Typee: A Romance of the South Seas

by Herman Melville

  CHAPTER FOUR

  STATE OF AFFAIRS ABOARD THE SHIP--CONTENTS OF HER LARDER--LENGTH OFSOUTH SEAMEN'S VOYAGES--ACCOUNT OF A FLYING WHALE-MAN--DETERMINATIONTO LEAVE THE VESSEL--THE BAY OF NUKUHEVA--THE TYPEES--INVASION OF THEIRVALLEY BY PORTER--REFLECTIONS--GLEN OF TIOR--INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE OLDKING AND THE FRENCH ADMIRAL

  OUR ship had not been many days in the harbour of Nukuheva before I cameto the determination of leaving her. That my reasons for resolving totake this step were numerous and weighty, may be inferred from the factthat I chose rather to risk my fortunes among the savages of the islandthan to endure another voyage on board the Dolly. To use the concise,pointblank phrase of the sailors. I had made up my mind to 'run away'.Now as a meaning is generally attached to these two words no wayflattering to the individual to whom they are applied, it behovesme, for the sake of my own character, to offer some explanation of myconduct.

  When I entered on board the Dolly, I signed as a matter of course theship's articles, thereby voluntarily engaging and legally bindingmyself to serve in a certain capacity for the period of the voyage;and, special considerations apart, I was of course bound to fulfill theagreement. But in all contracts, if one party fail to perform his shareof the compact, is not the other virtually absolved from his liability?Who is there who will not answer in the affirmative?

  Having settled the principle, then, let me apply it to the particularcase in question. In numberless instances had not only the implied butthe specified conditions of the articles been violated on the part ofthe ship in which I served. The usage on board of her was tyrannical;the sick had been inhumanly neglected; the provisions had been doled outin scanty allowance; and her cruises were unreasonably protracted. Thecaptain was the author of the abuses; it was in vain to think that hewould either remedy them, or alter his conduct, which was arbitraryand violent in the extreme. His prompt reply to all complaints andremonstrances was--the butt-end of a handspike, so convincinglyadministered as effectually to silence the aggrieved party.

  To whom could we apply for redress? We had left both law and equityon the other side of the Cape; and unfortunately, with a very fewexceptions, our crew was composed of a parcel of dastardly andmeanspirited wretches, divided among themselves, and only united inenduring without resistance the unmitigated tyranny of the captain.It would have been mere madness for any two or three of the number,unassisted by the rest, to attempt making a stand against his illusage. They would only have called down upon themselves the particularvengeance of this 'Lord of the Plank', and subjected their shipmates toadditional hardships.

  But, after all, these things could have been endured awhile, had weentertained the hope of being speedily delivered from them by the duecompletion of the term of our servitude. But what a dismal prospectawaited us in this quarter! The longevity of Cape Horn whaling voyagesis proverbial, frequently extending over a period of four or five years.

  Some long-haired, bare-necked youths, who, forced by the unitedinfluences of Captain Marryatt and hard times, embark at Nantucket fora pleasure excursion to the Pacific, and whose anxious mothers providethem, with bottled milk for the occasion, oftentimes return veryrespectable middle-aged gentlemen.

  The very preparations made for one of these expeditions are enough tofrighten one. As the vessel carries out no cargo, her hold is filledwith provisions for her own consumption. The owners, who officiateas caterers for the voyage, supply the larder with an abundanceof dainties. Delicate morsels of beef and pork, cut on scientificprinciples from every part of the animal, and of all conceivable shapesand sizes, are carefully packed in salt, and stored away in barrels;affording a never-ending variety in their different degrees oftoughness, and in the peculiarities of their saline properties. Choiceold water too, decanted into stout six-barrel-casks, and two pints ofwhich is allowed every day to each soul on board; together with amplestore of sea-bread, previously reduced to a state of petrifaction, witha view to preserve it either from decay or consumption in the ordinarymode, are likewise provided for the nourishment and gastronomicenjoyment of the crew.

  But not to speak of the quality of these articles of sailors' fare,the abundance in which they are put onboard a whaling vessel is almostincredible. Oftentimes, when we had occasion to break out in the hold,and I beheld the successive tiers of casks and barrels, whose contentswere all destined to be consumed in due course by the ship's company, myheart has sunk within me.

  Although, as a general case, a ship unlucky in falling in withwhales continues to cruise after them until she has barely sufficientprovisions remaining to take her home, turning round then quietly andmaking the best of her way to her friends, yet there are instances wheneven this natural obstacle to the further prosecution of the voyageis overcome by headstrong captains, who, bartering the fruits of theirhard-earned toils for a new supply of provisions in some of the portsof Chili or Peru, begin the voyage afresh with unabated zeal andperseverance. It is in vain that the owners write urgent letters to himto sail for home, and for their sake to bring back the ship, since itappears he can put nothing in her. Not he. He has registered a vow: hewill fill his vessel with good sperm oil, or failing to do so, neveragain strike Yankee soundings.

  I heard of one whaler, which after many years' absence was given up forlost. The last that had been heard of her was a shadowy report of herhaving touched at some of those unstable islands in the far Pacific,whose eccentric wanderings are carefully noted in each new editionof the South-Sea charts. After a long interval, however, 'ThePerseverance'--for that was her name--was spoken somewhere in thevicinity of the ends of the earth, cruising along as leisurely as ever,her sails all bepatched and be quilted with rope-yarns, her spars fishedwith old pipe staves, and her rigging knotted and spliced in everypossible direction. Her crew was composed of some twenty venerableGreenwich-pensioner-looking old salts, who just managed to hobble aboutdeck. The ends of all the running ropes, with the exception of thesignal halyards and poop-down-haul, were rove through snatch-blocks, andled to the capstan or windlass, so that not a yard was braced or a sailset without the assistance of machinery.

  Her hull was encrusted with barnacles, which completely encased her.Three pet sharks followed in her wake, and every day came alongside toregale themselves from the contents of the cook's bucket, which werepitched over to them. A vast shoal of bonetas and albicores always kepther company.

  Such was the account I heard of this vessel and the remembrance of italways haunted me; what eventually became of her I never learned; atany rate: he never reached home, and I suppose she is still regularlytacking twice in the twenty-four hours somewhere off Desolate Island, orthe Devil's-Tail Peak.

  Having said thus much touching the usual length of these voyages, when Iinform the reader that ours had as it were just commenced, we being onlyfifteen months out, and even at that time hailed as a late arrival andboarded for news, he will readily perceive that there was little toencourage one in looking forward to the future, especially as I hadalways had a presentiment that we should make an unfortunate voyage, andour experience so far had justified the expectation.

  I may here state, and on my faith as an honest man, that though morethan three years have elapsed since I left this same identical vessel,she still continues; in the Pacific, and but a few days since I sawher reported in the papers as having touched at the Sandwich Islandsprevious to going on the coast of Japan.

  But to return to my narrative. Placed in these circumstances then, withno prospect of matters mending if I remained aboard the Dolly, I at oncemade up my mind to leave her: to be sure it was rather an ingloriousthing to steal away privily from those at whose hands I had receivedwrongs and outrages that I could not resent; but how was such a courseto be avoided when it was the only alternative left me? Having madeup my mind, I proceeded to acquire all the information I could obtainrelating to the island and its inhabitants, with a view of shaping myplans of escape accordingly. The result of these inquiries I will nowstate, in order that the ensuing narrative may be the bette
r understood.

  The bay of Nukuheva in which we were then lying is an expanse ofwater not unlike in figure the space included within the limits of ahorse-shoe. It is, perhaps, nine miles in circumference. You approachit from the sea by a narrow entrance, flanked on each side by two smalltwin islets which soar conically to the height of some five hundredfeet. From these the shore recedes on both hands, and describes a deepsemicircle.

  From the verge of the water the land rises uniformly on all sides, withgreen and sloping acclivities, until from gently rolling hill-sidesand moderate elevations it insensibly swells into lofty and majesticheights, whose blue outlines, ranged all around, close in the view. Thebeautiful aspect of the shore is heightened by deep and romanticglens, which come down to it at almost equal distances, all apparentlyradiating from a common centre, and the upper extremities of which arelost to the eye beneath the shadow of the mountains. Down each of theselittle valleys flows a clear stream, here and there assuming the formof a slender cascade, then stealing invisibly along until it burstsupon the sight again in larger and more noisy waterfalls, and at lastdemurely wanders along to the sea.

  The houses of the natives, constructed of the yellow bamboo, tastefullytwisted together in a kind of wicker-work, and thatched with the longtapering leaves of the palmetto, are scattered irregularly along thesevalleys beneath the shady branches of the cocoanut trees.

  Nothing can exceed the imposing scenery of this bay. Viewed from ourship as she lay at anchor in the middle of the harbour, it presented theappearance of a vast natural amphitheatre in decay, and overgrown withvines, the deep glens that furrowed it's sides appearing like enormousfissures caused by the ravages of time. Very often when lost inadmiration at its beauty, I have experienced a pang of regret that ascene so enchanting should be hidden from the world in these remoteseas, and seldom meet the eyes of devoted lovers of nature.

  Besides this bay the shores of the island are indented by several otherextensive inlets, into which descend broad and verdant valleys. Theseare inhabited by as many distinct tribes of savages, who, althoughspeaking kindred dialects of a common language, and having the samereligion and laws, have from time immemorial waged hereditary warfareagainst each other. The intervening mountains generally two or threethousand feet above the level of the sea geographically define theterritories of each of these hostile tribes, who never cross them, saveon some expedition of war or plunder. Immediately adjacent to Nukuheva,and only separated from it by the mountains seen from the harbour, liesthe lovely valley of Happar, whose inmates cherish the most friendlyrelations with the inhabitants of Nukuheva. On the other side of Happar,and closely adjoining it, is the magnificent valley of the dreadedTypees, the unappeasable enemies of both these tribes.

  These celebrated warriors appear to inspire the other islanders withunspeakable terrors. Their very name is a frightful one; for the word'Typee' in the Marquesan dialect signifies a lover of human flesh. Itis rather singular that the title should have been bestowed upon themexclusively, inasmuch as the natives of all this group are irreclaimablecannibals. The name may, perhaps, have been given to denote the peculiarferocity of this clan, and to convey a special stigma along with it.

  These same Typees enjoy a prodigious notoriety all over the islands. Thenatives of Nukuheva would frequently recount in pantomime to our ship'scompany their terrible feats, and would show the marks of wounds theyhad received in desperate encounters with them. When ashore they wouldtry to frighten us by pointing, to one of their own number, and callinghim a Typee, manifesting no little surprise that we did not take to ourheels at so terrible an announcement. It was quite amusing, too, to seewith what earnestness they disclaimed all cannibal propensities on theirown part, while they denounced their enemies--the Typees--as inveterategourmandizers of human flesh; but this is a peculiarity to which I shallhereafter have occasion to allude.

  Although I was convinced that the inhabitants of our bay were as arrantcannibals as any of the other tribes on the island, still I could notbut feel a particular and most unqualified repugnance to the aforesaidTypees. Even before visiting the Marquesas, I had heard from men whohad touched at the group on former voyages some revolting stories inconnection with these savages; and fresh in my remembrance was theadventure of the master of the Katherine, who only a few monthsprevious, imprudently venturing into this bay in an armed boat for thepurpose of barter, was seized by the natives, carried back a littledistance into their valley, and was only saved from a cruel death by theintervention of a young girl, who facilitated his escape by night alongthe beach to Nukuheva.

  I had heard too of an English vessel that many years ago, after a wearycruise, sought to enter the bay of Nukuheva, and arriving within two orthree miles of the land, was met by a large canoe filled with natives,who offered to lead the way to the place of their destination. Thecaptain, unacquainted with the localities of the island, joyfullyacceded to the proposition--the canoe paddled on, the ship followed. Shewas soon conducted to a beautiful inlet, and dropped her anchor inits waters beneath the shadows of the lofty shore. That same night theperfidious Typees, who had thus inveigled her into their fatal bay,flocked aboard the doomed vessel by hundreds, and at a given signalmurdered every soul on board.

  I shall never forget the observation of one of our crew as we werepassing slowly by the entrance of the bay in our way to Nukuheva. As westood gazing over the side at the verdant headlands, Ned, pointingwith his hand in the direction of the treacherous valley, exclaimed,'There--there's Typee. Oh, the bloody cannibals, what a meal they'd makeof us if we were to take it into our heads to land! but they say theydon't like sailor's flesh, it's too salt. I say, maty, how should youlike to be shoved ashore there, eh?' I little thought, as I shudderedat the question, that in the space of a few weeks I should actually be acaptive in that self-same valley.

  The French, although they had gone through the ceremony of hoistingtheir colours for a few hours at all the principal places of thegroup, had not as yet visited the bay of Typee, anticipating a fierceresistance on the part of the savages there, which for the present atleast they wished to avoid. Perhaps they were not a little influenced inthe adoption of this unusual policy from a recollection of the warlikereception given by the Typees to the forces of Captain Porter, aboutthe year 1814, when that brave and accomplished officer endeavoured tosubjugate the clan merely to gratify the mortal hatred of his allies theNukuhevas and Happars.

  On that occasion I have been told that a considerable detachment ofsailors and marines from the frigate Essex, accompanied by at least twothousand warriors of Happar and Nukuheva, landed in boats and canoes atthe head of the bay, and after penetrating a little distance into thevalley, met with the stoutest resistance from its inmates. Valiantly,although with much loss, the Typees disputed every inch of ground, andafter some hard fighting obliged their assailants to retreat and abandontheir design of conquest.

  The invaders, on their march back to the sea, consoled themselves fortheir repulse by setting fire to every house and temple in their route;and a long line of smoking ruins defaced the once-smiling bosom of thevalley, and proclaimed to its pagan inhabitants the spirit that reignedin the breasts of Christian soldiers. Who can wonder at the deadlyhatred of the Typees to all foreigners after such unprovoked atrocities?

  Thus it is that they whom we denominate 'savages' are made to deservethe title. When the inhabitants of some sequestered island first descrythe 'big canoe' of the European rolling through the blue waters towardstheir shores, they rush down to the beach in crowds, and with open armsstand ready to embrace the strangers. Fatal embrace! They fold to theirbosom the vipers whose sting is destined to poison all their joys; andthe instinctive feeling of love within their breast is soon convertedinto the bitterest hate.

  The enormities perpetrated in the South Seas upon some of theinoffensive islanders will nigh pass belief. These things are seldomproclaimed at home; they happen at the very ends of the earth; theyare done in a corner, and there are none to reveal them. B
ut there is,nevertheless, many a petty trader that has navigated the Pacific whosecourse from island to island might be traced by a series of cold-bloodedrobberies, kidnappings, and murders, the iniquity of which might beconsidered almost sufficient to sink her guilty timbers to the bottom ofthe sea.

  Sometimes vague accounts of such thing's reach our firesides, andwe coolly censure them as wrong, impolitic, needlessly severe, anddangerous to the crews of other vessels. How different is our tone whenwe read the highly-wrought description of the massacre of the crew ofthe Hobomak by the Feejees; how we sympathize for the unhappy victims,and with what horror do we regard the diabolical heathens, who, afterall, have but avenged the unprovoked injuries which they have received.We breathe nothing but vengeance, and equip armed vessels to traversethousands of miles of ocean in order to execute summary punishment uponthe offenders. On arriving at their destination, they burn, slaughter,and destroy, according to the tenor of written instructions, and sailingaway from the scene of devastation, call upon all Christendom to applaudtheir courage and their justice.

  How often is the term 'savages' incorrectly applied! None reallydeserving of it were ever yet discovered by voyagers or by travellers.They have discovered heathens and barbarians whom by horrible crueltiesthey have exasperated into savages. It may be asserted without fearof contradictions that in all the cases of outrages committed byPolynesians, Europeans have at some time or other been the aggressors,and that the cruel and bloodthirsty disposition of some of the islandersis mainly to be ascribed to the influence of such examples.

  But to return. Owing to the mutual hostilities of the different tribesI have mentioned, the mountainous tracts which separate their respectiveterritories remain altogether uninhabited; the natives invariablydwelling in the depths of the valleys, with a view of securingthemselves from the predatory incursions of their enemies, who oftenlurk along their borders, ready to cut off any imprudent straggler,or make a descent upon the inmates of some sequestered habitation. Iseveral times met with very aged men, who from this cause had neverpassed the confines of their native vale, some of them having never evenascended midway up the mountains in the whole course of their lives, andwho, accordingly had little idea of the appearance of any other part ofthe island, the whole of which is not perhaps more than sixty miles incircuit. The little space in which some of these clans pass away theirdays would seem almost incredible.

  The glen of the Tior will furnish a curious illustration of this.

  The inhabited part is not more than four miles in length, and variesin breadth from half a mile to less than a quarter. The rocky vine-cladcliffs on one side tower almost perpendicularly from their base tothe height of at least fifteen hundred feet; while across the vale--instriking contrast to the scenery opposite--grass-grown elevations riseone above another in blooming terraces. Hemmed in by these stupendousbarriers, the valley would be altogether shut out from the rest of theworld, were it not that it is accessible from the sea at one end, and bya narrow defile at the other.

  The impression produced upon the mind, when I first visited thisbeautiful glen, will never be obliterated.

  I had come from Nukuheva by water in the ship's boat, and when weentered the bay of Tior it was high noon. The heat had been intense, aswe had been floating upon the long smooth swell of the ocean, for therewas but little wind. The sun's rays had expended all their fury upon us;and to add to our discomfort, we had omitted to supply ourselves withwater previous to starting. What with heat and thirst together, I becameso impatient to get ashore, that when at last we glided towards it,I stood up in the bow of the boat ready for a spring. As she shottwo-thirds of her length high upon the beach, propelled by three or fourstrong strokes of the oars, I leaped among a parcel of juvenile savages,who stood prepared to give us a kind reception; and with them at myheels, yelling like so many imps, I rushed forward across the openground in the vicinity of the sea, and plunged, diver fashion, into therecesses of the first grove that offered.

  What a delightful sensation did I experience! I felt as if floating insome new element, while all sort of gurgling, trickling, liquid soundsfell upon my ear. People may say what they will about the refreshinginfluences of a coldwater bath, but commend me when in a perspiration tothe shade baths of Tior, beneath the cocoanut trees, and amidst the cooldelightful atmosphere which surrounds them.

  How shall I describe the scenery that met my eye, as I looked outfrom this verdant recess! The narrow valley, with its steep and closeadjoining sides draperied with vines, and arched overhead with afret-work of interlacing boughs, nearly hidden from view by massesof leafy verdure, seemed from where I stood like an immense arbourdisclosing its vista to the eye, whilst as I advanced it insensiblywidened into the loveliest vale eye ever beheld.

  It so happened that the very day I was in Tior the French admiral,attended by all the boats of his squadron, came down in state fromNukuheva to take formal possession of the place. He remained in thevalley about two hours, during which time he had a ceremonious interviewwith the king. The patriarch-sovereign of Tior was a man very faradvanced in years; but though age had bowed his form and rendered himalmost decrepid, his gigantic frame retained its original magnitude andgrandeur of appearance.

  He advanced slowly and with evident pain, assisting his tottering stepswith the heavy warspear he held in his hand, and attended by a group ofgrey-bearded chiefs, on one of whom he occasionally leaned for support.The admiral came forward with head uncovered and extended hand, whilethe old king saluted him by a stately flourish of his weapon. Thenext moment they stood side by side, these two extremes of the socialscale,--the polished, splendid Frenchman, and the poor tattooed savage.They were both tall and noble-looking men; but in other respects howstrikingly contrasted! Du Petit Thouars exhibited upon his personall the paraphernalia of his naval rank. He wore a richly decoratedadmiral's frock-coat, a laced chapeau bras, and upon his breast werea variety of ribbons and orders; while the simple islander, with theexception of a slight cincture about his loins, appeared in all thenakedness of nature.

  At what an immeasurable distance, thought I, are these two beingsremoved from each other. In the one is shown the result of longcenturies of progressive Civilization and refinement, which havegradually converted the mere creature into the semblance of all that iselevated and grand; while the other, after the lapse of the same period,has not advanced one step in the career of improvement, 'Yet, afterall,' quoth I to myself, 'insensible as he is to a thousand wants, andremoved from harassing cares, may not the savage be the happier man ofthe two?' Such were the thoughts that arose in my mind as I gazed uponthe novel spectacle before me. In truth it was an impressive one,and little likely to be effaced. I can recall even now with vividdistinctness every feature of the scene. The umbrageous shades wherethe interview took place--the glorious tropical vegetation around--thepicturesque grouping of the mingled throng of soldiery and natives--andeven the golden-hued bunch of bananas that I held in my hand at thetime, and of which I occasionally partook while making the aforesaidphilosophical reflections.