No More Learning

Wilhelm was born at Netzelkow, Usedom Island, February 27th, 1797.
He studied at Greifswald University, was a private tutor at Ueker-
munde and a curate at Gutzkow. On his marriage he settled first
at Usedom, later at Coserow. His literary success attracted the favor
of King Frederic Wilhelm IV. of Prussia; but after taking a pastor-
ate at Rehwinkel, in Stargard, Meinhold remained there almost to
the close of his life, although he inclined to the Roman Catholic
theology as he came to middle years. Another mediæval romance of
witchcraft, (Sidonia von Bork, the Cloister-Witch,' is by some critics
considered superior to Maria Schweidler, the Amber-Witch'; but it


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
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has never met with the popularity of the less pretentious story that
gave the Usedom clergyman his wide reputation. It is of interest to
add that not only has the translation of the tale by Lady Duff-Gordon
been recognized as one of the very best examples of English transla-
tion of a fiction,- the translation that does not suggest the convey-
ance of a tale at second-hand, - but that on the appearance of her
version she was credited with the authorship of the story, and the
likelihood of a German original denied. From first to last, the drama
of Maria Schweidler's peril and romance seems to have been destined
to deceive better even than it was planned to deceive.
The Amber-Witch' belongs in the same category of “fictions that
seem fact » which includes Defoe's Robinson Crusoe,' or his ‘History
of the Plague in London'; where the appropriate detail is so abundant,
and the atmosphere of an epoch and community is so fully conveyed,
as to bar suspicion that the story is manufactured. As Mr. Joseph
Jacobs happily remarks in his excellent study of Meinhold, and of the
history that has kept his name alive among German romanticists:
(Who shall tell where Art will find her children ? On the desolate and
gloomy shores of the Baltic, the child of a half-crazy father, unfriendly and
unfriended as a bursch,-a Protestant pastor with Romanist tendencies, –
who would have anticipated from Meinhold perhaps the most effective pres-
entation of mediæval thought and feeling which the whole Romantic move-
ment produced ? And the occasion of the production of «The Amber-Witch)
was equally unexpected. Meinhold went forth to refute Strauss, and founded
on his way a new kingdom in the realm of Romance. It is a repetition of
the history of Saul. ”
THE RESCUE ON THE ROAD TO THE STAKE
From "The Amber-Witch)
[ The following extract is from the concluding portion of the terrible expe-
riences of Maria Schweidler. She has been tried and convicted of sorcery,
and solemnly sentenced. Seated in a cart, in which her father and her god-
father (the Pastor Benzensis of the chronicle) are allowed to accompany her
to her doom, the young girl maintains the courage of despair. On her ride
to the mountain, where the pyre has been raised, she is surrounded by suc-
cessive mobs of infuriated peasants; but is not unnerved, and advances toward
her death reciting prayers and hymns. Popular fury against her is deepened
by the rising of a violent storm, naturally laid to the young girl's last spells;
and by the violent death of her chief accuser, the wicked Sheriff Wittich,
who is killed by falling into the wheel of a roadside mill. At last the ele-
ments and the populace are quieted enough to allow the death procession to
be resumed. Surrounded by guards with pitchforks, and bound in the cart,
Maria is drawn toward the Blocksberg; and nothing apparently can interfere
with the legal tragedy of which she is the heroine. At this point the incident
occurs which is told in the excerpt. )


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
How My DAUGHTER WAS AT LENGTH SAVED BY THE HELP OF THE ALL-
MERCIFUL, YEA, OF THE ALL-MERCIFUL GOD
M
EANWHILE, by reason of my unbelief, wherewith Satan again
tempted me, I had become so weak that I was forced to
lean my back against the constable his knees, and expected
not to live till even we should come to the mountain; for the
last hope I had cherished was now gone, and I saw that my
innocent lamb was in the same plight.
Moreover the reverend
Martinus began to upbraid her, saying that he too now saw that
all her oaths were lies, and that she really could brew storms.
Hereupon she answered with a smile, although indeed she was as
white as a sheet, "Alas, reverend godfather, do you then really
believe that the weather and the storms no longer obey our Lord
God? Are storms then so rare at this season of the year that
none save the foul fiend can cause them ? Nay, I have never
broken the baptismal vow you once made in my name, nor will
I ever break it, as I hope that God will be merciful to me in
my last hour, which is now at hand. ” But the reverend Mar-
tinus shook his head doubtingly, and said, “The Evil One must
have promised thee much, seeing thou remainest so stubborn
even unto thy life's end, and blasphemest the Lord thy God; but
wait, and thou wilt soon learn with horror that the devil “is a
liar, and the father of it” (St. John viii. ). Whilst he yet spake
this, and more of a like kind, we came to Uekeritze, where all
the people both great and small rushed out of their doors, also
Jacob Schwarten his wife, who as we afterwards heard had only
been brought to bed the night before, and her goodman came
running after her to fetch her back, In vain: she told him he
was a fool, and had been one for many a weary day, and that if
she had to crawl up the mountain on her bare knees, she would
go to see the parson's witch burned; that she had reckoned upon
it for so long, and if he did not let her go, she would give him
a thump on the chaps, etc.
Thus did the coarse and foul-mouthed people riot around the
cart wherein we sat; and as they knew not what had befallen,
they ran near us that the wheel went over the foot of a
boy. Nevertheless they all crowded up again, more especially the
lasses, and felt my daughter her clothes, and would even see her
shoes and stockings, and asked her how she felt. Item, one fel-
low asked whether she would drink somewhat, with many more
SO


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
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fooleries besides; till at last, when several came and asked her for
her garland and her golden chain, she turned towards me and
smiled, saying, “Father, I'must begin to speak some Latin again;
otherwise the folks will leave me no peace. ” But it was not
wanted this time: for our guards with the pitchforks had now
reached the hindmost, and doubtless told them what had hap-
pened, as we presently heard a great shouting behind us, for the
love of God to turn back before the witch did them a mischief;
and as Jacob Schwarten his wife heeded it not, but still plagued
my child to give her her apron to make a christening coat for
her baby, for that it was a pity to let it be burnt, her goodman
gave her such a thump on her back with a knotted stick which
he had pulled out of the hedge that she fell down with loud
shrieks: and when he went to help her up she pulled him down
by his hair, and as reverend Martinus said, now executed what
she had threatened; inasmuch as she struck him on the nose with
her fist with might and main, until the other people came run-
ning up to them, and held her back. Meanwhile, however, the
storm had almost passed over, and sank down toward the sea.
And when we had gone through the little wood, we suddenly
saw the Streckelberg before us covered with people, and the pile
and stake upon the top, upon the which the tall constable jumped
up when he saw us coming, and beckoned with his cap with all
his might. Thereat my senses left me, and my sweet lamb was
not much better, for she bent to and fro like a reed, and stretch-
ing her bound hands towards heaven, she once more cried out:
«Rex tremendæ majestatis !
Qui salvandos salvas gratis,
Salva me, fons pietatis ! ”
And behold, scarce had she spoken these words, when the sun
came out and formed a rainbow right over the mountain most
pleasant to behold; and it is clear that this was a sign from the
merciful God, such as he often gives us, but which we blind
and unbelieving men do not rightly mark. Neither did my child
.
heed it; for albeit she thought upon that first rainbow which
shadowed forth our troubles, yet it seemed to her impossible that
she could now be saved: wherefore she grew so faint, that she
no longer heeded the blessed sign of mercy, and her head fell
forward (for she could no longer lean it upon me, seeing that I
lay my length at the bottom of the cart), till her garland almost
XV11-617


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
touched my worthy gossip his knees. Thereupon he bade the
driver stop for a moment, and pulled out a small flask filled with
wine, which he always carries in his pocket when witches are to
be burnt, in order to comfort them therewith in their terror.
(Henceforth, I myself will ever do the like, for this fashion of
my dear gossip pleases me well. ) He first poured some of this
wine down my throat, and afterwards down my child's: and we
had scarce come to ourselves again, when a fearful noise and
tumult arose among the people behind us, and they not only
cried out in deadly fear, “The sheriff is come back! the sheriff is
come again! ” but as they could neither run away forwards or
backwards (being afraid of the ghost behind and of my child
before them), they ran on either side; some rushing into the
,
coppice and others wading into the Achterwater up to their
necks.
Item, as soon as Dom. Camerarius saw the ghost come out of
the coppice with a gray hat and a gray feather, such as the sher-
iff wore, riding on the gray charger, he crept under a bundle
of straw in the cart; and Dom. Consul cursed my child again,
and bade the coachman drive on as madly as they could, even
should all the horses die of it, when the impudent constable
behind us called to him, “It is not the sheriff, but the young
lord of Nienkerken, who will surely seek to save the witch: shall
I then cut her throat with my sword ? ” At these fearful words
my child and I came to ourselves again, and the fellow had
already lift up his naked sword to smite her, seeing Dom. Con-
sul had made him a sign with his hand, when my dear gossip,
who saw it, pulled my child with all his strength into his lap.
(May God reward him on the Day of Judgment, for I never can. )
The villain would have stabbed her as she lay in his lap; but
the young lord was already there, and seeing what he was about
to do, thrust the boar-spear which he held in his hand in between
the constable's shoulders, so that he fell headlong on the earth,
and his own sword, by the guidance of the most righteous God,
went into his ribs on one side and out again at the other.
He lay there and bellowed; but the young lord heeded him not,
but said to my child, «Sweet maid, God be praised that you are
safe! When, however, he saw her bound hands, he gnashed
his teeth; and cursing her judges, he jumped off his horse, and
cut the rope with his sword which he held in his right hand,
took her hand in his, and said, "Alas, sweet maid, how have I
(
((


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
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an old
sorrowed for you! but I could not save you, as I myself also lay
in chains, which you may see from my looks. ”
But my child could answer him never a word, and fell into a
swound again for joy; howbeit she soon came to herself again,
seeing my dear gossip still had a little wine by him. Meanwhile
the dear young lord did me some injustice, which however I
freely forgive him; for he railed at me and called me
woman, who could do naught save weep and wail. Why had I not
journeyed after the Swedish king, or why had I not gone to Mel-
lenthin myself to fetch his testimony, as I knew right well what
he thought about witchcraft ? (But, blessed God, how could I do
otherwise than believe the judge, who had been there? Others
besides old women would have done the same; and I never
once thought of the Swedish king; and say, dear reader, how
could I have journeyed after him and left my own child ? But
young folks do not think of these things, seeing they know not
what a father feels. )
Meanwhile, however, Dom. Camerarius, having heard that it
was the young lord, had again crept out from beneath the straw;
item, Dom. Consul had jumped down from the coach and ran
towards us, railing at him loudly, and asking him by what
power and authority he acted thus, seeing that he himself had
heretofore denounced the ungodly witch ? But the young lord
pointed with his sword to his people, who now came riding out
of the coppice about eighteen strong, armed with sabres, pikes,
and muskets, and said, “There is my authority; and I would let
you feel it on your back if I did not know that you were but a
stupid ass. When did you hear any testimony from me against
this virtuous maiden ? You lie in your throat if you say you
did. ” And as Dom. Consul stood and straightway forswore him-
self, the young lord, to the astonishment of all, related as fol-
lows:
That as soon as he heard of the misfortune which had befallen
me and my child, he ordered his horse to be saddled forth with,
in order to ride to Pudgla to bear witness to our innocence:
this, however, his old father would nowise suffer, thinking that
his nobility would receive a stain if it came to be known that
his son had conversed with a reputed witch by night on the
Streckelberg He had caused him therefore, as prayers and
threats were of no avail, to be bound hand and foot and con-
fined in the donjon-keep, where till datum an old servant had
(


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
watched him; who refused to let him escape, notwithstanding he
offered him any sum of money; whereupon he fell into the great-
est anguish and despair at the thought that innocent blood would
be shed on his account: but that the all-righteous God had gra-
ciously spared him this sorrow; for his father had fallen sick from
vexation, and lay abed all this time, and it so happened that
this very morning, about prayer-time, the huntsman in shooting
at a wild duck in the moat had by chance sorely wounded his
· father's favorite dog, called Packan, which had crept howling to
his father's bedside and had died there; whereupon the old man,
who was weak, was so angered that he was presently seized with
a fit and gave up the ghost too. Hereupon his people released
him; and after he had closed his father's eyes and prayed an
“Our Father” over him, he straightway set out with all the
people he could find in the castle in order to save the innocent
maiden. For he testified here himself before all, on the word
and honor of a knight, - nay, more, by his hopes of salvation,-
that he himself was that devil which had appeared to the maiden
on the mountain in the shape of a hairy giant: for having heard
by common report that she ofttimes went thither, he greatly
desired to know what she did there, and that from fear of his
hard father he disguised himself in a wolf's skin, so that none
might know him, and he had already spent two nights there,
when on the third the maiden came; and he then saw her dig
for amber on the mountain, and that she did not call upon
Satan, but recited a Latin carmen aloud to herself. This he
would have testified at Pudgla, but from the cause aforesaid he
had not been able: moreover his father had laid his cousin, Claus
von Nienkerken, who was there on a visit, in his bed, and made
him bear false witness; for as Dom. Consul had not seen him
(I mean the young lord) for many a long year, seeing he had
studied in foreign parts, his father thought that he might easily
be deceived, which accordingly happened.
When the worthy young lord had stated this before Dom.
Consul and all the people, which flocked together on hearing that
the young lord was no ghost, I felt as though a millstone had
been taken off my heart; and seeing that the people (who had
already pulled the constable from under the cart, and crowded
round him like a swarm of bees) cried to me that he was dying,
but desired first to confess somewhat to me, I jumped from the
cart as lightly as a young bachelor, and called to Dom. Consul


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
9861
>>
and the young lord to go with me, seeing that I could easily
guess what he had on his mind. He sat upon a stone, and the
blood gushed from his side like a fountain, now that they had
drawn out the sword; he whimpered on seeing me, and said that
he had in truth hearkened behind the door to all that old Liz-
zie had confessed to me, namely, that she herself, together with
the sheriff, had worked all the witchcraft on man and beast, to
frighten my poor child and force her to play the wanton. That
he had hidden this, seeing that the sheriff had promised him
a great reward for so doing; but that he would now confess it
freely, since God had brought my child her innocence to light.
Wherefore he besought my child and myself to forgive him.
And when Dom. Consul shook his head, and asked whether he
would live and die on the truth of this confession, he answered,
“Yes! ) and straightway fell on his side to the earth and gave
up the ghost.
Meanwhile time hung heavy with the people on the mountain,
who had come from Coserow, from Zitze, from Gnitze, etc. , to
see my child burnt; and they all came running down the hill
in long rows like geese, one after the other, to see what had
happened. And among them was my ploughman, Claus Neels.
When the worthy fellow saw and heard what had befallen us,
he began to weep aloud for joy; and straightway he too told
what he had heard the sheriff say to old Lizzie in the garden,
and how he had promised a pig in the room of her own little
pig, which she had herself bewitched to death in order to bring
my child into evil repute. Summa: all that I have noted above,
and which till datum he had kept to himself for fear of the
question. Hereat all the people marveled, and greatly bewailed
her misfortunes; and many came, among them old Paasch, and
would have kissed my daughter her hands and feet, as also mine
own, and praised us now as much as they had before reviled us.
But thus it ever is with the people. Wherefore my departed
father used to say:-
“The people's hate is death;
Their love a passing breath! ”
My dear gossip ceased not from fondling my child, holding her
in his lap, and weeping over her like a father (for I could not
have wept more myself than he wept). Howbeit she herself wept
not, but begged the young lord to send one of his horsemen


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
to her faithful old maid-servant at Pudgla, to tell her what had
befallen us, which he straightway did to please her. But the
worshipful court (for Dom. Camerarius and the scriba had now
plucked up a heart, and had come down from the coach) was not
yet satisfied, and Dom. Consul began to tell the young lord about
the bewitched bridge, which none other save my daughter could
have bewitched. Hereto the young lord gave answer that this
was indeed a strange thing, inasmuch as his own horse had also
broken a leg thereon; whereupon he had taken the sheriff his
horse, which he saw tied up at the mill: but he did not think
that this could be laid to the charge of the maiden, but that it
came about by natural means, as he had half discovered already,
although he had not had time to search the matter thoroughly.
Wherefore he besought the worshipful court and all the people,
together with my child herself, to return back thither, where,
with God's help, he would clear her from this suspicion also, and
prove her perfect innocence before them all.
Thereunto the worshipful court agreed; and the young lord,
having given the sheriff his gray charger to my ploughman to
carry the corpse, which had been laid across the horse's neck, to
Coserow, the young lord got into the cart by us, but did not
seat himself beside my child, but backward by my dear gossip.
Moreover, he bade one of his own people drive us instead of
the old coachman, and thus we turned back in God his name.
Custos Benzensis, who with the children had run in among the
vetches by the wayside (my defunct Custos would not have done
so, he had more courage), went on before again with the young
folks; and by command of his reverence the pastor led the Am-
brosian Te Deum, which deeply moved us all, more especially
my child, insomuch that her book was wetted with her tears,
and she at length laid it down and said, at the same time giving
her hand to the young lord, “How can I thank God and you for
that which you have done for me this day? ” Whereupon the
young lord answered, saying, "I have greater cause to thank
God than yourself, sweet maid, seeing that you have suffered in
your dungeon unjustly, but I justly, inasmuch as by my thought-
lessness I brought this misery upon you. Believe me that this
morning, when in my donjon-keep I first heard the sound of
the dead-bell, I thought to have died; and when it tolled for the
third time, I should have gone distraught in my grief, had not
the Almighty God at that moment taken the life of my strange
(


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
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>>
»
(
father, so that your innocent life should be saved by me. Where-
fore I have vowed a new tower, and whatsoe'er beside may be
needful, to the blessed house of God; for naught more bitter
could have befallen me on earth than your death, sweet maid,
and naught more sweet than your life! ”
But at these words my child only wept and sighed; and when
he looked on her, she cast down her eyes and trembled, so that
I straightway perceived that my sorrows were not yet come to an
end, but that another barrel of tears was just tapped for me; and
so indeed it was. Moreover, the ass of a Custos, having finished
the Te Deum before we were come to the bridge, straightway
struck up the next following hymn, which was a funeral one,
beginning “The body let us now inter. ” (God be praised that
no harm has come of it till datum. ) My beloved gossip rated
him not a little, and threatened him that for his stupidity he
should not get the money for the shoes which he had promised
him out of the Church dues. But my child comforted him, and
promised him a pair of shoes at her own charges, seeing that
peradventure a funeral hymn was better for her than a song of
gladness.
And when this vexed the young lord, and he said, “How
now, sweet maid, you know not how enough to thank God and
me for your rescue, and yet you speak thus ? ” she answered,
smiling sadly, that she had only spoken thus to comfort the poor
Custos. But I straightway saw that she was in earnest; for that
she felt that although she had escaped one fire, she already
burned in another.
Meanwhile we come to the bridge again; and all the
folks stood still, and gazed open-mouthed, when the young lord
jumped down from the cart, and after stabbing his horse, which
still lay kicking on the bridge, went on his knees, and felt here
and there with his hand. At length he called to the worshipful
court to draw near, for that he had found out the witchcraft.
But none save Dom. Consul and a few fellows out of the crowd,
among whom was old Paasch, would follow him; item, my dear
gossip and myself: and the young lord showed us a lump of tal-
low about the size of a large walnut which lay on the ground,
and wherewith the whole bridge had been smeared, so that it
looked quite white, but which all the folks in their fright had
taken for flour out of the mill; itein, with some other materia
which stunk like fitchock's dung, but what it was we could not
were


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
find out. Soon after a fellow found another bit of tallow, and
showed it to the people; whereupon I cried, “Aha! none hath
· done this but that ungodly miller's man, in revenge for the
stripes which the sheriff gave him for reviling my child. ” Where-
upon I told what he had done, and Dom. Consul, who also had
heard thereof, straightway sent for the miller.
He, however, did as though he knew naught of the matter;
and only said that his man had left his service about an hour
ago. But a young lass, the miller's maid-servant, said that that
very morning before daybreak, when she had got up to let out
the cattle, she had seen the man scouring the bridge; but that
she had given it no further heed, and had gone to sleep for
another hour, and she pretended to know no more than the
miller whither the rascal was gone. When the young lord had
heard this news, he got up into the cart and began to address
the people, seeking to persuade them no longer to believe in
witchcraft, now that they had seen what it really was. When I
heard this, I was horror-stricken (as was but right) in my con-
science as a priest, and I got upon the cart-wheel, and whispered
into his ear for God his sake to leave this materia; seeing that
if the people no longer feared the Devil, neither would they fear
our Lord God.
The dear young lord forthwith did as I would have him, and
only asked the people whether they now held my child to be
perfectly innocent ? and when they had answered «Yes! ” he
begged them to go quietly home, and to thank God that he
had saved innocent blood. That he too would now return home,
and that he hoped that none would molest me and my child if
he let us return to Coserow alone. Hereupon he turned hastily
towards her, took her hand, and said, "Farewell, sweet maid:
I trust that I shall soon clear your honor before the world; but
do you thank God therefor, not ine. ” He then did the like to
me and to my dear gossip, whereupon he jumped down from the
cart and went and sat beside Dom. Consul in his coach. The
latter also spake a few words to the people, and likewise begged
my child and me to forgive him (and I must say it to his honor
that the tears ran down his cheeks the while); but he was so
hurried by the young lord that he brake short his discourse, and
they drove off over the little bridge without so much as looking
back. Only Dom. Consul looked round once, and called out to
me that in his hurry he had forgotten to tell the executioner
C


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
9865
that no
one was to be burned to-day: I was therefore to send
the churchwarden of Uekeritze up the inountain, to say so in his
name; the which I did. And the bloodhound was still on the
mountain, albeit he had long since heard what had befallen;
and when the bailiff gave him the orders of the worshipful court,
he began to curse so fearfully that it might have awakened the
dead; moreover he plucked off his cap and trampled it under foot,
so that any one might have guessed what he felt.
But to return to ourselves. My child sat as still and as white
as a pillar of salt after the young lord had left her so suddenly
and so unawares; but she was somewhat comforted when the
old maid-servant came running with her coats tucked up to her
knees, and carrying her shoes and stockings in her hands. We
heard her afar off, as the mill had stopped, blubbering for joy;
and she fell at least three times on the bridge, but at last she
got over safe, and kissed now mine and now my child her hands
and feet; begging us only not to turn her away, but to keep her
until her life's end; the which we promised to do. She had to
climb up behind where the impudent constable had sat, seeing
that my dear gossip would not leave me until I should be back
in mine own manse. And as the young lord his servant had got
up behind the coach, old Paasch drove us home, and all the folks
who had waited till datum ran beside the cart, praising and pity-
ing as much as they had before scorned and reviled us. Scarce
however had we passed through Uekeritze, when we again heard
cries of —«Here comes the young lord, here comes the young
lord ! ” so that my child started up for joy and became as red as
a rose; but some of the folks ran into the buckwheat by the road
again, thinking it was another ghost. It was however in truth
the young lord, who galloped up on a black horse, calling out
as he drew near us, “Notwithstanding the haste I am in, sweet
maid, I must return and give you safe-conduct home, seeing that
I have just heard that the filthy people reviled you by the way,
and I know not whether you are yet safe. ” Hereupon he urged
old Paasch to mend his pace; and as his kicking and trampling
did not even make the horses trot, the young lord struck the
saddle-horse from time to time with the flat of his sword, so that
soon reached the village and the manse. Howbeit when I
prayed him to dismount awhile, he would not, but excused him-
self, saying that he must still ride through Usedom to Anclam;
but charged old Paasch, who was our bailiff, to watch over my
we


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JOHANN WILHELM MEINHOLD
child as the apple of his eye, and should anything unusual hap-
pen he was straightway to inform the town-clerk at Pudgla, or
Dom. Consul at Usedom, thereof. And when Paasch had promised
to do this, he waved his hand to us and galloped off as fast as
he could.
But before he got round the corner by Pagel his house, he
turned back for the third time; and when we wondered thereat,
he said we must forgive him, seeing his thoughts wandered
to-day.
That I had formerly told him that I still had my patent of
nobility, the which he begged me to lend him for a time. Here-
upon I answered that I must first seek for it, and that he had
best dismount the while. But he would not, and again excused
himself, saying he had no time. He therefore stayed without
the door until I brought him the patent; whereupon he thanked
me and said, “Do not wonder hereat: you will soon see what my
purpose is. ” Whereupon he struck his spurs into his horse's sides
and did not come back again.
Translation of Lady Duff-Gordon.


## p. 9867 (#275) ###########################################

9867
HERMAN MELVILLE
(1819-1891)
N 1846 appeared a volume of travel and adventure called
(Typee,' with the name of Herman Melville on the title-
page. It created a stir, which in these days would be
called a sensation, which speedily spread to England.
What was
Typee ? What was this South Sea island ? Did it exist, with its soft
airs and compliant people, only in romance ? The romantic name
«Herman Melville » must be only a nom de plume. The critics and
the newspapers took up the mystery and tossed it about. Was the
whole thing an invention of a clever ro-
mancer? Was there any such person as
Melville and his sailor comrade “Toby” ?
The newspapers were facetious about the
latter, and headed their paragraphs “To Be
or not To Be. ” It was a great relief when
one day the veritable sailor Toby turned
up in Buffalo, New York, and inade affirma-
tion to the truth of the whole narrative.
(Typee' was the first of the long line
of books of travel, adventure, and romance
about the South Seas; and Fayaway was
the first of the Polynesian maidens to at-
tract the attention of the world. The book HERMAN MELVILLE
not only opened a new world, but it gave
new terms — like taboo — to our language. It led the way to a host
of other writers, among whom recently are Pierre Loti and Steven-
son. The Mariage de Loti, in its incidents and romanticism, copies
(Typee. It is not probable, however, that Pierre Loti ever saw Mel-
ville's book, or he would not have made such an imitation.
Herman Melville, son of a New York merchant, and born in that
city in October 1819, in a state of life which hedged him about
with a thousand social restrictions, early came to live in the all,” as
Goethe has it; though Melville himself put the transformation much
later, when he broke away from home, became a sailor on a whal-
ing vessel, and there endured innumerable hardships and cruelties.
Finally escaping from his tyrants, he reached the Marquesas Islands,



## p. 9868 (#276) ###########################################

9868
HERMAN MELVILLE
(
where he enjoyed strange adventures for many months,- a captive
in a tribe of cannibals in the Typee Valley. An Australian ship
having taken him aboard, he returned home, the hero of strange
tales which he at once chronicled in the romances (Typee) (1846)
and Omoo) (1847). No sooner were these volumes published than
his promise of lasting fame “was voluble in the mouths of wisest
censure, while his actual success put him in the first rank of Amer-
ican authors at the age of twenty-six. But for some mysterious rea-
son (for most of his other books were written on the subject which
inspired (Typee) and (Omoo,' and were possessed with the same
enthusiasm) Moby Dick,' published when he was only thirty-two
years old, disclosed that he had come to the last leaf in the bulb. ”
He wrote several books afterwards, musings and stories, and three
volumes of poems which just miss the mark. Mr. R. H. Stoddard, his
kindly and sympathetic critic, said of him that he thought like a
poet, saw like a poet, felt like a poet; but never attained any pro-
ficiency in verse, because, though there was a wealth of imagination
in his mind, it was an untrained imagination, and "a world of the
stuff out of which poetry is made, but no poetry, which is creation,
not chaos. ”
At one time Melville and Hawthorne were near neighbors,— when
Hawthorne lived on the brink of Stockbridge pool, and Melville at
Lenox; and it is possible that each was influenced by the genius of
the other. Mr. Stoddard thinks there were dark, mysterious elements
in Melville's nature akin to those that possessed Hawthorne; but that
unlike Hawthorne, Melville did not control his melancholy, letting it
rather lead him into morbid moods. Certainly, in the days of 'Omoo'
and “Typee' Melville exhibited no such traits; but he had probably,
like Emily Bronté, “an intense and glowing mind” to see everything
through its own atmosphere.
Really to know Melville the man, it is
necessary to read the letters that passed between Hawthorne and
himself, which are printed in Mr. Julian Hawthorne's memoir of his
parents. There Melville pours out his sad strange views of life, which
on the whole had treated him kindly, given him a success which
would have intoxicated another man with joy, and the promise of
favors to come.
His later years were passed in the world of thought rather than
of action. He published nothing; and New York, his old camping-
ground, seldom knew him. But when he appeared, his gray figure,
gray hair and coloring, and piercing gray eyes, marked him to the
most casual observer. Though a man of moods, he had a peculiarly
winning and interesting personality, suggesting Laurence Oliphant in
his gentle deference to an opponent's conventional opinion while he
expressed the wildest and most emancipated ideas of his own.


## p. 9869 (#277) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9869
Herman Melville died in New York, September 28th, 1891; and in
his death he was revived in the memories of many of his old-time
associates and admirers, to whom his personality had become shad-
owy, but who still regarded Omoo' and (Typee) as landmarks in
American literature.
The Marquesas Islands, when Melville visited them, were virgin
soil; the report that their inhabitants were cannibals having kept
the country safe from the invading tourist. Melville soon ingratiated
himself with the gentle creatures who ate human beings, as Emer-
son's savage kills his enemy, only out of pure compliment to their
virtues, fancying that the qualities of a great antagonist will pass into
his conqueror.
The feminine element came in to add romance; and
though a human soul, even that of a South Sea Islander, is always
more interesting than all the coral reefs and the cocoanut palms in
the world, and Melville's beautiful heroines are a little too subsidiary
to scenery, the critic must remember that the primitive woman is a
thing of traits, not of peculiarities, and therefore alike the world over.
We should therefore judge him not too harshly because there is
little character-drawing in his romances; and be thankful to breathe
as he makes us breathe — the soft airs, see the blue sky, and visit
the coral caves, of the South Seas. His great advantage is in placing
his stories in a sort of poetic or fairy precinct, where the groves are
sylvan haunts and the very names full of romance; while his dramatis
persona, if not marked, are a people gentle but lofty, eloquent, and
full of poetry and hospitality. All this he embodied in his first nov-
els; and although he had the advantage of breaking ground,” as
the farmers say, he had to compete not with the literature of a new
country, but with the prejudices of a new country against anything
not produced in the old. Omoo's charms, however, penetrated the
conservatism of Blackwood and the Edinburgh Review; while his
confrères — Lowell, Hawthorne, Bayard Taylor, and the rest
proud of his recognition abroad.
A re-reading does not destroy the illusion of his reputation. The
spirit of his books is as fresh and penetrating as when they were
first written, his genius keeping for him the secret of eternal youth.
His vocabulary is perhaps too large, too fluent; it has been called
unliterary: but what he lacks in conciseness is atoned for in spon-
taneity. And although his romances are permeated with languid airs
and indolent odors, and although flower-decked maidens turn their
brown shoulders and their soft eyes to the captive hero, the books
have a healthy, manly ring as far from sensuousness as from auster-
ity; the reader knows that after all it is a captive's tale, and that
one day, when the winds blow to stir him to action, he will sail away
to a more bracing clime.
(
were


## p. 9870 (#278) ###########################################

9870
HERMAN MELVILLE
A TYPEE HOUSEHOLD
From (Typee
M
EHEVI having now departed, and the family physician having
likewise made his exit, we were left about sunset with
the ten or twelve natives who by this time I had ascer-
tained composed the household of which Toby and I were mem-
bers. As the dwelling to which we had been first introduced
was the place of my permanent abode while I remained in the
valley, and as I was necessarily placed upon the most intimate
footing with its occupants, I may as well here enter into a little
description of it and its inhabitants. This description will apply
also to nearly all the other dwelling-places in the vale, and will
furnish some idea of the generality of the natives.
Near one side of the valley, and about midway up the ascent
of a rather abrupt rise of ground waving with the richest ver-
dure, a number of large stones were laid in successive courses to
the height of nearly eight feet, and disposed in such a manner
that their level surface corresponded in shape with the habita-
tion which was perched upon it. A narrow space however was
reserved in front of the dwelling, upon the summit of this pile
of stones (called by the natives a "pi-pi”), which being inclosed
by a little pocket of canes gave it somewhat the appearance of
a veranda. The frame of the house was constructed of large
bamboos planted uprightly, and secured together at intervals by
transverse stalks of the light wood of the hibiscus, lashed with
thongs of bark. The rear of the tenement — built up with suc-
cessive ranges of cocoanut boughs bound one upon another, with
their leaflets cunningly woven together — inclined a little from
the vertical, and extended from the extreme edge of the “pi-pi”
to about twenty feet from its surface; whence the shelving roof,
thatched with the long tapering leaves of the palmetto, sloped
steeply off to within about five feet of the floor, leaving the
eaves drooping with tassel-like appendages over the front of the
habitation. This was constructed of light and elegant canes,
in a kind of open screen-work, tastefully adorned with bindings
of variegated sinnate, which served to hold together its various
parts. The sides of the house were similarly built; thus present-
ing three quarters for the circulation of the air, while the whole
was impervious to the rain.


## p. 9871 (#279) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9871
In length this picturesque building was perhaps twelve yards,
while in breadth it could not have exceeded as many feet. So
much for the exterior; which with its wire-like reed-twisted sides
not a little reminded me of an immense aviary.
Stooping a little, you passed through a narrow aperture in its
front: and facing you on entering, lay two long, perfectly straight,
and well-polished trunks of the cocoanut-tree, extending the full
length of the dwelling; one of them placed closely against the
rear, and the other lying parallel with it some two yards distant,
the interval between them being spread with a multitude of gayly
worked mats, nearly all of a different pattern. This space formed
the common couch and lounging-place of the natives, answering
the purpose of a divan in Oriental countries. Here would they
slumber through the hours of the night, and recline luxuriously
during the greater part of the day. The remainder of the floor
presented only the cool shining surfaces of the large stones of
which the pi-pi” was composed.
From the ridge-pole of the house hung suspended a number
of large packages enveloped in coarse tappa; some of which con-
tained festival dresses, and various other matters of the ward-
robe, held in high estimation. These were easily accessible by
means of a line, which, passing over the ridge-pole, had one end
attached to a bundle; while with the other, which led to the side
of the dwelling and was there secured, the package could be
lowered or elevated at pleasure.
Against the farther wall of the house were arranged in taste-
ful figures a variety of spears and javelins, and other implements
of savage warfare. Outside of the habitation, and built upon the
piazza-like area in its front, was a little shed used as a sort of
larder or pantry, and in which were stored various articles of
domestic use and convenience. A few yards from the “pi-pi”
was a large shed built of cocoanut boughs, where the process of
preparing the “poee-poee” was carried on, and all culinary oper-
ations attended to.
Thus much for the house and its appurtenances; and it will
be readily acknowledged that a more commodious and appropriate
dwelling for the climate and the people could not possibly be de.
vised. It was cool, free to admit the air, scrupulously clean, and
elevated above the dampness and impurities of the ground.
But now to sketch the inmates; and here I claim for my tried
servitor and faithful valet Kory-Kory the precedence of a first


## p. 9872 (#280) ###########################################

9872
HERMAN MELVILLE
description. As his character will be gradually unfolded in the
course of my narrative, I shall for the present content myself
with delineating his personal appearance. Kory-Kory, though the
most devoted and best-natured serving-man in the world, was,
alas! a hideous object to look upon. He was some twenty-five
years of age, and about six feet in height, robust and well made,
and of the most extraordinary aspect. His head was carefully
shaven, with the exception of two circular spots, about the size
of a dollar, near the top of the cranium, where the hair, per-
mitted to grow of an amazing length, was twisted up in two
prominent knots, that gave him the appearance of being deco-
rated with a pair of horns. His beard, plucked out by the roots
from every other part of his face, was suffered to droop in hairy
pendants, two of which garnished his upper lip, and an equal
number hung from the extremity of his chin.
Kory-Kory, with a view of improving the handiwork of nature,
and perhaps prompted by a desire to add to the engaging ex-
pression of his countenance, had seen fit to embellish his face
with three broad longitudinal stripes of tattooing, which, like
those country roads that go straight forward in defiance of all
obstacles, crossed his nasal organ, descended into the hollow of
his eyes, and even skirted the borders of his mouth. Each com-
pletely spanned his physiognomy; one extending in a line with
his eyes, another crossing the face in the vicinity of the nose,
and the third sweeping along his lips from ear to ear. His
countenance thus triply hooped, as it were, with tattooing, always
reminded me of those unhappy wretches whom I have sometimes
observed gazing out sentimentally from behind the grated bars
of a prison window; whilst the entire body of my savage valet,
covered all over with representations of birds and fishes, and a
variety of most unaccountable-looking creatures, suggested to me
the idea of a pictorial museum of natural history, or an illus-
trated copy of Goldsmith's Animated Nature. '
But it seems really heartless in me to write thus of the poor
islander, when I owe perhaps to his unremitting attentions the
very existence I now enjoy. Kory-Kory, I mean thee no harm
in what I say in regard to thy outward adornings; but they were
a little curious to my unaccustomed sight, and therefore I dilate
But to underrate or forget thy faithful services is
something I could never be guilty of, even in the giddiest mo-
ment of my life.
upon them.


## p. 9873 (#281) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9873
The father of my attached follower was a native of gigantic
frame, and had once possessed prodigious physical powers; but
the lofty form was now yielding to the inroads of time, though
the hand of disease seemed never to have been laid upon the
aged warrior. Marheyo — for such was his name - appeared to
have retired from all active participation in the affairs of the
valley, seldom or never accompanying the natives in their vari-
ous expeditions; and employing the greater part of his time in
throwing up a little shed just outside the house, upon which he
was engaged to my certain knowledge for four months, without
appearing to make any sensible advance. I suppose the old gen-
tleman was in his dotage, for he manifested in various ways the
characteristics which mark this particular stage of life.
I remember in particular his having a choice pair of ear
ornaments, fabricated from the teeth of some sea-monster. These
he would alternately wear and take off at least fifty times in the
course of the day, going and coming from his little hut on each
occasion with all the tranquillity imaginable. Sometimes slipping
them through the slits in his ears, he would seize his spear,
which in length and slightness resembled a fishing-pole — and
go stalking beneath the shadows of the neighboring groves, as if
about to give a hostile meeting to some cannibal knight. But
he would soon return again, and hiding his weapon under the
projecting eaves of the house, and rolling his clumsy trinkets
carefully in a piece of tappa, would resume his more pacific
operations as quietly as if he had never interrupted them.
But despite his eccentricities, Marheyo was a most paternal
and warm-hearted old fellow, and in this particular not a little
resembled his son Kory-Kory. The mother of the latter was the
mistress of the family,- and a notable housewife; and a most
industrious old lady she was. If she did not understand the art
of making jellies, jams, custards, tea-cakes, and such like trashy
affairs, she was profoundly skilled in the mysteries of preparing
“amar, poee-poee,” and “kokoo,” with other substantial mat-
ters. She was a genuine busybody: bustling about the house
like a country landlady at an unexpected arrival; forever giving
the young girls tasks to perform, which the little huzzies as often
neglected; poking into every corner and rummaging over bun-
dles of old tappa, or making a prodigious clatter among the cala-
bashes. Sometimes she might have been seen squatting upon
her haunches in front of a huge wooden basin, and kneading
XV11-618
(
»


## p. 9874 (#282) ###########################################

9874
HERMAN MELVILLE
poee-poee with terrific vehemence, dashing the stone pestle about
as if she would shiver the vessel into fragments; on other occas-
ions galloping about the valley in search of a particular kind of
leaf used in some of her recondite operations, and returning
home, toiling and sweating, with a bundle of it under which
most women would have sunk.
To tell the truth, Kory-Kory's mother was the only indus-
trious person in all the valley of Typee; and she could not have
employed herself more actively had she been left an exceedingly
muscular and destitute widow with an inordinate supply of young
children, in the bleakest part of the civilized world. There was
not the slightest necessity for the greater portion of the labor
performed by the old lady: but she seemed to work from some
irresistible impulse; her limbs continually swaying to and fro,
as if there were some indefatigable engine concealed within her
body which kept her in perpetual motion.
Never suppose that she was a termagant or a shrew for all
this: she had the kindliest heart in the world, and acted towards
me in particular in a truly maternal manner; occasionally putting
some little morsel of choice food into my hand, some outlandish
kind of savage sweetmeat or pastry, like a doting mother petting
a sickly urchin with tarts and sugar-plums. Warm indeed are
my remembrances of the dear, good, affectionate old Tinor!
Besides the individuals I have mentioned, there belonged to
the household three young men,- dissipated, good-for-nothing,
roystering blades of savages, - who were either employed in
,
prosecuting love affairs with the maidens of the tribe, or grew
boozy on "arva” and tobacco in the company of congenial spir-
its, the scapegraces of the valley.
Among the permanent inmates of the house were likewise
several lovely damsels, who instead of thrumming pianos and read-
ing novels, like more enlightened young ladies, substituted for
these employments the manufacture of a fine species of tappa;
but for the greater portion of the time were skipping from
house to house, gadding and gossiping with their acquaintances.
From the rest of these, however, I must except the beauteous
nymph Fayaway, who was my peculiar favorite. Her free pliant
figure was the very perfection of female grace and beauty. Her
complexion was a rich and mantling olive; and when watching
the glow upon her cheeks, I could almost swear that beneath the
transparent medium there lurked the blushes of a faint vermilion.


## p. 9875 (#283) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9875
(C
The face of this girl was a rounded oval, and each feature as
perfectly formed as the heart or imagination of man could desire.
Her full lips, when parted with a smile, disclosed teeth of a daz-
zling whiteness; and when her rosy mouth opened with a burst
of merriment, they looked like the milk-white seeds of the “arta,”
-a fruit of the valley which, when cleft in twain, shows them
reposing in rows on either side, imbedded in the rich and juicy
pulp. Her hair of the deepest brown, parted irregularly in the
middle, flowed in natural ringlets over her shoulders, and when-
ever she chanced to stoop, fell over and hid from view her
lovely bosom. Gazing into the depths of her strange blue eyes,
when she was in a contemplative mood, they seemed most placid
yet unfathomable; but when illuminated by some lively emotion,
they beamed upon the beholder like stars. The hands of Faya-
way were as soft and delicate as those of any countess; for an
entire exemption from rude labor marks the girlhood and even
prime of a Typee woman's life. Her feet, though wholly ex-
posed, were as diminutive and fairly shaped as those which peep
from beneath the skirts of a Lima lady's dress. The skin of this
young creature, from continual ablutions and the use of mollifying
ointments, was inconceivably smooth and soft.
I may succeed, perhaps, in particularizing some of the indi-
vidual features of Fayaway's beauty; but that general loveliness
of appearance which they all contributed to produce I will not
attempt to describe.
The easy unstudied graces of a child of
nature like this - breathing from infancy an atmosphere of per-
petual summer, and nurtured by the simple fruits of the earth,
enjoying a perfect freedom from care and anxiety, and removed
effectually from all injurious tendencies -- strike the eye in a
manner which cannot be portrayed. This picture is no fancy
sketch: it is drawn from the most vivid recollections of the per-
son delineated.
Were I asked if the beauteous form of Fayaway was alto-
gether free from the hideous blemish of tattooing, I should be
constrained to answer that it was not. But the practitioners of
the barbarous art, so remorseless in their inflictions upon the
brawny limbs of the warriors of the tribe, seem to be conscious
that it needs not the resources of their profession to augment
the charms of the maidens of the vale.
The females are very little embellished in this way; and Fay-
away, with all the other young girls of her age, were even less


## p. 9876 (#284) ###########################################

9876
HERMAN MELVILLE
so than those of their sex more advanced in years. The reason
of this peculiarity will be alluded to hereafter. All the tattooing
that the nymph in question exhibited upon her person may be
easily described. Three minute dots, no bigger than pin-heads,
decorated either lip, and at a little distance were not at all dis-
cernible. Just upon the fall of the shoulder were drawn two
parallel lines, half an inch apart and perhaps three inches in
length, the interval being filled with delicately executed figures.
These narrow bands of tattooing, thus placed, always reminded
me of those stripes of gold lace worn by officers in undress, and
which were in lieu of epaulettes to denote their rank.
Thus much was Fayaway tattooed — the audacious hand which
had gone so far in its desecrating work stopping short, appar-
ently wanting the heart to proceed.
But I have omitted to describe the dress worn by this nymph
of the valley.
Fayaway - I must avow the fact — for the most part clung to
the primitive and summer garb of Eden. But how becoming the
costume! It showed her fine figure to the best possible advan-
tage, and nothing could have been better adapted to her peculiar
style of beauty. On ordinary occasion she was habited precisely
as I have described the two youthful savages whom we had met
on first entering the valley. At other times, when rambling
among the groves, or visiting at the houses of her acquaintances,
she wore a tunic of white tappa, reaching from her waist to a
little below the knees; and when exposed for any length of time
to the sun, she invariably protected herself from its rays by a
floating mantle of the same material, loosely gathered about the
person. Her gala dress will be described hereafter.
As the beauties of our own land delight in bedecking them-
selves with fanciful articles of jewelry, - suspending them from
their ears, hanging them about their necks, clasping them around
their wrists, --so Fayaway and her companions were in the habit
of ornamenting themselves with similar appendages.
Flora was their jeweler. Sometimes they wore necklaces of
small carnation flowers, strung like rubies upon a fibre of tappa;
or displayed in their ears a single white bud, the stem thrust
backward through the aperture, and showing in front the deli-
cate petals folded together in a beautiful sphere, and looking like
a drop of the purest pearl. Chaplets too, resembling in their
arrangement the strawberry coronal worn by an English peeress,


## p. 9877 (#285) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9877
and composed of intertwined leaves and blossoms, often crowned
their temples; and bracelets and anklets of the same tasteful
pattern were frequently to be seen. Indeed, the maidens of the
islands were passionately fond of flowers, and never wearied of
decorating their persons with them; a lovely trait in their char-
acter, and one that ere long will be more fully alluded to.
Though in my eyes, at least, Fayaway was indisputably the
loveliest female I saw in Typee, yet the description I have given
of her will in some measure apply to nearly all the youthful
portion of her sex in the valley. Judge you then, reader, what
beautiful creatures they must have been.
FAYAWAY IN THE CANOE
From Typee
FM
OR the life of me I could not understand why a woman should
not have as much right to enter a canoe as a man. At last
he became a little more rational, and intimated that, out
of the abundant love he bore me, he would consult with the
priests and see what could be done.
How it was that the priesthood of Typee satisfied the affair
with their consciences, I know not; but so it was, and Fayaway's
dispensation from this portion of the taboo was at length pro-
cured. Such an event I believe never before had occurred in
the valley; but it was high time the islanders should be taught
a little gallantry, and I trust that the example I set them may
produce beneficial effects. Ridiculous, indeed, that the lovely
creatures should be obliged to paddle about in the water like so
many ducks, while a parcel of great strapping fellows skimmed
over its surface in their canoes.
The first day after Fayaway's emancipation I had a delightful
little party on the lake – the damsel, Kory-Kory, and myself.
My zealous body-servant brought from the house a calabash of
poee-poee, half a dozen young cocoanuts stripped of their husks,
three pipes, as many yams, and me on his back a part of the
way. Something of a load; but Kory-Kory was a very strong
man for his size, and by no means brittle in the spine. We had
a very pleasant day; my trusty valet plied the paddle and swept
us gently along the margin of the water, beneath the shades of


## p. 9878 (#286) ###########################################

9878
HERMAN MELVILLE
the overhanging thickets. Fayaway and I reclined in the stern
of the canoe, on the very best terms possible with one another;
the gentle nymph occasionally placing her pipe to her lip and
exhaling the mild fumes of the tobacco, to which her rosy
breath added a fresh perfume. Strange as it may seem, there
is nothing in which a young and beautiful female appears to
more advantage than in the act of smoking. How captivating is
a Peruvian lady swinging in her gayly woven hammock of grass,
extended between two orange-trees, and inhaling the fragrance of
a choice cigarro! But Fayaway, holding in her delicately formed
olive hand the long yellow reed of her pipe, with its quaintly
carved bowl, and every few moments languishingly giving forth
light wreaths of vapor from her mouth and nostrils, looked still
more engaging
We floated about thus for several hours, when I looked up to
the warm, glowing, tropical sky, and then down into the trans-
parent depths below; and when my eye, wandering from the
bewitching scenery around, fell upon the grotesquely tattooed
form of Kory-Kory, and finally encountered the pensive gaze of
Fayaway, I thought I had been transported to some fairy region,
so unreal did everything appear.
This lovely piece of water was the coolest spot in all the val.
ley, and I now made it a place of continual resort during the
hottest period of the day. One side of it lay near the termina-
tion of a long, gradually expanding gorge, which mounted to the
heights that environed the vale. The strong trade-wind, met in
its course by these elevations, circled and eddied about their
summits, and was sometimes driven down the steep ravine and
swept across the valley, ruffling in its passage the otherwise tran-
quil surface of the lake.
One day, after we had been paddling about for some time,
I disembarked Kory-Kory and paddled the canoe to the wind-
ward side of the lake. As I turned the canoe, Fayaway, who was
with me, seemed all at to be struck with some happy
idea. With a wild exclamation of delight, she disengaged from
her person the ample robe of tappa which was knotted over
her shoulder (for the purpose of shielding her from the sun), and
spreading it out like a sail, stood erect with upraised arms in the
head of the canoe. We American sailors pride ourselves upon
our straight clean spars, but a prettier little mast than Fayaway
made was never shipped aboard of any craft.
once


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HERMAN MELVILLE
9879
In a moment the tappa was distended by the breeze, the long
brown tresses of Fayaway streamed in the air, and the canoe
glided rapidly through the water and shot towards the shore.
Seated in the stern, I directed its course with my paddle until
it dashed up the soft sloping bank, and Fayaway with a light
spring alighted on the ground; whilst Kory-Kory, who had
watched our mancuvres with admiration, now clapped his hands
in transport and shouted like a madman. Many a time after-
wards was this feat repeated.
THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE TYPEES
From (Typee)
I
(
»
HAVE already mentioned that the influence exerted over the
people of the valley by their chiefs was mild in the extreme;
and as to any general rule or standard of conduct by which
the commonalty were governed in their intercourse with each
other, so far as my observation extended, I should be almost
tempted to say that none existed on the island, except indeed
the mysterious Taboo be considered as such. During the time
I lived among the Typees, no one was ever put upon his trial
for any offense against the public. To all appearances there
were no courts of law or equity. There were no municipal police
for the purpose of apprehending vagrants and disorderly charac-
ters. In short, there were no legal provisions whatever for the
well-being and conservation of society, the enlightened end of
civilized legislation. And yet everything went on in the valley
with a harmony and smoothness unparalleled, I will venture to
assert, in the most select, refined, and pious associations of mor-
tals in Christendom. How are we to explain this enigma? These
islanders were heathens! savages! ay, cannibals! and how came
they, without the aid of established law, to exhibit in so emi-
nent a degree that social order which is the greatest blessing
and highest pride of the social state?
It may reasonably be inquired, How were these people gov-
erned? how were their passions controlled in their every-day
transactions? It must have been by an inherent principle of
honesty and charity towards each other. They seemed to be
governed by that sort of tacit common-sense law, which, say what
they will of the inborn lawlessness of the human race, has its


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9880
HERMAN MELVILLE
precepts graven on every breast. The grand principles of virtue
and honor, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes,
are the same all the world over; and where these principles are
concerned, the right or wrong of any action appears the same
to the uncultivated as to the enlightened mind. It is to this
indwelling, this universally diffused perception of what is just and
noble, that the integrity of the Marquesans in their intercourse
with each other is to be attributed. In the darkest nights they
slept securely, with all their worldly wealth around them, in
houses the doors of which were never fastened. The disquiet-
ing ideas of theft or assassination never disturbed them. Each
islander reposed beneath his own palmetto thatching, or sat under
his own bread-fruit tree, with none to molest or alarm him. There
was not a padlock in the valley, nor anything that answered the
purpose of one; still there was no community of goods. This
long spear, so elegantly carved and highly polished, belongs to
Wormoonoo; it is far handsomer than the one which old Marheyo
so greatly prizes,- it is the most valuable article belonging to its
owner. And yet I have seen it leaning against a cocoanut-tree
in the grove, and there it was found when sought for. Here is
a sperm-whale tooth, graven all over with cunning devices: it is
the property of Karluna; it is the most precious of the damsel's
ornaments. In her estimation its price is far above rubies. And
yet there hangs the dental jewel by its cord of braided bark
in the girl's house, which is far back in the valley; the door
is left open, and all the inmates have gone off to bathe in the
stream.
There was one admirable trait in the general character of the
Typees which, more than anything else, secured my admiration:
it was the unanimity of feeling they displayed on every occasion.
With them there hardly appeared to be any difference of opinion
upon any subject whatever. They all thought and acted alike.
.
I
do not conceive that they could support a debating society for a
single night: there would be nothing to dispute about; and were
they to call a convention to take into consideration the state of
the tribe, its session would be a remarkably short one. They
showed this spirit of unanimity in every action of life: everything
was done in concert and good-fellowship.
Not a single female took part in this employment [house-
building); and if the degree of consideration in which the ever
adorable sex is held by the men, be---as the philosophers affirm -


## p. 9881 (#289) ###########################################

HERMAN MELVILLE
9881
a just criterion of the degree of refinement among a people, then
I may truly pronounce the Typees to be as polished a commu-
nity as ever the sun shone upon. The religious restrictions of
the taboo alone excepted, the women of the valley were allowed
every possible indulgence. Nowhere are the ladies more assidu-
ously courted; nowhere are they better appreciated as the contrib-
utors to our highest enjoyments; and nowhere are they more
sensible of their power. Far different from their condition among
many rude nations, where the women are made to perform all
the work while their ungallant lords and masters lie buried in
sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt from
toil; if toil it might be called, that even in that tropical climate,
never distilled one drop of perspiration. Their light household
occupations, together with the manufacture of tappa, the platting
of mats, and the polishing of drinking-vessels, were the only em-
ployments pertaining to the women. And even these resembled
those pleasant avocations which fill up the elegant morning leis-
ure of our fashionable ladies at home. But in these occupations,
slight and agreeable though they were, the giddy young girls
very seldom engaged. Indeed, these willful, care-killing damsels
were averse to all useful employment. Like so many spoiled
beauties, they ranged through the groves, bathed in the stream,
danced, flirted, played all manner of mischievous pranks, and
passed their days in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.
During my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a sin-
gle quarrel, nor anything that in the slightest degree approached
even to a dispute. The natives appeared to form one household,
whose members were bound together by the ties of strong affec-
tion. The love of kindred I did not so much perceive, for it
seemed blended to the general love; and where all were treated
as brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell who were actually
related to each other by blood.
TABOO
From (Typee
HERE is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the
T";
and in all exists the mysterious Taboo,” restricted in its
uses to a greater or less extent. So strange and complex in its


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9882
HERMAN MELVILLE
(
>
arrangements is this remarkable system, that I have in several
cases met with individuals who after residing for years among
the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable knowl-
edge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable
to give any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I
was in the Typee valley, I perceived every hour the effects of
this all-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it.
Those effects were indeed wide-spread and universal, pervading
the most important as well as the minutest transactions of life.
The savage, in short, lives in the continual observance of its dic-
tates, which guide and control every action of his being.
For several days after entering the valley, I had been saluted
at least fifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic
word «Taboo ” shrieked in my ears, at some gross violation of
its provisions, of which I had unconsciously been guilty. The
day after our arrival I happened to hand some tobacco to Toby
over the head of a native who sat between us. He started up as
if stung by an adder; while the whole company, manifesting an
equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out «Taboo ! »
I never again perpetrated a similar piece of ill manners, which
indeed was forbidden by the canons of good breeding as well as
by the mandates of the taboo. But it was not always so easy to
perceive wherein you had contravened the spirit of this institu-
tion.