o of an English vessel that many years ago, after a weary
cruise, sought to enter the bay of Nukuheva, and arriving within two or
three miles of the land, was met by a large canoe filled with natives,
who offered to lead the way to the place of their destination. The
captain, unacquainted with the localities of the island, joyfully
acceded to the proposition--the canoe paddled on, the ship followed. She
was soon conducted to a beautiful inlet, and dropped her anchor in
its waters beneath the shadows of the lofty shore. That same night the
perfidious Typees, who had thus inveigled her into their fatal bay,
flocked aboard the doomed vessel by hundreds, and at a given signal
murdered every soul on board.

I shall never forget the observation of one of our crew as we were
passing slowly by the entrance of the bay in our way to Nukuheva. As we
stood gazing over the side at the verdant headlands, Ned, pointing
with his hand in the direction of the treacherous valley, exclaimed,
'There--there's Typee. Oh, the bloody cannibals, what a meal they'd make
of us if we were to take it into our heads to land! but they say they
don't like sailor's flesh, it's too salt. I say, maty, how should you
like to be shoved ashore there, eh?' I little thought, as I shuddered
at the question, that in the space of a few weeks I should actually be a
captive in that self-same valley.

The French, although they had gone through the ceremony of hoisting
their colours for a few hours at all the principal places of the
group, had not as yet visited the bay of Typee, anticipating a fierce
resistance on the part of the savages there, which for the present at
least they wished to avoid. Perhaps they were not a little influenced in
the adoption of this unusual policy from a recollection of the warlike
reception given by the Typees to the forces of Captain Porter, about
the year 1814, when that brave and accomplished officer endeavoured to
subjugate the clan merely to gratify the mortal hatred of his allies the
Nukuhevas and Happars.

On that occasion I have been told that a considerable detachment of
sailors and marines from the frigate Essex, accompanied by at least two
thousand warriors of Happar and Nukuheva, landed in boats and canoes at
the head of the bay, and after penetrating a little distance into the
valley, met with the stoutest resistance from its inmates. Valiantly,
although with much loss, the Typees disputed every inch of ground, and
after