Chapter Sixteen

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MELANCHOLY CONDITION--OCCURRENCE AT THE TI--ANECDOTE OF
MARHEYO--SHAVING THE HEAD OF A WARRIOR

IN looking back to this period, and calling to remembrance the
numberless proofs of kindness and respect which I received from
the natives of the valley, I can scarcely understand how it was
that, in the midst of so many consolatory circumstances, my mind
should still have been consumed by the most dismal forebodings,
and have remained a prey to the profoundest melancholy. It is
true that the suspicious circumstances which had attended the
disappearance of Toby were enough of themselves to excite
distrust with regard to the savages, in whose power I felt myself
to be entirely placed, especially when it was combined with the
knowledge that these very men, kind and respectful as they were
to me, were, after all, nothing better than a set of cannibals.

But my chief source of anxiety, and that which poisoned every
temporary enjoyment, was the mysterious disease in my leg, which
still remained unabated. All the herbal applications of Tinor,
united with the severer discipline of the old leech, and the
affectionate nursing of Kory-Kory, had failed to relieve me. I
was almost a cripple, and the pain I endured at intervals was
agonizing. The unaccountable malady showed no signs of
amendment: on the contrary, its violence increased day by day,
and threatened the most fatal results, unless some powerful means
were employed to counteract it. It seemed as if I were destined
to sink under this grievous affliction, or at least that it would
hinder me from availing myself of any opportunity of escaping
from the valley.

An incident which occurred as nearly as I can estimate about
three weeks after the disappearance of Toby, convinced me that
the natives, from some reason or other, would interpose every
possible obstacle to my leaving them.

One morning there was no little excitement evinced by the people
near my abode, and which I soon discovered proceeded from a vague
report that boats, had been seen at a great distance approaching
the bay. Immediately all was bustle and animation. It so
happened that day that the pain I suffered having somewhat
abated, and feeling in much better spirits than usual, I had
complied with Kory-Kory's invitation to visit the chief Mehevi at
the place called the 'Ti', which I have before described as being
situated within the precincts of the Taboo Groves. These sacred
recesses were at no great distance from Marheyo's habitation, and
lay between it and the sea; the path that conducted to the beach
passing directly in front of the Ti, and thence skirting along
the border of the groves.

I was reposing upon the mats, within the