Omoo by Herman Melville
page 218 of 387 (56%)
page 218 of 387 (56%)
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of their jurisdiction. As for the gentleman of the house, his meek
endurance of these things is amazing. But "good easy man," there is nothing for him but to be as hospitable as possible. These gentry are indefatigable. At the dead of night prowling round the houses, and in the daytime hunting amorous couples in the groves. Yet in one instance the chase completely baffled them. It was thus. Several weeks previous to our arrival at the island, someone's husband and another person's wife, having taken a mutual fancy for each other, went out for a walk. The alarm was raised, and with hue and cry they were pursued; but nothing was seen of them again until the lapse of some ninety days; when we were called out from the Calabooza to behold a great mob inclosing the lovers, and escorting them for trial to the village. Their appearance was most singular. The girdle excepted, they were quite naked; their hair was long, burned yellow at the ends, and entangled with burrs; and their bodies scratched and scarred in all directions. It seems that, acting upon the "love in a cottage" principle, they had gone right into the interior; and throwing up a hut in an uninhabited valley, had lived there, until in an unlucky stroll they were observed and captured. They were subsequently condemned to make one hundred fathoms of Broom Road--a six months' work, if not more. Often, when seated in a house, conversing quietly with its inmates, I |
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