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# Subsection from *Typee* Chapter XXXI ## Overview This subsection is an excerpt from Chapter XXXI of Herman Melville's novel *Typee*, extracted from the text file [typee.txt](arke:01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4). It describes the narrator's observations of Typee customs, specifically regarding bathing infants and the grooming practices of Typee women. It is part of the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. ## Context The subsection is contained within [Chapter XXXI](arke:01KG8AJRVD0X303G878V5E3HHT) of *Typee*, which is part of the larger novel [typee.txt](arke:01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4). The preceding subsection [". . . . . . . ."](arke:01KG8AKFW22JXDK1G615HTS72C) discusses the narrator's role as a court-minstrel for King Mehevi and descriptions of Typee musical instruments and pugilistic encounters. ## Contents The subsection contains two distinct observations made by the narrator. The first describes a Typee woman bathing her infant in a stream, highlighting the early introduction of children to water and suggesting that this contributes to the islanders' amphibious nature. The narrator contrasts this with civilized societies where individuals often drown due to a lack of swimming ability. The second observation focuses on the grooming habits of Typee women, particularly their hair care. It details how they dry, wash, and anoint their hair with coconut oil, describing the process of extracting and purifying the oil, and storing it in moo-tree nuts.

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2026-01-30T20:49:27.956Z

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Subsection from *Typee* Chapter XXXI

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9860

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2026-01-30T20:48:05.749Z

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01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4

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. . . . . . . . One day, in company with Kory-Kory, I had repaired to the stream for the purpose of bathing, when I observed a woman sitting upon a rock in the midst of the current, and watching with the liveliest interest the gambols of something, which at first I took to be an uncommonly large species of frog that was sporting in the water near her. Attracted by the novelty of the sight, I waded towards the spot where she sat, and could hardly credit the evidence of my senses when I beheld a little infant, the period of whose birth could not have extended back many days, paddling about as if it had just risen to the surface, after being hatched into existence at the bottom. Occasionally, the delighted parent reached out her hand towards it, when the little thing, uttering a faint cry, and striking out its tiny limbs, would sidle for the rock, and the next moment be clasped to its mother’s bosom. This was repeated again and again, the baby remaining in the stream about a minute at a time. Once or twice it made wry faces at swallowing a mouthful of water, and choked a spluttered as if on the point of strangling. At such times however, the mother snatched it up and by a process scarcely to be mentioned obliged it to eject the fluid. For several weeks afterwards I observed this woman bringing her child down to the stream regularly every day, in the cool of the morning and evening and treating it to a bath. No wonder that the South Sea Islanders are so amphibious a race, when they are thus launched into the water as soon as they see the light. I am convinced that it is as natural for a human being to swim as it is for a duck. And yet in civilized communities how many able-bodied individuals die, like so many drowning kittens, from the occurrence of the most trivial accidents! . . . . . . . . The long luxuriant and glossy tresses of the Typee damsels often attracted my admiration. A fine head of hair is the pride and joy of every woman’s heart. Whether against the express will of Providence, it is twisted upon the crown of the head and there coiled away like a rope on a ship’s deck; whether it be stuck behind the ears and hangs down like the swag of a small window-curtain; or whether it be permitted to flow over the shoulders in natural ringlets, it is always the pride of the owner, and the glory of the toilette. The Typee girls devote much of their time to the dressing of their fair and redundant locks. After bathing, as they sometimes do five or six times every day, the hair is carefully dried, and if they have been in the sea, invariably washed in fresh water, and anointed with a highly scented oil extracted from the meat of the cocoanut. This oil is obtained in great abundance by the following very simple process: A large vessel of wood, with holes perforated in the bottom, is filled with the pounded meat, and exposed to the rays of the sun. As the oleaginous matter exudes, it falls in drops through the apertures into a wide-mouthed calabash placed underneath. After a sufficient quantity has thus been collected, the oil undergoes a purifying process, and is then poured into the small spherical shells of the nuts of the moo-tree, which are hollowed out to receive it. These nuts are then hermetically sealed with a resinous gum, and the vegetable fragrance of their green rind soon imparts to the oil a delightful odour. After the lapse of a few weeks the exterior shell of the nuts becomes quite dry and hard, and assumes a beautiful carnation tint; and when opened they are found to be about two-thirds full of an ointment of a light yellow colour and diffusing the sweetest perfume. This elegant little odorous globe would not be out of place even upon the toilette of a queen. Its merits as a preparation for the hair are undeniable--it imparts to it a superb gloss and a silky fineness.