Typee

The word itself (taboo) is used in more than one signification.  
It is sometimes used by a parent to his child, when in the
exercise of parental authority he forbids it to perform a
particular action.  Anything opposed to the ordinary customs of
the islanders, although not expressly prohibited, is said to be
'taboo'.

The Typee language is one very difficult to be acquired; it bears
a close resemblance to the other Polynesian dialects, all of
which show a common origin.  The duplication of words, as 'lumee
lumee', 'poee poee', 'muee muee', is one of their peculiar
features.  But another, and a more annoying one, is the different
senses in which one and the same word is employed; its various
meanings all have a certain connection, which only makes the
matter more puzzling.  So one brisk, lively little word is
obliged, like a servant in a poor family, to perform all sorts of
duties; for instance, one particular combination of syllables
expresses the ideas of sleep, rest, reclining, sitting, leaning,
and all other things anywise analogous thereto, the particular
meaning being shown chiefly by a variety of gestures and the
eloquent expression of the countenance.

The intricacy of these dialects is another peculiarity.  In the
Missionary College at Lahainaluna, on Mowee, one of the Sandwich
Islands, I saw a tabular exhibition of a Hawiian verb, conjugated
through all its moods and tenses.  It covered the side of a
considerable apartment, and I doubt whether Sir William Jones
himself would not have despaired of mastering it.



CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

STRANGE CUSTOM OF THE ISLANDERS--THEIR CHANTING, AND THE
PECULIARITY OF THEIR VOICE--RAPTURE OF THE KING AT FIRST HEARING
A SONG--A NEW DIGNITY CONFERRED ON THE AUTHOR--MUSICAL
INSTRUMENTS IN THE VALLEY--ADMIRATION OF THE SAVAGES AT BEHOLDING
A PUGILISTIC PERFORMANCE--SWIMMING INFANT--BEAUTIFUL TRESSES OF
THE GIRLS--OINTMENT FOR THE HAIR

SADLY discursive as I have already been, I must still further
entreat the reader's patience, as I am about to string together,
without any attempt at order, a few odds and ends of things not
hitherto mentioned, but which are either curious in themselves or
peculiar to the Typees.

There was one singular custom observed in old Marheyo's domestic
establishment, which often excited my surprise.  Every night,
before retiring, the inmates of the house gathered together on
the mats, and so squatting upon their haunches, after the
universal practice of these islanders, would commence a low,
dismal and monotonous chant, accompanying the voice with the
instrumental melody produced by two small half-rotten sticks
tapped slowly together, a pair of which were held in the hands of
each person present.  Thus would they employ themselves for an
hour or two, sometimes longer.  Lying in the gloom which wrapped
the further end of the house, I could not avoid looking at them,
although the spectacle suggested nothing but unpleasant
reflection.  The flickering rays of the 'armor' nut just served
to reveal their savage lineaments, without dispelling the
darkness that hovered about them.

Sometimes when, after falling into a kind of doze, and awaking
suddenly in the midst of these doleful chantings, my eye would
fall upon the wild-looking group engaged in their strange
occupation, with their naked tattooed limbs, and shaven heads
disposed in a circle, I was almost tempted to believe that I
gazed upon a set of evil beings in the act of working at a
frightful incantation.

What was the meaning or purpose of this custom, whether it was
practiced merely as a diversion, or whether it was a religious
exercise, a sort of family prayers, I never could discover.

The sounds produced by the natives on these occasions were of a
most singular description; and had I not actually been present, I
never would have believed that such curious noises could have
been produced by human beings.

To savages generally is imputed a guttural articulation.  This
however, is not always the case, especially among the inhabitants
of the Polynesian Archipelago.  The labial melody with which the
Typee girls carry on an ordinary conversation, giving a musical
prolongation to the final syllable of every sentence, and
chirping out some of the words with a liquid, bird-like accent,
was singularly pleasing.

The men however, are not quite so harmonious in their utterance,
and when excited upon any subject, would work themselves up into
a sort of wordy paroxysm, during which all descriptions of
rough-sided sounds were projected from their mouths, with a force
and rapidity which was absolutely astonishing.

       .  .  .  .  .   .   .   .

Although these savages are remarkably fond of chanting, still
they appear to have no idea whatever of singing, at least as the
art is practised in other nations.