Melville, Herman

                                      Omoo


                                Herman Melville

                                      Omoo

                                    Preface

Nowhere, perhaps, are the proverbial characteristics of sailors shown under
wilder aspects than in the South Seas. For the most part, the vessels navigating
those remote waters are engaged in the Sperm Whale Fishery; a business which is
not only peculiarly fitted to attract the most reckless seamen of all nations,
but m various ways is calculated to foster in them a spirit of the utmost
licence. These voyages, also, are unusually long and perilous; the only harbours
accessible are among the barbarous or semi-civilised islands of Polynesia, or
along the lawless western coast of South America. Hence, scenes the most novel,
and not directly connected with the business of whaling, frequently occur among
the crews of ships in the Pacific.
    Without pretending to give any account of the whale-fishery (for the scope
of the narrative does not embrace the subject), it is partly the object of this
work to convey some idea of the kind of life to which allusion is made, by means
of a circumstantial history of adventures befalling the author.
    Another object proposed is, to give a familiar account of the present
condition of the converted Polynesians, as affected by their promiscuous
intercourse with foreigners, and the teachings of the missionaries, combined.
    As a roving sailor, the author spent about three months in various parts of
the islands of Tahiti and Imeeo, and under circumstances most favourable for
correct observations on the social condition of the natives.
    In every statement connected with missionary operations, a strict adherence
to facts has, of course, been scrupulously observed; and in some instances, it
has even been deemed advisable to quote previous voyagers, in corroboration of
what is offered as the fruit of the author's own observations. Nothing but an
earnest desire for truth and good has led him to touch upon this subject at all.
And if he refrains from offering hints as to the best mode of remedying the
evils which are pointed out, it is only because he thinks, that after being made
acquainted with the facts, others are better qualified to do so.
    Should a little jocoseness be shown upon some curious traits of the
Tahitians, it proceeds from no intention to ridicule: things are merely
described as, from their entire novelty, they first struck an unbiased observer.
    The present narrative necessarily begins where Typee concludes, but has no
further connection with the latter work. All, therefore, necessary for the
reader to understand, who has not read Typee, is given in a brief introduction.
    No journal was kept by the author during his wanderings in the South Seas;