, as another savage appeared, bearing before
him a large trencher of wood, containing some kind of steaming meat, as
appeared from the odours it diffused, and which he deposited at the feet
of Mehevi. "A baked baby, I dare say! but I will have none of it, never
mind what it is. A pretty fool I should make of myself, indeed, waked up
here in the middle of the night, stuffing and guzzling, and all to make a
fat meal for a parcel of bloody-minded cannibals one of these mornings!
No; I see what they are at very plainly, so I am resolved to starve myself
into a bunch of bones and gristle, and then, if they serve me up, they are
welcome! But, I say, Tommo, you are not going to eat any of that mess
there, in the dark, are you? Why, how can you tell what it is?"

"By tasting it, to be sure," said I, masticating a morsel that Kory-Kory
had just put in my mouth; "and excellently good it is, too, very much like
veal."

"A baked baby, by the soul of Captain Cook!" burst forth Toby, with
amazing vehemence. "Veal? why, there never was a calf on the island till
you landed. I tell you, you are bolting down mouthfuls from a dead
Happar's carcass, as sure as you live, and no mistake!"

Emetics and lukewarm water! What a sensation in the abdominal regions!
Sure enough, where could the fiends incarnate have obtained meat? But I
resolved to satisfy myself at all hazards; and turning to Mehevi, I soon
made the ready chief understand that I wished a light to be brought. When
the taper came, I gazed eagerly into the vessel, and recognized the
mutilated remains of a juvenile porker! "Puarkee!" exclaimed Kory-Kory,
looking complacently at the dish; and from that day to this I have never
forgotten that such is the designation of a pig in the Typee lingo.

The next morning, after being again abundantly feasted by the hospitable
Mehevi, Toby and myself arose to depart. But the chief requested us to
postpone our intention. "Abo, abo" (Wait, wait), he said, and accordingly
we resumed our seats, while, assisted by the zealous Kory-Kory, he
appeared to be engaged in giving directions to a number of the natives
outside, who were busily employed in making arrangements, the nature of
which we could not comprehend. But we were not left long in our ignorance,
for a few moments only had elapsed, when the chief beckoned us to
approach, and we perceived that he had been marshalling a kind of guard of
honour to escort us on our return to the house of Marheyo.