ld not imagine, unless it were that they had seen me
ascending the mountain with Marheyo, and that the mere fact of coming
from the Typee valley was sufficient to provoke them.
'As long as I was in danger I scarcely felt the wound I had received;
but when the chase was over I began to suffer from it. I had lost my
hat in the flight, and the run scorched my bare head. I felt faint
and giddy; but, fearful of falling to the ground beyond the reach of
assistance, I staggered on as well as I could, and at last gained the
level of the valley, and then down I sank; and I knew nothing more until
I found myself lying upon these mats, and you stooping over me with the
calabash of water.'
Such was Toby's account of this sad affair. I afterwards learned that,
fortunately, he had fallen close to a spot where the natives go for
fuel. A party of them caught sight of him as he fell, and sounding
the alarm, had lifted him up; and after ineffectually endeavouring to
restore him at the brook, had hurried forward with him to the house.
This incident threw a dark cloud over our prospects. It reminded us that
we were hemmed in by hostile tribes, whose territories we could not hope
to pass, on our route to Nukuheva, without encountering the effects of
their savage resentment. There appeared to be no avenue opened to our
escape but the sea, which washed the lower extremities of the vale.
Our Typee friends availed themselves of the recent disaster of Toby to
exhort us to a due appreciation of the blessings we enjoyed among them,
contrasting their own generous reception of us with the animosity of
their neighbours. They likewise dwelt upon the cannibal propensities of
the Happars, a subject which they were perfectly aware could not fail
to alarm us; while at the same time they earnestly disclaimed all
participation in so horrid a custom. Nor did they omit to call upon
us to admire the natural loveliness of their own abode, and the lavish
abundance with which it produced all manner of luxuriant fruits;
exalting it in this particular above any of the surrounding valleys.
Kory-Kory seemed to experience so heartfelt a desire to infuse into our
minds proper views on these subjects, that, assisted in his endeavours
by the little knowledge of the language we had acquired, he actually
made us comprehend a considerable part of what he said. To facilitate
our correct apprehension of his meaning, he at first condensed his ideas
into the smallest p
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