. . . . . . . .

Properties

description

# . . . . . . . . ## Overview This is a subsection from Chapter 31 of Herman Melville's novel *Typee*, extracted from the file [typee.txt](arke:01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4). It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. The subsection discusses the music and entertainment among the Typee people. ## Context This subsection is part of [CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE](arke:01KG8AJRVD0X303G878V5E3HHT) of *Typee*. It follows an introductory section [Introduction](arke:01KG8AKFWBRW3E27WFCCS9B8AD) and precedes another subsection [01KG8AKFW2PQRNHMTFP3CPW5R6]. The chapter and its subsections were extracted from the text file [typee.txt](arke:01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4). ## Contents The subsection describes the narrator's observations on the Typee people's musical practices and forms of entertainment. It notes their fondness for chanting, their apparent lack of singing as practiced in other nations, and the narrator's role as a "court-minstrel" after King Mehevi is delighted by a stanza from the "Bavarian broom-seller." The text details the "nasal flute" and its use by the women, particularly Fayaway. It also recounts how the narrator's demonstration of pugilistic encounters amuses King Mehevi and his subjects, who regard self-defense as a unique gift of the white man.

description_generated_at

2026-01-30T20:49:27.881Z

description_model

gemini-2.5-flash-lite

description_title

. . . . . . . .

end_line

9793

extracted_at

2026-01-30T20:48:05.749Z

extracted_by

structure-extraction-lambda

source_file

01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4

start_line

9733

text

. . . . . . . . Although these savages are remarkably fond of chanting, still they appear to have no idea whatever of singing, at least as the art is practised in other nations. I shall never forget the first time I happened to roar out a stave in the presence of noble Mehevi. It was a stanza from the ‘Bavarian broom-seller’. His Typeean majesty, with all his court, gazed upon me in amazement, as if I had displayed some preternatural faculty which Heaven had denied to them. The King was delighted with the verse; but the chorus fairly transported him. At his solicitation I sang it again and again, and nothing could be more ludicrous than his vain attempts to catch the air and the words. The royal savage seemed to think that by screwing all the features of his face into the end of his nose he might possibly succeed in the undertaking, but it failed to answer the purpose; and in the end he gave it up, and consoled himself by listening to my repetition of the sounds fifty times over. Previous to Mehevi’s making the discovery, I had never been aware that there was anything of the nightingale about me; but I was now promoted to the place of court-minstrel, in which capacity I was afterwards perpetually called upon to officiate. . . . . . . . . Besides the sticks and the drums, there are no other musical instruments among the Typees, except one which might appropriately be denominated a nasal flute. It is somewhat longer than an ordinary fife; is made of a beautiful scarlet-coloured reed; and has four or five stops, with a large hole near one end, which latter is held just beneath the left nostril. The other nostril being closed by a peculiar movement of the muscles about the nose, the breath is forced into the tube, and produces a soft dulcet sound which is varied by the fingers running at random over the stops. This is a favourite recreation with the females and one in which Fayaway greatly excelled. Awkward as such an instrument may appear, it was, in Fayaway’s delicate little hands, one of the most graceful I have ever seen. A young lady, in the act of tormenting a guitar strung about her neck by a couple of yards of blue ribbon, is not half so engaging. . . . . . . . . Singing was not the only means I possessed of diverting the royal Mehevi and his easy-going subject. Nothing afforded them more pleasure than to see me go through the attitude of pugilistic encounter. As not one of the natives had soul enough in him to stand up like a man, and allow me to hammer away at him, for my own personal gratification and that of the king, I was necessitated to fight with an imaginary enemy, whom I invariably made to knock under to my superior prowess. Sometimes when this sorely battered shadow retreated precipitately towards a group of the savages, and, following him up, I rushed among them dealing my blows right and left, they would disperse in all directions much to the enjoyment of Mehevi, the chiefs, and themselves. The noble art of self-defence appeared to be regarded by them as the peculiar gift of the white man; and I make little doubt that they supposed armies of Europeans were drawn up provided with nothing else but bony fists and stout hearts, with which they set to in column, and pummelled one another at the word of command.

title

. . . . . . . .