 every possible indulgence. Nowhere are the
ladies more assiduously courted; nowhere are they better appreciated as the
contributors to our highest enjoyments; and nowhere are they more sensible of
their power. Far different from their condition among many rude nations, where
the women are made to perform all the work, while their ungallant lords and
masters lie buried in sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt
from toil - if toil it might be called - that, even in that tropical climate,
never distilled one drop of perspiration. Their light household occupations,
together with the manufacture of tappa, the platting of mats, and the polishing
of drinking vessels, were the only employments pertaining to the women. And even
these resembled those pleasant avocations which fill up the elegant morning
leisure of our fashionable ladies at home. But in these occupations, slight and
agreeable though they were, the giddy young girls very seldom engaged. Indeed,
these wilful, care-killing damsels were averse to all useful employment. Like so
many spoiled beauties, they ranged through the groves - bathed in the stream -
danced - flirted - played all manner of mischievous pranks, and passed their
days in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.
    During my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a single quarrel, nor
anything that in the slightest degree approached even to a dispute. The natives
appeared to form one household, whose members were bound together by the ties of
strong affection. The love of kindred I did not so much perceive, for it seemed
blended in the general love; and where all were treated as brothers and sisters,
it was hard to tell who were actually related to each other by blood.
    Let it not be supposed that I have overdrawn this picture. I have not done
so. Nor let it be urged, that the hostility of this tribe to foreigners, and the
hereditary feuds they carry on against their fellow-islanders beyond the
mountains, are facts which contradict me. Not so; these apparent discrepancies
are easily reconciled. By many a legendary tale of violence and wrong, as well
as by events which have passed before their eyes, these people have been taught
to look upon white men with abhorrence. The cruel invasion of their country by
Porter has alone furnished them with ample provocation; and I can sympathise in
the spirit which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to his valley
with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon the beach, with his
back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay the intruding European.
    As to the origin of the enmity of
