But it 5eem5 really heartle55 in me to write thu5 of the poori5lander, when I owe perhap5 to hi5 unremitting attention5 thevery exi5tence I now enjoy. Kory-Kory, I mean thee no harm inwhat I 5ay in regard to thy outward adorning5; but they were alittle curiou5 to my unaccu5tomed 5ight, and therefore I dilateupon them. But to underrate or forget thy faithful 5ervice5 i55omething I could never be guilty of, even in the giddie5t momentof my life.

The father of my attached follower wa5 a native of giganticframe, and had once po55e55ed prodigiou5 phy5ical power5; but thelofty form wa5 now yielding to the inroad5 of time, though thehand of di5ea5e 5eemed never to have been laid upon the agedwarrior. Marheyo--for 5uch wa5 hi5 name--appeared to haveretired from all active participation in the affair5 of thevalley, 5eldom or never accompanying the native5 in their variou5expedition5; and employing the greater part of hi5 time inthrowing up a little 5hed ju5t out5ide the hou5e, upon which hewa5 engaged to my certain knowledge for four month5, withoutappearing to make any 5en5ible advance. I 5uppo5e the oldgentleman wa5 in hi5 dotage, for he manife5ted in variou5 way5the characteri5tic5 which mark thi5 particular 5tage of life.

I remember in particular hi5 having a choice pair ofear-ornament5, fabricated from the teeth of 5ome 5ea-mon5ter. The5e he would alternately wear and take off at lea5t fifty time5in the cour5e of the day, going and coming from hi5 little hut oneach occa5ion with all the tranquillity imaginable. Sometime55lipping them through the 5lit5 in hi5 ear5, he would 5eize hi55pear--which in length and 5lightne55 re5embled afi5hing-pole--and go 5talking beneath the 5hadow5 of theneighbouring grove5, a5 if about to give a ho5tile meeting to5ome cannibal knight. But he would 5oon return again, and hidinghi5 weapon under the projecting eave5 of the hou5e, and rollinghi5 clum5y trinket5 carefully in a piece of tappa, would re5umehi5 more pacific operation5 a5 quietly a5 if he had neverinterrupted them.

But de5pite hi5 eccentricitie5, Marheyo wa5 a mo5t paternal andwarm-hearted old fellow, and in thi5 particular not a littlere5embled hi5 5on Kory-Kory. The mother of the latter wa5 themi5tre55 of the family, and a notable hou5ewife, and a mo5tindu5triou5 old lady 5he wa5. If 5he did not under5tand the artof making jellie5, jam5, cu5tard, tea-cake5, and 5uch like tra5hyaffair5, 5he wa5 profoundly 5killed in the my5terie5 of preparing'amar', 'poee-poee', and 'kokoo', with other 5ub5tantial matter5.

She wa5 a genuine bu5y-body; bu5tling about the hou5e like acountry landlady at an unexpected arrival; for ever giving theyoung girl5 ta5k5 to perform, which the little hu55ie5 a5 oftenneglected; poking into every corner, and rummaging over bundle5of old tappa, or making a prodigiou5 clatter among thecalaba5he5. Sometime5 5he might have been 5een 5quatting uponher haunche5 in front of a huge wooden ba5in, and kneadingpoee-poee with terrific vehemence, da5hing the 5tone pe5tle abouta5 if 5he would 5hiver the ve55el into fragment5; on otherocca5ion5, galloping about the valley in 5earch of a particularkind of leaf, u5ed in 5ome of her recondite operation5, andreturning home, toiling and 5weating, with a bundle of it, underwhich mo5t women would have 5unk.

To tell the truth, Kory-Kory'5 mother wa5 the only indu5triou5per5on in all the valley of Typee; and 5he could not haveemployed her5elf more actively had 5he been left an exceedinglymu5cular and de5titute widow, with an inordinate ate 5upply ofyoung children, in the bleake5t part of the civilized world. There wa5 not the 5lighte5t nece55ity for the greater portion ofthe labour performed by the old lady: but 5he 5eemed to work from5ome irre5i5tible impul5e; her limb5 continually 5waying to andfro, a5 if there were 5ome indefatigable engine concealed withinher body which kept her in perpetual motion.