HERMAN MELVILLE (1819-1891)

Dana had voyaged to the Pacific at the advice of his physician; Herman Melville went to sea from pure love of adventure. Though of New England descent, he was born in New York. He lived there during his boyhood, and after 1860 he made it his home. College had no attractions for him. Before he was twenty he had become a sailor, and at twenty-two he had joined the crew of a whaler bound for the Pacific. Never was voyage more full of adventure. During eighteen months he experienced all the hardships and excitements of the sperm whale fishery; he found brutality equal to that which Dana had experienced; he deserted the ship and with a single companion lived for four months among the Marquesas cannibals, was rescued after a sharp fight by an Australian whaler, and after two more years of wandering came home on an American man of war.

a

His experiences he recorded first in Typee: a Peep at Polynesian Life During a Four-Months' Residence in a Valley of the Marquesas, 1846, and then in Omoo, 1847. These books, which purport to be plain narrative of facts, he followed with Mardi: and a Voyage Thither, 1849, romance of Polynesian Adventure' as he termed it. and by Redburn: His First Voyage, 1849, a story undoubtedly based upon his own first voyage to Liverpool. These he followed with White-Jacket; or, the World in a Man of War, 1850, and Moby Dick; or, the White Whale, 1851, the latter a wild mélange of adventure and of Gothic romance which he dedicated to Nathaniel Hawthorne. As a novelist Melville was a failure. He was strong, however in his pictures of life on the ocean. In some chapters of stirring action few have surpassed him. In descriptions of life in the forecastle and of all that pertains to nautical adventure he was a realist, and his pictures are first-hand documents for the history of a vanished epoch.

THE SOCIAL CONDITION AND
GENERAL CHARACTER OF
THE TYPEES

There

There seemed to be no rogues of any kind in Typee. In the darkest nights the natives slept securely, with all their worldly wealth around them, in houses the doors of which were never fastened. The disquieting ideas of theft or assassina- 10 tion never disturbed them. Each islander reposed beneath his own palmetto thatching, or sat under his own bread-fruit tree, with none to molest or alarm him. was not a padlock in the valley, nor any- 15 thing that answered the purpose of one; still there was no community of goods. This long spear, so elegantly carved and highly polished, belongs to Warmoonoo; it is far handsomer than the one Marheyo 20 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 25 sperm-whale tooth, graven all over with cunning devices: it is the property of Kaluna: 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 5 is far back in the valley; the door is left open, and all the inmates have gone off to bathe in the stream.

So much for the respect in which such matters are held in Typee. As to the land of the valley, whether it was the joint property of its inhabitants, or whether it was parceled out among a certain number of landed proprietors who allowed everybody to roam over it as much as they pleased, I never could ascertain. At any rate, musty parchments and title-deeds there were none in the island; and I am half inclined to believe that its inhabitants hold their broad valleys in fee simple from nature herself.

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 cocoa-nut leaves. To-day 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 tramping as they went. No churlish old curmudgeon could have been the owner of that grove of breadfruit trees, or of these glorious yellow 10 bunches of bananas.

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 5 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.

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 in- 15 employment: and if the degree of con

dividuals, 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 20
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 25
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 30
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 35
as Marheyo's; and, I suppose, if he
wished to vie with his neighbor's estab-
lishment, he could do so with very little
trouble. These, in short, constitute the
chief differences perceivable in the rela- 40
tive wealth of the people in Typee.

They lived in great harmony with each other. I will give an instance of their fraternal feeling.

One day, in returning with Kory-Kory 45 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 hun- 50 dred 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 55 leaves, for the roof. Every one contributed something to the work; and by the united, but easy, and even indolent, labors

Not a single female took part in this

sideration in which the ever-adorable sex
is held by the men be—as the philosoph-
ers affirm a just criterion of the degree
of refinement among a people, then I may
truly pronounce the Typees to be as pol-
ished 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 in-
dulgence. 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 that tropical climate,
never distilled one drop of perspiration.
Their light household occupations, to-
gether with the manufacture of tappa, the
platting of mats, and the polishing of
drinking-vessels, were the only employ-
ments pertaining to the women.
even these resembled those pleasant avo-
cations which fill up the elegant morn-
ing leisure of our fashionable ladies at
home. But in these occupations, slight
and agreeable though they were, the giddy
young girls very seldom engaged. In-
deed 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

And

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 any

thing 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.

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wrecked 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 preliminary dressing. In truth, so horrific and improbable are these accounts, that many sensible and well-in10 formed 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 practiced 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

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 heredi-
tary feuds they carry on against their 15
fellow-islanders beyond the mountains, are
facts which contradict me. Not so; these
apparent discrepancies are easily recon-
ciled. By many a legendary tale of
violence and wrong, as well as by events 20
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 provoca- 25
tion; 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 leveled spear, and, standing upon

the beach, with his back turned upon 30 I assert that those who indulge in it are
his green home, to hold at bay the in-
truding European.

As to the origin of the enmity of this particular clan towards the neighboring tribes, I cannot so confidently speak. I 35 will not say that their foes are the aggressors, nor will I endeavor to palliate their conduct. But surely, if our evil passions must find vent, it is far better to expend them on strangers and aliens, 40 than in the bosom of the community in which we dwell. In many polished countries civil contentions, as well as domestic enmities, are prevalent, at the same time that the most atrocious foreign wars are 45 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 erelong have reason to 50 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 55 their character is not half so horrible as it is usually described. According to the popular fictions, the crews of vessels, ship

in other respects humane and virtuous.

Typee, Chapter xxvi, 1846.

THE FIRST LOWERING

Thus were we weaving and weaving away when I started at a sound so strange, long drawn, and musically wild and unearthly, that the ball of free will dropped from my hand, and I stood gazing up at the clouds whence that voice dropped like a wing. High aloft in the cross-trees was that mad Gay-Header, Tashtego. His body was reaching eagerly forward, his hand stretched out like a wand, and at brief sudden intervals he continued his cries. To be sure the same sound was that very moment perhaps being heard all over the seas, from hundreds of whalemen's lookouts perched as high in the air; but from few of those lungs could that accustomed old cry have derived such a marvelous cadence as from Tashtego, the Indian's.

As he stood hovering over you half suspended in air, so wildly and eagerly peering toward the horizon, you would

have thought him some prophet or seer beholding the shadows of Fate, and by those wild cries announcing their coming. 'There she blows! there! there! there! she blows! she blows!'

'Where-away?'

'On the lee-beam, about two miles off! a school of them!'

Instantly all was commotion.

The sperm whale blows as a clock ticks, with the same undeviating and reliable uniformity. And thereby whalemen distinguish this fish from other tribes of his genus.

'There go flukes! was now the cry from 15 Tashtego; and the whales disappeared. 'Quick, steward!' cried Ahab. Time!'

Time!

Dough-Boy hurried below, glanced at the watch, and reported the exact minute 20 to Ahab.

The ship was now kept away from the wind, and she went gently rolling before it. Tashtego reporting that the whales had gone down heading to leeward, we 25 confidently looked to see them again directly in advance of our bows. For that singular craft at times evinced by the sperm whale when, sounding with his head in one direction, he nevertheless, 30 while concealed beneath the surface, mills round, and swiftly swims off in the opposite quarter-this deceitfulness of his could not now be in action; for there was no reason to suppose that the fish seen 35 by Tashtego had been in any way alarmed, or indeed knew at all of our vicinity. One of the men selected for shipkeepers

sheaves whirled round in the blocks; with a wallow, the three boats dropped into the sea; while, with a dextrous, offhanded daring, unknown in any other vo5 cation, the sailors, goat-like, leaped down the rolling ship's side into the tossed boats below. . .

Meantime, Ahab, out of hearing of his officers, having sided furtherest to windward, was still ranging ahead of the other boats; a circumstance bespeaking how potent a crew was pulling him. Those tiger yellow creatures of his seemed all steel and whalebone; like five trip-hammers they rose and fell with regular strokes of strength, which periodically started the boat along the water like a horizontal burst boiler out of a Mississippi steamer. As for Fedallah, who was seen pulling the harpooneer oar, he had thrown aside his black jacket, and displayed his naked chest with the whole part of his body above the gunwale, clearly cut against the alternating depressions of the watery horizon; while at the other end of the boat Ahab, with one arm, like a fencer's, thrown half backward into the air, as if to counterbalance any tendency to trip; Ahab was seen steadily managing his steering oar as in a thousand lowerings ere the White Whale had town him. at once the outstretched arm gave a peculiar motion and then remained fixed, while the boat's five oars were seen simultaneously peaked. Boat and crew sat motionless on the sea. Instantly the three spread boats in the rear paused on their way. The whales had irregularly settled bodily down into the blue, thus giving no distantly discernible token of the movement, though from his closer vicinity Ahab had observed it.

All

Every man look out along his oars!' cried Starbuck. Thou, Queequeg, stand

that is those not appointed to the boats
by this time, relieved the Indian at the 40
mast-head. The sailors at the fore and
mizzen had come down; the line tubs were
fixed in their places; the cranes were
thrust out; the mainyard was backed, and
the three boats swung over the sea like 45 up!'
three samphire baskets over high cliffs.
Outside of the bulwarks their eager crews
with one hand clung to the rail, while
one foot was expectantly poised on the
gunwale. So look the long line of man- 50
of-war's men about to throw themselves
on board an enemy's ship. . .

'All ready there, Fedallah?'
'Ready,' was the half-hissed reply.

Nimbly springing up on the triangular raised box in the bow, the savage stood erect there, and with intensely eager eyes gazed off towards the spot where the chase had last been descried. Likewise upon the extreme stern of the boat where it was also triangularly platformed level with the gunwale, Starbuck himself was seen coolly and adroitly balancing him

'Lower away there; d'ye hear,' shouting 55 self to the jerking tossings of his chip of across the deck. 'Lower away there I

a craft, and silently eyeing the vast blue eye of the sea.

Not very far distant Flask's boat was