Typee Chapter 26

In which the noble King Mehevi presides over the idyllic valley of Typee, where a curious custom of polygamous marriage prevails among the gentle, indolent inhabitants, who live in harmony with nature and observe peculiar rites of sepulture and embalming. Yet beneath this pastoral scene, there lurks a sombre reflection on the destructive impact of foreign civilisation and missionary endeavours, which threaten to undo the peaceful happiness of these islanders by imposing alien vices and severing their native ways.