pointed end slowly up and
down the extent of a few inches on the principal stick, until at last he
makes a narrow groove in the wood, with an abrupt termination at the point
farthest from him, where all the dusty particles which the friction
creates are accumulated in a little heap.

At first Kory-Kory goes to work quite leisurely, but gradually quickens
his pace, and, waxing warm in the employment, drives the stick furiously
along the smoking channel, plying his hands to and fro with amazing
rapidity, the perspiration starting from every pore. As he approaches the
climax of his effort, he pants and gasps for breath, and his eyes almost
start from their sockets with the violence of his exertions. This is the
critical stage of the operation; all his previous labours are vain if he
cannot sustain the rapidity of the movement until the reluctant spark is
produced. Suddenly he stops, becomes perfectly motionless. His hands still
retain their hold of the smaller stick, which is pressed convulsively
against the farther end of the channel, among the fine powder there
accumulated, as if he had just pierced through and through some little
viper that was wriggling and struggling to escape from his clutches. The
next moment a delicate wreath of smoke curls spirally into the air, the
heap of dusty particles glows with fire, and Kory-Kory, almost breathless,
dismounts from his steed.

This operation appeared to me to be the most laborious species of work
performed in Typee; and had I possessed a sufficient intimacy with the
language to have conveyed my ideas upon the subject, I should certainly
have suggested to the most influential of the natives the expediency of
establishing in a college of vestals, to be centrally located in the
valley, for the purpose of keeping alive the indispensable article of
fire, so as to supersede the necessity of such a vast outlay of strength
and good temper as were usually squandered on these occasions. There
might, however, be special difficulties in carrying this plan into
execution.

What a striking evidence does this operation furnish of the wide
difference between the extreme of savage and civilized life! A gentleman
of Typee can bring up a numerous family of children, and give them all a
highly respectable cannibal education, with infinitely less toil and
anxiety than he expends in the simple process of striking a light; whilst
a poor European artisan, who through the instrumentality of a luci