oped my person, and screened it from the rays of the sun.

One morning I made a rent in this mantle; and to show the islanders with
what facility it could be repaired, I lowered my bundle, and taking from
it a needle and thread, proceeded to stitch up the opening. They regarded
this wonderful application of science with intense admiration; and whilst
I was stitching away, old Marheyo, who was one of the lookers-on, suddenly
clapped his hand to his forehead, and rushing to a corner of the house,
drew forth a soiled and tattered strip of faded calico--which he must have
procured some time or other in traffic on the beach--and besought me
eagerly to exercise a little of my art upon it. I willingly complied,
though certainly so stumpy a needle as mine never took such gigantic
strides over calico before. The repairs completed, old Marheyo gave me a
paternal hug; and divesting himself of his "maro" (girdle), swathed the
calico about his loins, and slipping the beloved ornaments into his ears,
grasped his spear and sallied out of the house, like a valiant Templar
arrayed in a new and costly suit of armour.

I never used my razor during my stay in the island, but, although a very
subordinate affair, it had been vastly admired by the Typees; and
Narmonee, a great hero among them, who was exceedingly precise in the
arrangements of his toilet and the general adjustment of his person, being
the most accurately tattooed and laboriously horrified individual in all
the valley, thought it would be a great advantage to have it applied to
the already shaven crown of his head.

The implement they usually employ is a shark's tooth, which is about as
well adapted to the purpose as a one-pronged fork for pitching hay. No
wonder, then, that the acute Narmonee perceived the advantage my razor
possessed over the usual implement. Accordingly, one day, he requested as
a personal favour, that I would just run over his head with the razor. In
reply, I gave him to understand that it was too dull, and could not be
used to any purpose without being previously sharpened. To assist my
meaning, I went through an imaginary honing process on the palm of my
hand. Narmonee took my meaning in an instant, and running out of the
house, returned the next moment with a huge rough mass of rock as big as a
millstone, and indicated to me that that was exactly the thing I wanted.
Of course there was nothing left for me but to proceed to business, and I
began scrapin