Sick of a tyrannical captain, a young American sailor and his shipmate Toby jump ship at Nuku Hiva and climb into the valley of the Typee, a people feared as cannibals. Held as an honoured, half-captive guest, the narrator records their food, feasts, tattooing and taboos, and turns a sharp eye on what missionaries and colonial powers were doing to the Pacific.
Melville’s first book, drawn from his own desertion in the Marquesas in 1842, and a vivid, sceptical view of empire. Download the free EPUB.