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Updated: June 15, 2025
All such matters sat very lightly upon the thoughtless inhabitants; and, in the celebration of many of their strange rites, they appeared merely to seek a sort of childish amusement. A curious evidence of this was given in a remarkable ceremony, in which I frequently saw Mehevi and several other chiefs and warriors of note take part; but never a single female.
Mehevi was in fact the greatest of the chiefs—the head of his clan—the sovereign of the valley; and the simplicity of the social institutions of the people could not have been more completely proved than by the fact, that after having been several weeks in the valley, and almost in daily intercourse with Mehevi, I should have remained until the time of the festival ignorant of his regal character.
The revels, however, had brought together all the warriors whom I had seen individually and in groups at different times and places. Among them Mehevi moved with an easy air of superiority which was not to be mistaken; and he whom I had only looked at as the hospitable host of the Ti, and one of the military leaders of the tribe, now assumed in my eyes the dignity of royal station.
How strongly rooted, then, must be the determination of the Typees with regard to me, and how suddenly could they display the strangest passions! The mere suggestion of my departure had estranged from me, for the time at least, Mehevi, who was the most influential of all the chiefs, and who had previously exhibited so many instances of his friendly sentiments.
And there was the point of land from which Mehevi and Mow-mow and their following swam off to intercept the boat, only to have their wrists gashed by sheath-knives when they laid hold of the gunwale, though it was reserved for Mow-mow to receive the boat-hook full in the throat from Melville's hands. We rode on to Ho-o-u-mi.
Mehevi sought to enlighten my ignorance, but he failed as signally as when he had endeavoured to initiate me into the perplexing arcana of the taboo. On leaving the Ti, Kory-Kory, who had, as a matter of course, accompanied me, observing that my curiosity remained unabated, resolved to make everything plain and satisfactory.
Mehevi, however, was not the only person upon whom the damsel Moonoony smiled the young fellow of fifteen, who permanently resided in the home with her, was decidedly in her good graces. I sometimes beheld both him and the chief making love at the same time. Is it possible, thought I, that the valiant warrior can consent to give up a corner in the thing he loves?
Such was the conclusion I drew from my own observations, and, as far as I could understand, from the explanation which Kory-Kory gave me. The royal Mehevi walked by the side of these heroes.
King Mehevi—Conduct of Marheyo and Mehevi in certain delicate matters—Peculiar system of marriage—Number of population—Uniformity—Embalming—Places of sepulture—Funeral obsequies at Nukuheva—Number of inhabitants in Typee—Location of the dwellings—Happiness enjoyed in the valley. King Mehevi!—A goodly sounding title!—and why should I not bestow it upon the foremost man in the valley?
Mehevi acted as supreme lord over the place, spending the greater portion of his time there: and often when, at particular hours of the day, it was deserted by nearly every one else except the verd-antique looking centenarians, who were fixtures in the building, the chief himself was sure to be found enjoying his 'otium cum dignitate' upon the luxurious mats which covered the floor.
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