ion of those who mourned by the corpse,
every one seemed disposed to drown the sense of the late bereavement in
convivial indulgence. The girls, decked out in their savage finery,
danced; the old men chanted; the warriors smoked and chatted; and the
young and lusty, of both sexes, feasted plentifully, and seemed to enjoy
themselves as pleasantly as they could have done had it been a wedding.

The islanders understand the art of embalming, and practice it with such
success, that the bodies of their great chiefs are frequently preserved
for many years in the very houses where they died. I saw three of these in
my visit to the bay of Tior. One was enveloped in immense folds of tappa,
with only the face exposed, and hung erect against the side of the
dwelling. The others were stretched out upon biers of bamboo, in open,
elevated temples, which seemed consecrated to their memory. The heads of
enemies killed in battle are invariably preserved, and hung up as trophies
in the house of the conqueror. I am not acquainted with the process which
is in use, but believe that fumigation is the principal agency employed.
All the remains which I saw presented the appearance of a ham after being
suspended for some time in a smoky chimney.

But to return from the dead to the living. The late festival had drawn
together, as I had every reason to believe, the whole population of the
vale, and consequently I was enabled to make some estimate with regard to
its numbers. I should imagine that there were about two thousand
inhabitants in Typee; and no number could have been better adapted to the
extent of the valley. The valley is some nine miles in length, and may
average one in breadth, the houses being distributed at wide intervals
throughout its whole extent, principally, however, towards the head of the
vale. There are no villages. The houses stand here and there in the shadow
of the groves, or are scattered along the banks of the winding stream;
their golden-hued bamboo sides and gleaming white thatch, forming a
beautiful contrast to the perpetual verdure in which they are embowered.
There are no roads of any kind in the valley. Nothing but a labyrinth of
footpaths, twisting and turning among the thickets without end.

CHAPTER XXVI

The social condition and general character of the Typees.

There seemed to be no rogues of any kind in Typee. In the darkest nights
the natives slept secur