Chapter Seventeen

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

IMPROVEMENT IN HEALTH AND SPIRITS--FELICITY OF THE TYPEES--THEIR
ENJOYMENTS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF MORE ENLIGHTENED
COMMUNITIES--COMPARATIVE WICKEDNESS OF CIVILIZED AND
UNENLIGHTENED PEOPLE--A SKIRMISH IN THE MOUNTAIN WITH THE
WARRIORS OF HAPPAR

DAY after day wore on, and still there was no perceptible change
in the conduct of the islanders towards me. Gradually I lost all
knowledge of the regular recurrence of the days of the week, and
sunk insensibly into that kind of apathy which ensues after some
violent outburst of despair. My limb suddenly healed, the
swelling went down, the pain subsided, and I had every reason to
suppose I should soon completely recover from the affliction that
had so long tormented me.

As soon as I was enabled to ramble about the valley in company
with the natives, troops of whom followed me whenever I sallied
out of the house, I began to experience an elasticity of mind
which placed me beyond the reach of those dismal forebodings to
which I had so lately been a prey. Received wherever I went with
the most deferential kindness; regaled perpetually with the most
delightful fruits; ministered to by dark-eyed nymphs, and
enjoying besides all the services of the devoted Kory-Kory, I
thought that, for a sojourn among cannibals, no man could have
well made a more agreeable one.

To be sure there were limits set to my wanderings. Toward the
sea my progress was barred by an express prohibition of the
savages; and after having made two or three ineffectual attempts
to reach it, as much to gratify my curiousity as anything else, I
gave up the idea. It was in vain to think of reaching it by
stealth, since the natives escorted me in numbers wherever I
went, and not for one single moment that I can recall to mind was
I ever permitted to be alone.

The green and precipitous elevations that stood ranged around the
head of the vale where Marheyo's habitation was situated
effectually precluded all hope of escape in that quarter, even if
I could have stolen away from the thousand eyes of the savages.

But these reflections now seldom obtruded upon me; I gave myself
up to the passing hour, and if ever disagreeable thoughts arose
in my mind, I drove them away. When I looked around the verdant
recess in which I was buried, and gazed up to the summits of the
lofty eminence that hemmed me in, I was well disposed to think
that I was in the 'Happy Valley', and that beyond those heights
there was naught but a world of care and anxiety. As I extended
my wanderings in the valley and grew more familiar with the
habits of its inmates, I was fain to confess that, despite the
disadvantages of his condition, the Polynesian savage, surrounded