 was dedicated to the
immortal wooden idols by a grand festival, which lasted ten days and nights.
    Among the smaller pi-pis, upon which stand the dwelling-houses of the
natives, I never observed any which intimated a recent erection. There are in
every part of the valley a great many of these massive stone foundations which
have no houses upon them. This is vastly convenient, for whenever an
enterprising islander chooses to emigrate a few hundred yards from the place
where he was born, all he has to do in order to establish himself in some new
locality, is to select one of the many unappropriated pi-pis, and without
further ceremony pitch his bamboo tent upon it.
 

                                  Chapter XXII

    Preparations for a Grand Festival in the Valley - Strange Doings in the
    Taboo Groves - Monument of Calabashes - Gala Costume of the Typee Damsels -
    Departure for the Festival.
 
From the time that my lameness had decreased I had made a daily practice of
visiting Mehevi at the Ti, who invariably gave me a most cordial reception. I
was always accompanied in these excursions by Fayaway and the ever-present
Kory-Kory. The former, as soon as we reached the vicinity of the Ti - which was
rigorously tabooed to the whole female sex - withdrew to a neighbouring hut, as
if her feminine delicacy restrained her from approaching a habitation which
might be regarded as a sort of Bachelor's Hall.
    And in good truth it might well have been so considered. Although it was the
permanent residence of several distinguished chiefs, and of the noble Mehevi in
particular, it was still at certain seasons the favourite haunt of all the
jolly, talkative, and elderly savages of the vale, who resorted thither in the
same way that similar characters frequent a tavern in civilised countries. There
they would remain hour after hour, chatting, smoking, eating poee-poee, or
busily engaged in sleeping for the good of their constitutions.
    This building appeared to be the headquarters of the valley, where all
flying rumours concentrated; and to have seen it filled with a crowd of the
natives, all males, conversing in animated clusters, while multitudes were
continually coming and going, one would have thought it a kind of savage
Exchange, where the rise and fall of Polynesian Stock was discussed.
    Mehevi acted as supreme lord over the place, spending the greater portion of
his time there: and often when, at particular hours of the day, it was deserted
by nearly everyone else except the verd-antique looking centenarians, who were
fixtures in the building, the chief himself was sure to be found enjoying his
otium cum
