distance of thirty or forty yards. Here he remains awhile, eyeing the
tree, the very picture of misery; but the next moment, receiving, as it
were, a flash of inspiration, he rushes again towards it, and clasping
both arms about the trunk, with one elevated a little above the other,
he presses the soles of his feet close together against the tree,
extending his legs from it until they are nearly horizontal, and his
body becomes doubled into an arch; then, hand over hand and foot over
foot, he rises from the earth with steady rapidity, and almost before
you are aware of it, has gained the cradled and embowered nest of nuts,
and with boisterous glee flings the fruit to the ground.

This mode of walking the tree is only practicable where the trunk
declines considerably from the perpendicular. This, however, is almost
always the case; some of the perfectly straight shafts of the trees
leaning at an angle of thirty degrees.

The less active among the men, and many of the children of the valley
have another method of climbing. They take a broad and stout piece of
bark, and secure each end of it to their ankles, so that when the feet
thus confined are extended apart, a space of little more than twelve
inches is left between them. This contrivance greatly facilitates
the act of climbing. The band pressed against the tree, and closely
embracing it, yields a pretty firm support; while with the arms clasped
about the trunk, and at regular intervals sustaining the body, the feet
are drawn up nearly a yard at a time, and a corresponding elevation of
the hands immediately succeeds. In this way I have seen little children,
scarcely five years of age, fearlessly climbing the slender pole of
a young cocoanut tree, and while hanging perhaps fifty feet from the
ground, receiving the plaudits of their parents beneath, who clapped
their hands, and encouraged them to mount still higher.

What, thought I, on first witnessing one of these exhibitions, would
the nervous mothers of America and England say to a similar display of
hardihood in any of their children? The Lacedemonian nation might have
approved of it, but most modern dames would have gone into hysterics at
the sight.

At the top of the cocoanut tree the numerous branches, radiating on
all sides from a common centre, form a sort of green and waving
basket, between the leaflets of which you just discern the nuts thickly
clustering together, and on the loftier trees looking no bigger from
the ground than bunches of grapes. I remember one adventurous little
fellow--Too-Too was the rascal's name--who had built himself a sort of
aerial baby-house in the picturesque tuft of a tree adjoining Marheyo's
habitation. He used to spend hours there,--rustling among the branches,
and shouting with delight every time the strong gusts of wind rushing
down from the mountain side, swayed to and fro the tall and flexible
column on which he was perched. Whenever I heard Too-Too's musical voice
sounding strangely to the ear from so great a height, and beheld him
peeping down upon me from out his leafy covert, he always recalled to my
mind Dibdin's lines--

    'There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft,
     To look out for the life of poor Jack.'

Birds--bright and beautiful birds--fly over the valley of Typee. You
see them perched aloft among the immovable boughs of the majestic
bread-fruit trees, or gently swaying on the elastic branches of the
Omoo; skimming over the palmetto thatching of the bamboo huts; passing
like spirits on the wing through the shadows of the grove, and sometimes
descending into the bosom of the valley in gleaming flights from the
mountains. Their plumage is purple and azure, crimson and white, black
and gold; with bills of every tint: bright bloody red, jet black, and
ivory white, and their eyes are bright and sparkling; they go sailing
through the air in starry throngs; but, alas! the spell of dumbness is
upon them all--there is not a single warbler in the valley!

I know not why it was, but the sight of these birds, generally the
ministers of gladness, always oppressed me with melancholy. As in their
dumb beauty they hovered by me whilst I was walking, or looked down upon
me with steady curious eyes from out the foliage, I was almost inclined
to fancy that they knew they were gazing upon a stranger, and that they
commiserated his fate.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: The Typee valley has dogs in it that resemble large hairless rats. The narrator asks Mehevi to kill some of them, but Mehevi tells him it is taboo to do so. One day, the narrator wakes to find a black domestic cat near him and has no idea how the creature came to live on the island. Many golden lizards do live on the island, but no snakes. There also are no mosquitoes, even though the movement of Europeans throughout the South Pacific has been bringing them to different islands. Beautiful birds dot the landscape and are remarkably tame, often landing on one's arm or shoulder. The sole annoying creature is a small black fly that frequently buzzes in one's face, although it does not sting. Although it rains frequently, the climate is ideal. It always resembles the months of a European June and July. Because of the congenial climate, coconuts bloom all year round. Young men deftly scale the branchless sides of the coconut trees to pick the fruit whenever they want


prompt:
Chapter: IN one of my strolls with Kory-Kory, in passing along the border of a
thick growth of bushes, my attention was arrested by a singular noise.
On entering the thicket I witnessed for the first time the operation of
tattooing as performed by these islanders.

I beheld a man extended flat upon his back on the ground, and, despite
the forced composure of his countenance, it was evident that he was
suffering agony. His tormentor bent over him, working away for all the
world like a stone-cutter with mallet and chisel. In one hand he held a
short slender stick, pointed with a shark's tooth, on the upright end of
which he tapped with a small hammer-like piece of wood, thus puncturing
the skin, and charging it with the colouring matter in which the
instrument was dipped. A cocoanut shell containing this fluid was placed
upon the ground. It is prepared by mixing with a vegetable juice the
ashes of the 'armor', or candle-nut, always preserved for the purpose.
Beside the savage, and spread out upon a piece of soiled tappa, were
a great number of curious black-looking little implements of bone and
wood, used in the various divisions of his art. A few terminated in a
single fine point, and, like very delicate pencils, were employed in
giving the finishing touches, or in operating upon the more sensitive
portions of the body, as was the case in the present instance. Others
presented several points distributed in a line, somewhat resembling the
teeth of a saw. These were employed in the coarser parts of the work,
and particularly in pricking in straight marks. Some presented their
points disposed in small figures, and being placed upon the body,
were, by a single blow of the hammer, made to leave their indelible
impression. I observed a few the handles of which were mysteriously
curved, as if intended to be introduced into the orifice of the ear,
with a view perhaps of beating the tattoo upon the tympanum. Altogether
the sight of these strange instruments recalled to mind that display
of cruel-looking mother-of-pearl-handled things which one sees in their
velvet-lined cases at the elbow of a dentist.

The artist was not at this time engaged on an original sketch, his
subject being a venerable savage, whose tattooing had become somewhat
faded with age and needed a few repairs, and accordingly he was merely
employed in touching up the works of some of the old masters of the
Typee school, as delineated upon the human canvas before him. The parts
operated upon were the eyelids, where a longitudinal streak, like the
one which adorned Kory-Kory, crossed the countenance of the victim.

In spite of all the efforts of the poor old man, sundry twitchings and
screwings of the muscles of the face denoted the exquisite sensibility
of these shutters to the windows of his soul, which he was now having
repainted. But the artist, with a heart as callous as that of an army
surgeon, continued his performance, enlivening his labours with a wild
chant, tapping away the while as merrily as a woodpecker.

So deeply engaged was he in his work, that he had not observed our
approach, until, after having, enjoyed an unmolested view of the
operation, I chose to attract his attention. As soon as he perceived me,
supposing that I sought him in his professional capacity, he seized hold
of me in a paroxysm of delight, and was an eagerness to begin the work.
When, however, I gave him to understand that he had altogether mistaken
my views, nothing could exceed his grief and disappointment. But
recovering from this, he seemed determined not to credit my assertion,
and grasping his implements, he flourished them about in fearful
vicinity to my face, going through an imaginary performance of his art,
and every moment bursting into some admiring exclamation at the beauty
of his designs.

Horrified at the bare thought of being rendered hideous for life if the
wretch were to execute his purpose upon me, I struggled to get away
from him, while Kory-Kory, turning traitor, stood by, and besought me
to comply with the outrageous request. On my reiterated refusals the
excited artist got half beside himself, and was overwhelmed with sorrow
at losing so noble an opportunity of distinguishing himself in his
profession.

The idea of engrafting his tattooing upon my white skin filled him
with all a painter's enthusiasm; again and again he gazed into my
countenance, and every fresh glimpse seemed to add to the vehemence
of his ambition. Not knowing to what extremities he might proceed,
and shuddering at the ruin he might inflict upon my figure-head, I now
endeavoured to draw off his attention from it, and holding out my arm
in a fit of desperation, signed to him to commence operations. But he
rejected the compromise indignantly, and still continued his attack on
my face, as though nothing short of that would satisfy him. When his
forefinger swept across my features, in laying out the borders of those
parallel bands which were to encircle my countenance, the flesh fairly
crawled upon my bones. At last, half wild with terror and indignation, I
succeeded in breaking away from the three savages, and fled towards old
Marheyo's house, pursued by the indomitable artist, who ran after me,
implements in hand. Kory-Kory, however, at last interfered and drew him
off from the chase.

This incident opened my eyes to a new danger; and I now felt convinced
that in some luckless hour I should be disfigured in such a manner as
never more to have the FACE to return to my countrymen, even should an
opportunity offer.

These apprehensions were greatly increased by the desire which King
Mehevi and several of the inferior chiefs now manifested that I should
be tattooed. The pleasure of the king was first signified to me some
three days after my casual encounter with Karky the artist. Heavens!
what imprecations I showered upon that Karky. Doubtless he had plotted a
conspiracy against me and my countenance, and would never rest until his
diabolical purpose was accomplished. Several times I met him in various
parts of the valley, and, invariably, whenever he descried me, he came
running after me with his mallet and chisel, flourishing them about my
face as if he longed to begin. What an object he would have made of me!

When the king first expressed his wish to me, I made known to him my
utter abhorrence of the measure, and worked myself into such a state of
excitement, that he absolutely stared at me in amazement. It evidently
surpassed his majesty's comprehension how any sober-minded and
sensible individual could entertain the least possible objection to so
beautifying an operation.

Soon afterwards he repeated his suggestion, and meeting with a little
repulse, showed some symptoms of displeasure at my obduracy. On his a
third time renewing his request, I plainly perceived that something must
be done, or my visage was ruined for ever; I therefore screwed up my
courage to the sticking point, and declared my willingness to have both
arms tattooed from just above the wrist to the shoulder. His majesty was
greatly pleased at the proposition, and I was congratulating myself with
having thus compromised the matter, when he intimated that as a thing of
course my face was first to undergo the operation. I was fairly driven
to despair; nothing but the utter ruin of my 'face divine', as the
poets call it, would, I perceived, satisfy the inexorable Mehevi and his
chiefs, or rather, that infernal Karky, for he was at the bottom of it
all.

The only consolation afforded me was a choice of patterns: I was at
perfect liberty to have my face spanned by three horizontal bars, after
the fashion of my serving-man's; or to have as many oblique stripes
slanting across it; or if, like a true courtier, I chose to model my
style on that of royalty, I might wear a sort of freemason badge upon
my countenance in the shape of a mystic triangle. However, I would have
none of these, though the king most earnestly impressed upon my mind
that my choice was wholly unrestricted. At last, seeing my unconquerable
repugnance, he ceased to importune me.

But not so some other of the savages. Hardly a day passed but I was
subjected to their annoying requests, until at last my existence
became a burden to me; the pleasures I had previously enjoyed no longer
afforded me delight, and all my former desire to escape from the valley
now revived with additional force.

A fact which I soon afterwards learned augmented my apprehension. The
whole system of tattooing was, I found, connected with their religion;
and it was evident, therefore, that they were resolved to make a convert
of me.

In the decoration of the chiefs it seems to be necessary to exercise the
most elaborate pencilling; while some of the inferior natives looked
as if they had been daubed over indiscriminately with a house-painter's
brush. I remember one fellow who prided himself hugely upon a great
oblong patch, placed high upon his back, and who always reminded me of
a man with a blister of Spanish flies, stuck between his shoulders.
Another whom I frequently met had the hollow of his eyes tattooed in two
regular squares and his visual organs being remarkably brilliant, they
gleamed forth from out this setting like a couple of diamonds inserted
in ebony.

Although convinced that tattooing was a religious observance, still the
nature of the connection between it and the superstitious idolatry of
the people was a point upon which I could never obtain any information.
Like the still more important system of the 'Taboo', it always appeared
inexplicable to me.

There is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the religious
institutions of most of the Polynesian islands, and in all exists the
mysterious 'Taboo', restricted in its uses to a greater or less extent.
So strange and complex in its arrangements is this remarkable system,
that I have in several cases met with individuals who, after residing
for years among the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable
knowledge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable to
give any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I was
in the Typee valley, I perceived every hour the effects of this
all-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it. Those
effects were, indeed, wide-spread and universal, pervading the most
important as well as the minutest transactions of life. The savage, in
short, lives in the continual observance of its dictates, which guide
and control every action of his being.

For several days after entering the valley I had been saluted at least
fifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic word 'Taboo'
shrieked in my ears, at some gross violation of its provisions, of which
I had unconsciously been guilty. The day after our arrival I happened to
hand some tobacco to Toby over the head of a native who sat between
us. He started up, as if stung by an adder; while the whole company,
manifesting an equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out
'Taboo!' I never again perpetrated a similar piece of ill-manners,
which, indeed, was forbidden by the canons of good breeding, as well as
by the mandates of the taboo. But it was not always so easy to perceive
wherein you had contravened the spirit of this institution. I was many
times called to order, if I may use the phrase, when I could not for the
life of me conjecture what particular offence I had committed.

One day I was strolling through a secluded portion of the valley, and
hearing the musical sound of the cloth-mallet at a little distance, I
turned down a path that conducted me in a few moments to a house where
there were some half-dozen girls employed in making tappa. This was an
operation I had frequently witnessed, and had handled the bark in all
the various stages of its preparation. On the present occasion the
females were intent upon their occupation, and after looking up and
talking gaily to me for a few moments, they resumed their employment. I
regarded them for a while in silence, and then carelessly picking up a
handful of the material that lay around, proceeded unconsciously to pick
it apart. While thus engaged, I was suddenly startled by a scream, like
that of a whole boarding-school of young ladies just on the point of
going into hysterics. Leaping up with the idea of seeing a score of
Happar warriors about to perform anew the Sabine atrocity, I found
myself confronted by the company of girls, who, having dropped their
work, stood before me with starting eyes, swelling bosoms, and fingers
pointed in horror towards me.

Thinking that some venomous reptile must be concealed in the bark which
I held in my hand, I began cautiously to separate and examine it. Whilst
I did so the horrified girls re-doubled their shrieks. Their wild cries
and frightened motions actually alarmed me, and throwing down the tappa,
I was about to rush from the house, when in the same instant their
clamours ceased, and one of them, seizing me by the arm, pointed to the
broken fibres that had just fallen from my grasp, and screamed in my
ears the fatal word Taboo!

I subsequently found out that the fabric they were engaged in making was
of a peculiar kind, destined to be worn on the heads of the females, and
through every stage of its manufacture was guarded by a rigorous taboo,
which interdicted the whole masculine gender from even so much as
touching it.

Frequently in walking through the groves I observed bread-fruit and
cocoanut trees, with a wreath of leaves twined in a peculiar fashion
about their trunks. This was the mark of the taboo. The trees
themselves, their fruit, and even the shadows they cast upon the ground,
were consecrated by its presence. In the same way a pipe, which the king
had bestowed upon me, was rendered sacred in the eyes of the natives,
none of whom could I ever prevail upon to smoke from it. The bowl was
encircled by a woven band of grass, somewhat resembling those Turks'
heads occasionally worked in the handles of our whip-stalks.

A similar badge was once braided about my wrist by the royal hand
of Mehevi himself, who, as soon as he had concluded the operation,
pronounced me 'Taboo'. This occurred shortly after Toby's disappearance;
and, were it not that from the first moment I had entered the valley
the natives had treated me with uniform kindness, I should have supposed
that their conduct afterwards was to be ascribed to the fact that I had
received this sacred investiture.

The capricious operations of the taboo are not its least remarkable
feature: to enumerate them all would be impossible. Black hogs--infants
to a certain age--women in an interesting situation--young men while the
operation of tattooing their faces is going on--and certain parts of the
valley during the continuance of a shower--are alike fenced about by the
operation of the taboo.

I witnessed a striking instance of its effects in the bay of Tior,
my visit to which place has been alluded to in a former part of this
narrative. On that occasion our worthy captain formed one of the party.
He was a most insatiable sportsman. Outward bound, and off the pitch of
Cape Horn, he used to sit on the taffrail, and keep the steward loading
three or four old fowling pieces, with which he would bring down
albatrosses, Cape pigeons, jays, petrels, and divers other marine fowl,
who followed chattering in our wake. The sailors were struck aghast at
his impiety, and one and all attributed our forty days' beating about
that horrid headland to his sacrilegious slaughter of these inoffensive
birds.

At Tior he evinced the same disregard for the religious prejudices of
the islanders, as he had previously shown for the superstitions of the
sailors. Having heard that there were a considerable number of fowls in
the valley the progeny of some cocks and hens accidentally left there by
an English vessel, and which, being strictly tabooed, flew about almost
in a wild state--he determined to break through all restraints, and
be the death of them. Accordingly, he provided himself with a most
formidable looking gun, and announced his landing on the beach by
shooting down a noble cock that was crowing what proved to be his own
funeral dirge, on the limb of an adjoining tree. 'Taboo', shrieked the
affrighted savages. 'Oh, hang your taboo,' says the nautical sportsman;
'talk taboo to the marines'; and bang went the piece again, and down
came another victim. At this the natives ran scampering through the
groves, horror-struck at the enormity of the act.

All that afternoon the rocky sides of the valley rang with successive
reports, and the superb plumage of many a beautiful fowl was ruffled by
the fatal bullet. Had it not been that the French admiral, with a large
party, was then in the glen, I have no doubt that the natives, although
their tribe was small and dispirited, would have inflicted summary
vengeance upon the man who thus outraged their most sacred institutions;
as it was, they contrived to annoy him not a little.

Thirsting with his exertions, the skipper directed his steps to
a stream; but the savages, who had followed at a little distance,
perceiving his object, rushed towards him and forced him away from its
bank--his lips would have polluted it. Wearied at last, he sought to
enter a house that he might rest for a while on the mats; its inmates
gathered tumultuously about the door and denied him admittance. He
coaxed and blustered by turns, but in vain; the natives were neither
to be intimidated nor appeased, and as a final resort he was obliged
to call together his boat's crew, and pull away from what he termed the
most infernal place he ever stepped upon.

Lucky was it for him and for us that we were not honoured on our
departure by a salute of stones from the hands of the exasperated Tiors.
In this way, on the neighbouring island of Ropo, were killed, but a few
weeks previously, and for a nearly similar offence, the master and three
of the crew of the K---.

I cannot determine with anything approaching to certainty, what power
it is that imposes the taboo. When I consider the slight disparity
of condition among the islanders--the very limited and inconsiderable
prerogatives of the king and chiefs--and the loose and indefinite
functions of the priesthood, most of whom were hardly to be
distinguished from the rest of their countrymen, I am wholly at a loss
where to look for the authority which regulates this potent institution.
It is imposed upon something today, and withdrawn tomorrow; while its
operations in other cases are perpetual. Sometimes its restrictions only
affect a single individual--sometimes a particular family--sometimes
a whole tribe; and in a few instances they extend not merely over the
various clans on a single island, but over all the inhabitants of an
entire group. In illustration of this latter peculiarity, I may cite
the law which forbids a female to enter a canoe--a prohibition which
prevails upon all the northern Marquesas Islands.

The word itself (taboo) is used in more than one signification. It
is sometimes used by a parent to his child, when in the exercise
of parental authority he forbids it to perform a particular action.
Anything opposed to the ordinary customs of the islanders, although not
expressly prohibited, is said to be 'taboo'.

The Typee language is one very difficult to be acquired; it bears a
close resemblance to the other Polynesian dialects, all of which show a
common origin. The duplication of words, as 'lumee lumee', 'poee poee',
'muee muee', is one of their peculiar features. But another, and a more
annoying one, is the different senses in which one and the same word is
employed; its various meanings all have a certain connection, which
only makes the matter more puzzling. So one brisk, lively little word
is obliged, like a servant in a poor family, to perform all sorts of
duties; for instance, one particular combination of syllables expresses
the ideas of sleep, rest, reclining, sitting, leaning, and all other
things anywise analogous thereto, the particular meaning being shown
chiefly by a variety of gestures and the eloquent expression of the
countenance.

The intricacy of these dialects is another peculiarity. In the
Missionary College at Lahainaluna, on Mowee, one of the Sandwich
Islands, I saw a tabular exhibition of a Hawiian verb, conjugated
through all its moods and tenses. It covered the side of a considerable
apartment, and I doubt whether Sir William Jones himself would not have
despaired of mastering it.

Q: Can you write an appropriate summary of the above paragraphs?
A:

completion: In one of his strolls with Kory-Kory, the narrator comes across the house of the tattoo artist. A man lies under the artist, in evident pain from the needle pressing into his skin. When the narrator enters the hut to watch, the tattoo artist, named Karky, becomes elated. He gets up and gestures for the narrator to come sit down and be tattooed. Under no circumstances does the narrator want to be tattooed. When Kory-Kory joins forces to get the narrator onto the bench for a tattoo, the narrator physically shoves them out of the way and runs from the hut. Karky and Kory-Kory follow him, but eventually Karky leaves him alone. Sometime later, Chief Mehevi says that Tommo needs to get tattooed. Despite the narrator's extreme distress at the thought of a tattoo, when the subject keeps coming up, he proposes a tattoo to his arms. Mehevi says that will be possible, after they have tattooed his face. Tommo cannot stand the idea of having his face marked. His intense distress grants him another reprieve from the act, even though the natives around him all want it done.