 to a state of starvation; for,
owing to some unknown cause, the trees sometimes fail to bear fruit; and on such
occasions the islanders chiefly depend upon the supplies they have been enabled
to store away.
    This stately tree, which is rarely met with upon the Sandwich Islands, and
then only of a very inferior quality, and at Tahiti does not abound to a degree
that renders its fruit the principal article of food, attains its greatest
excellence in the genial climate of the Marquesan Group, where it grows to an
enormous magnitude, and flourishes in the utmost abundance.
 

                                  Chapter XVI

    Melancholy condition - Occurrence at the Ti - Anecdote of Marheyo - Shaving
    the Head of a Warrior.
 
In looking back to this period, and calling to remembrance the numberless proofs
of kindness and respect which I received from the natives of the valley, I can
scarcely understand how it was that, in the midst of so many consolatory
circumstances, my mind should still have been consumed by the most dismal
forebodings, and have remained a prey to the profoundest melancholy. It is true
that the suspicious circumstances which had attended the disappearance of Toby
were enough of themselves to excite distrust with regard to the savages, in
whose power I felt myself to be entirely placed, especially when it was combined
with the knowledge that these very men, kind and respectful as they were to me,
were, after all, nothing better than a set of cannibals.
    But my chief source of anxiety, and that which poisoned every temporary
enjoyment, was the mysterious disease in my leg, which still remained unabated.
All the herbal applications of Tinor, united with the severer discipline of the
old leech, and the affectionate nursing of Kory-Kory, had failed to relieve me.
I was almost a cripple, and the pain I endured at intervals was agonising. The
unaccountable malady showed no signs of amendment; on the contrary, its violence
increased day by day, and threatened the most fatal results, unless some
powerful means were employed to counteract it. It seemed as if I were destined
to sink under this grievous affliction, or at least that it would hinder me from
availing myself of any opportunity of escaping from the valley.
    An incident, which occurred as nearly as I can estimate about three weeks
after the disappearance of Toby, convinced me that the natives, from some reason
or other, would interpose every possible obstacle to my leaving them.
    One morning there was no little excitement evinced by the people near my
abode, and which I soon discovered proceeded from a vague report that boats had
been seen at a great distance approaching the bay
