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- and a magnificent bunch of bananas, for my especial comfort and
gratification. These various matters were at once placed before me; but
Kory-Kory deemed the banquet entirely insufficient for my wants until
he had supplied me with one of the leafy packages of pork, which,
notwithstanding the somewhat hasty manner in which it had been prepared,
possessed a most excellent flavour, and was surprisingly sweet and
tender.
Pork is not a staple article of food among the people of the Marquesas;
consequently they pay little attention to the BREEDING of the swine. The
hogs are permitted to roam at large on the groves, where they obtain
no small part of their nourishment from the cocoanuts which continually
fall from the trees. But it is only after infinite labour and
difficulty, that the hungry animal can pierce the husk and shell so as
to get at the meat. I have frequently been amused at seeing one of
them, after crunching the obstinate nut with his teeth for a long time
unsuccessfully, get into a violent passion with it. He would then root
furiously under the cocoanut, and, with a fling of his snout, toss it
before him on the ground. Following it up, he would crunch at it again
savagely for a moment, and then next knock it on one side, pausing
immediately after, as if wondering how it could so suddenly have
disappeared. In this way the persecuted cocoanuts were often chased half
across the valley.
The second day of the Feast of Calabashes was ushered in by still more
uproarious noises than the first. The skins of innumerable sheep seemed
to be resounding to the blows of an army of drummers. Startled from my
slumbers by the din, I leaped up, and found the whole household engaged
in making preparations for immediate departure. Curious to discover of
what strange events these novel sounds might be the precursors, and not
a little desirous to catch a sight of the instruments which produced
the terrific noise, I accompanied the natives as soon as they were in
readiness to depart for the Taboo Groves.
The comparatively open space that extended from the Ti toward the rock,
to which I have before alluded as forming the ascent to the place, was,
with the building itself, now altogether deserted by the men; the whole
distance being filled by bands of females, shouting and dancing under
the influence of some strange excitement.
I was amused at the appearance of four or five old women who, in a state
of utter nudity, with their arms extended flatly down their sides, and
holding themselves perfectly erect, were leaping stiffly into the
air, like so many sticks bobbing to the surface, after being pressed
perpendicularly into the water. They preserved the utmost gravity of
countenance, and continued their extraordinary movements without
a single moment’s cessation. They did not appear to attract the
observation of the crowd around them, but I must candidly confess that
for my own part, I stared at them most pertinaciously.
Desirous of being enlightened in regard to the meaning of this peculiar
diversion, I turned, inquiringly to Kory-Kory; that learned Typee
immediately proceeded to explain the whole matter thoroughly. But all
that I could comprehend from what he said was, that the leaping figures
before me were bereaved widows, whose partners had been slain in battle
many moons previously; and who, at every festival, gave public evidence
in this manner of their calamities. It was evident that Kory-Kory
considered this an all-sufficient reason for so indecorous a custom; but
I must say that it did not satisfy me as to its propriety.
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