Chapter Twenty-six - Page 2

upon the august face of
'majesty itself', and the angelic countenances of the 'princes
and princesses of the blood royal'!

Now, if the farcical puppet of a chief magistrate in the Sandwich
Islands be allowed the title of King, why should it be withheld
from the noble savage Mehevi, who is a thousand times more worthy
of the appellation? All hail, therefore, Mehevi, King of the
Cannibal Valley, and long life and prosperity to his Typeean
majesty! May Heaven for many a year preserve him, the
uncompromising foe of Nukuheva and the French, if a hostile
attitude will secure his lovely domain from the remorseless
inflictions of South Sea civilization.

Previously to seeing the Dancing Widows I had little idea that
there were any matrimonial relations subsisting in Typee, and I
should as soon have thought of a Platonic affection being
cultivated between the sexes, as of the solemn connection of man
and wife. To be sure, there were old Marheyo and Tinor, who
seemed to have a sort of nuptial understanding with one another;
but for all that, I had sometimes observed a comical-looking old
gentleman dressed in a suit of shabby tattooing, who had the
audacity to take various liberties with the lady, and that too in
the very presence of the old warrior her husband, who looked on
as good-naturedly as if nothing was happening. This behaviour,
until subsequent discoveries enlightened me, puzzled me more than
anything else I witnessed in Typee.

As for Mehevi, I had supposed him a confirmed bachelor, as well
as most of the principal chiefs. At any rate, if they had wives
and families, they ought to have been ashamed of themselves; for
sure I am, they never troubled themselves about any domestic
affairs. In truth, Mehevi seemed to be the president of a club
of hearty fellows, who kept 'Bachelor's Hall' in fine style at
the Ti. I had no doubt but that they regarded children as odious
incumbrances; and their ideas of domestic felicity were
sufficiently shown in the fact, that they allowed no meddlesome
housekeepers to turn topsy-turvy those snug little arrangements
they had made in their comfortable dwelling. I strongly
suspected however, that some of these jolly bachelors were
carrying on love intrigues with the maidens of the tribe;
although they did not appear publicly to acknowledge them. I
happened to pop upon Mehevi three or four times when he was
romping--in a most undignified manner for a warrior king--with
one of the prettiest little witches in the valley. She lived
with an old woman and a young man, in a house near Marheyo's; and
although in appearance a mere child herself, had a noble boy
about a year old, who bore a marvellous resemblance to Mehevi,
whom I should certainly