up this ghost? Or, King Saul, that I so quake
at the sight? For, lo! roundabout me Tammahammaha's tattooing
expands, till all the sky seems a tiger's skin. But now, the spotted
phantom sweeps by; as a man-of-war's main-sail, cloud-like, blown far
to leeward in a gale.

Banquo down, we return.

In Valapee, prevails not the barbarous Hindoo custom of offering up
widows to the shades of their lords; for, bereaved, the widows there
marry again. Nor yet prevails the savage Hawaiian custom of offering
up teeth to the manes of the dead; for, at the decease of a friend,
the people rob not their own mouths to testify their woe. On the
contrary, they extract the teeth from the departed, distributing them
among the mourners for memorial legacies; as elsewhere, silver spoons
are bestowed.

From the high value ascribed to dentals throughout the archipelago of
Mardi, and also from their convenient size, they are circulated as
money; strings of teeth being regarded by these people very much as
belts of wampum among the Winnebagoes of the North; or cowries, among
the Bengalese. So, that in Valapee the very beggars are born with a
snug investment in their mouths; too soon, however, to be appropriated
by their lords; leaving them toothless for the rest of their days, and
forcing them to diet on poee-pudding and banana blanc-mange.

As a currency, teeth are far less clumsy than cocoanuts; which, among
certain remote barbarians, circulate for coin; one nut being
equivalent, perhaps, to a penny. The voyager who records the fact,
chuckles over it hugely; as evincing the simplicity of those
heathens; not knowing that he himself was the simpleton; since that
currency of theirs was purposely devised by the men, to check the
extravagance of their women; cocoanuts, for spending money, being
such a burden to carry.

It only remains to be added, that the most solemn oath of a native of
Valapee is that sworn by his tooth. "By this tooth," said Bondo to
Noojoomo, "by this tooth I swear to be avenged upon thee, oh
Noojoomo!"

CHAPTER LXIX
The Company Discourse, And Braid-Beard Rehearses A Legend

Finding in Valapee no trace of her whom we sought, and but little
pleased with the cringing demeanor of the people, and the wayward
follies of Peepi their lord, we early withdrew from the isle.

As we glided away, King Media issued a sociable decree. He declared
it his royal pleasure, that throughout the voyage, all stiffness and
state etiqu