Chapter Nineteen - Page 2

Freed from apprehension on this point, and resolved to
regard the future without flinching, I flung myself anew into all
the social pleasures of the valley, and sought to bury all
regrets, and all remembrances of my previous existence in the
wild enjoyments it afforded.

In my various wanderings through the vale, and as I became better
acquainted with the character of its inhabitants, I was more and
more struck with the light-hearted joyousness that everywhere
prevailed. The minds of these simple savages, unoccupied by
matters of graver moment, were capable of deriving the utmost
delight from circumstances which would have passed unnoticed in
more intelligent communities. All their enjoyment, indeed,
seemed to be made up of the little trifling incidents of the
passing hour; but these diminutive items swelled altogether to an
amount of happiness seldom experienced by more enlightened
individuals, whose pleasures are drawn from more elevated but
rarer sources.

What community, for instance, of refined and intellectual mortals
would derive the least satisfaction from shooting pop-guns? The
mere supposition of such a thing being possible would excite
their indignation, and yet the whole population of Typee did
little else for ten days but occupy themselves with that childish
amusement, fairly screaming, too, with the delight it afforded
them.

One day I was frolicking with a little spirited urchin, some six
years old, who chased me with a piece of bamboo about three feet
long, with which he occasionally belaboured me. Seizing the
stick from him, the idea happened to suggest itself, that I might
make for the youngster, out of the slender tube, one of those
nursery muskets with which I had sometimes seen children playing.

Accordingly, with my knife I made two parallel slits in the cane
several inches in length, and cutting loose at one end the
elastic strip between them, bent it back and slipped the point
into a little notch made for the purse. Any small substance
placed against this would be projected with considerable force
through the tube, by merely springing the bent strip out of the
notch.

Had I possessed the remotest idea of the sensation this piece of
ordnance was destined to produce, I should certainly have taken
out a patent for the invention. The boy scampered away with it,
half delirious with ecstasy, and in twenty minutes afterwards I
might have been seen surrounded by a noisy crowd--venerable old
graybeards--responsible fathers of families--valiant
warriors--matrons--young men--girls and children, all holding in
their hands bits of bamboo, and each clamouring to be served
first.

For three or four hours I was engaged in manufacturing