h the surface in all directions; the young girls springing buoyantly
into the air, with their long tresses dancing about their shoulders, their
eyes sparkling like drops of dew in the sun, and their gay laughter
pealing forth at every frolicsome incident.

On the afternoon of the day that I took my first bath in the valley, we
received another visit from Mehevi. The noble savage seemed to be in the
same pleasant mood, and was quite as cordial in his manner as before.
After remaining about an hour, he rose from the mats, and motioning to
leave the house, invited Toby and myself to accompany him. I pointed to my
leg; but Mehevi in his turn pointed to Kory-Kory, and removed that
objection; so, mounting upon the faithful fellow's shoulders again--like
the old man of the sea astride of Sinbad--I followed after the chief.

The nature of the route we now pursued struck me more forcibly than
anything I had yet seen, as illustrating the indolent disposition of the
islanders. The path was obviously the most beaten one in the valley,
several others leading from either side into it, and perhaps for
successive generations it had formed the principal avenue of the place.
And yet, until I grew more familiar with its impediments, it seemed as
difficult to travel as the recesses of a wilderness. Part of it swept
around an abrupt rise of ground, the surface of which was broken by
frequent inequalities, and thickly strewn with projecting masses of rocks,
whose summits were often hidden from view by the drooping foliage of the
luxurious vegetation. Sometimes directly over, sometimes evading these
obstacles with a wide circuit, the path wound along--one moment climbing
over a sudden eminence, smooth with continued wear, then descending on the
other side into a steep glen, and crossing the flinty channel of a brook.
Here it pursued the depths of a glade, occasionally obliging you to stoop
beneath vast horizontal branches; and now you stepped over huge trunks and
boughs that lay rotting across the track.

Such was the grand thoroughfare of Typee. After proceeding a little
distance along it--Kory-Kory panting and blowing with the weight of his
burden--I dismounted from his back, and grasping the long spear of Mehevi
in my hand, assisted my steps over the numerous obstacles of the road;
preferring this mode of advance to one which, from the difficulties of the
way, was equally painful to myself and my wearied servitor.

Our journey was soon a