 any of
them devoted to my service. Was this act of the chief a token of his enmity?
Typee or Happar? I asked within myself. I started, for at the same moment this
identical question was asked by the strange being before me. I turned to Toby;
the flickering light of a native taper showed me his countenance pale with
trepidation at this fatal question. I paused for a second, and I know not by
what impulse it was that I answered, »Typee.« The piece of dusky statuary nodded
in approval, and then murmured, »Mortarkee?« »Mortarkee,« said I, without
further hesitation - »Typee mortarkee.«
    What a transition! The dark figures around us leaped to their feet, clapped
their hands in transport, and shouted again and again the talismanic syllables,
the utterance of which appeared to have settled everything.
    When this commotion had a little subsided, the principal chief squatted once
more before me, and throwing himself into a sudden rage, poured forth a string
of philippics, which I was at no loss to understand, from the frequent
recurrence of the word Happar, as being directed against the natives of the
adjoining valley. In all these denunciations my companion and I acquiesced,
while we extolled the character of the warlike Typees. To be sure our panegyrics
were somewhat laconic, consisting in the repetition of that name, united with
the potent adjective mortarkee. But this was sufficient, and served to
conciliate the goodwill of the natives, with whom our congeniality of sentiment
on this point did more toward inspiring a friendly feeling than anything else
that could have happened.
    At last the wrath of the chief evaporated, and in a few moments he was as
placid as ever. Laying his hand upon his breast, he now gave me to understand
that his name was Mehevi, and that, in return, he wished me to communicate my
appellation. I hesitated for an instant, thinking that it might be difficult for
him to pronounce my real name, and then, with the most praiseworthy intentions,
intimated that I was known as Tom. But I could not have made a worse selection;
the chief could not master it: Tommo, Tomma, Tommee, everything but plain Tom.
As he persisted in garnishing the word with an additional syllable, I
compromised the matter with him at the word Tommo; and by that name I went
during the entire period of my stay in the valley. The same proceeding was gone
through with Toby, whose mellifluous appellation was more easily caught.
    An exchange of names is equivalent to a ratification of goodwill and
