{"id":"01KG8AM6KNTD902P4JS9C1FWZ7","cid":"bafkreiekvn7tl6brh33pj5au2xs2gi2e5dpkqfdfuiqsidxrcmumps6tby","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8537,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8479,"text":"During my stay in the valley, as none of its inmates were so\r\naccommodating as to die and be buried in order to gratify my curiosity\r\nwith regard to their funeral rites, I was reluctantly obliged to\r\nremain in ignorance of them. As I have reason to believe, however, the\r\nobservances of the Typees in these matters are the same with those of\r\nall the other tribes in the island, I will here relate a scene I chanced\r\nto witness at Nukuheva.\r\n\r\nA young man had died, about daybreak, in a house near the beach. I had\r\nbeen sent ashore that morning, and saw a good deal of the preparations\r\nthey were making for his obsequies. The body, neatly wrapped in a new\r\nwhite tappa, was laid out in an open shed of cocoanut boughs, upon a\r\nbier constructed of elastic bamboos ingeniously twisted together. This\r\nwas supported about two feet from the ground, by large canes planted\r\nuprightly in the earth. Two females, of a dejected appearance, watched\r\nby its side, plaintively chanting and beating the air with large grass\r\nfans whitened with pipe-clay. In the dwelling-house adjoining a numerous\r\ncompany we assembled, and various articles of food were being prepared\r\nfor consumption. Two or three individuals, distinguished by head-dresses\r\nof beautiful tappa, and wearing a great number of ornaments, appeared\r\nto officiate as masters of the ceremonies. By noon the entertainment had\r\nfairly begun and we were told that it would last during the whole of\r\nthe two following days. With the exception of those who mourned by\r\nthe corpse, every one seemed disposed to drown the sense of the late\r\nbereavement in convivial indulgence. The girls, decked out in their\r\nsavage finery, danced; the old men chanted; the warriors smoked and\r\nchatted; and the young and lusty, of both sexes, feasted plentifully,\r\nand seemed to enjoy themselves as pleasantly as they could have done had\r\nit been a wedding.\r\n\r\nThe islanders understand the art of embalming, and practise it with such\r\nsuccess that the bodies of their great chiefs are frequently preserved\r\nfor many years in the very houses where they died. I saw three of these\r\nin my visit to the Bay of Tior. One was enveloped in immense folds of\r\ntappa, with only the face exposed, and hung erect against the side of\r\nthe dwelling. The others were stretched out upon biers of bamboo, in\r\nopen, elevated temples, which seemed consecrated to their memory. The\r\nheads of enemies killed in battle are invariably preserved and hung up\r\nas trophies in the house of the conqueror. I am not acquainted with the\r\nprocess which is in use, but believe that fumigation is the principal\r\nagency employed. All the remains which I saw presented the appearance of\r\na ham after being suspended for some time in a smoky chimney.\r\n\r\nBut to return from the dead to the living. The late festival had drawn\r\ntogether, as I had every reason to believe, the whole population of the\r\nvale, and consequently I was enabled to make some estimate with regard\r\nto its numbers. I should imagine that there were about two thousand\r\ninhabitants in Typee; and no number could have been better adapted to\r\nthe extent of the valley. The valley is some nine miles in length,\r\nand may average one in breadth; the houses being distributed at wide\r\nintervals throughout its whole extent, principally, however, towards the\r\nhead of the vale. There are no villages; the houses stand here and there\r\nin the shadow of the groves, or are scattered along the banks of the\r\nwinding stream; their golden-hued bamboo sides and gleaming white thatch\r\nforming a beautiful contrast to the perpetual verdure in which they are\r\nembowered. There are no roads of any kind in the valley. Nothing but a\r\nlabyrinth of footpaths twisting and turning among the thickets without\r\nend.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR25VD49M8PDP0DQV6HE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KN0AYNH3Y4FV0ZDKC8","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KN2AWGZXWZZ7QBZ8H9","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.301Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.806Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}