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- 4359
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 4294
- text
- these obstacles with a wide circuit, the path wound along;--one moment
climbing over a sudden eminence smooth with continued wear, then
descending on the other side into a steep glen, and crossing the flinty
channel of a brook. Here it pursued the depths of a glade, occasionally
obliging you to stoop beneath vast horizontal branches; and now you
stepped over huge trunks and boughs that lay rotting across the track.
Such was the grand thoroughfare of Typee. After proceeding a little
distance along it--Kory-Kory panting and blowing with the weight of
his burden--I dismounted from his back, and grasping the long spear of
Mehevi in my hand, assisted my steps over the numerous obstacles of
the road; preferring this mode of advance to one which, from the
difficulties of the way, was equally painful to myself and my wearied
servitor.
Our journey was soon at an end; for, scaling a sudden height, we came
abruptly upon the place of our destination. I wish that it were possible
to sketch in words this spot as vividly as I recollect it.
Here were situated the Taboo groves of the valley--the scene of many a
prolonged feast, of many a horrid rite. Beneath the dark shadows of
the consecrated bread-fruit trees there reigned a solemn twilight--a
cathedral-like gloom. The frightful genius of pagan worship seemed to
brood in silence over the place, breathing its spell upon every object
around. Here and there, in the depths of these awful shades, half
screened from sight by masses of overhanging foliage, rose the
idolatrous altars of the savages, built of enormous blocks of black and
polished stone, placed one upon another, without cement, to the height
of twelve or fifteen feet, and surmounted by a rustic open temple,
enclosed with a low picket of canes, within which might be seen, in
various stages of decay, offerings of bread-fruit and cocoanuts, and the
putrefying relics of some recent sacrifice.
In the midst of the wood was the hallowed ‘Hoolah Hoolah’ ground--set
apart for the celebration of the fantastical religious ritual of these
people--comprising an extensive oblong pi-pi, terminating at either end
in a lofty terraced altar, guarded by ranks of hideous wooden idols, and
with the two remaining sides flanked by ranges of bamboo sheds, opening
towards the interior of the quadrangle thus formed. Vast trees, standing
in the middle of this space, and throwing over it an umbrageous shade,
had their massive trunks built round with slight stages, elevated a few
feet above the ground, and railed in with canes, forming so many rustic
pulpits, from which the priests harangued their devotees.
This holiest of spots was defended from profanation by the strictest
edicts of the all-pervading ‘taboo’, which condemned to instant death
the sacrilegious female who should enter or touch its sacred precincts,
or even so much as press with her feet the ground made holy by the
shadows that it cast.
Access was had to the enclosure through an embowered entrance, on one
side, facing a number of towering cocoanut trees, planted at intervals
along a level area of a hundred yards. At the further extremity of this
space was to be seen a building of considerable size, reserved for the
habitation of the priests and religious attendants of the groves.
In its vicinity was another remarkable edifice, built as usual upon the
summit of a pi-pi, and at least two hundred feet in length, though not
more than twenty in breadth. The whole front of this latter structure
was completely open, and from one end to the other ran a narrow
verandah, fenced in on the edge of the pi-pi with a picket of canes.
Its interior presented the appearance of an immense lounging place, the
entire floor being strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between
parallel trunks of cocoanut trees, selected for the purpose from the
straightest and most symmetrical the vale afforded.
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