l as the custom is, immeasurably as it is to be
abhorred and condemned, still I assert that those who indulge in it are in
other respects humane and virtuous.

CHAPTER XXVII

Fishing parties--Mode of distributing the fish--Midnight
banquet--Timekeeping tapers--Unceremonious style of eating the fish.

There was no instance in which the social and kindly dispositions of the
Typees were more forcibly evinced than in the manner they conducted their
great fishing parties. Four times during my stay in the valley the young
men assembled near the full of the moon, and went together on these
excursions. As they were generally absent about forty-eight hours, I was
led to believe that they went out towards the open sea, some distance from
the bay. The Polynesians seldom use a hook and line, almost always
employing large, well-made nets, most ingeniously fabricated from the
twisted fibres of a certain bark. I examined several of them which had
been spread to dry upon the beach at Nukuheva. They resembled very much
our own seines, and I should think they were very nearly as durable.

All the South Sea islanders are passionately fond of fish; but none of
them can be more so than the inhabitants of Typee. I could not comprehend,
therefore, why they so seldom sought it in their waters; for it was only
at stated times that the fishing parties were formed, and these occasions
were always looked forward to with no small degree of interest.

During their absence, the whole population of the place were in a ferment,
and nothing was talked of but "pehee, pehee" (fish, fish). Towards the
time when they were expected to return, the vocal telegraph was put into
operation--the inhabitants, who were scattered throughout the length of the
valley, leaped upon rocks and into trees, shouting with delight at the
thoughts of the anticipated treat. As soon as the approach of the party
was announced, there was a general rush of the men towards the beach; some
of them remaining, however, about the Ti, in order to get matters in
readiness for the reception of the fish, which were brought to the Taboo
Groves in immense packages of leaves, each one of them being suspended
from a pole carried on the shoulders of two men.

I was present at the Ti on one of these occasions, and the sight was most
interesting. After all the packages had arrived, they were laid in a row
under the verandah of the building