I THINK I must enlighten the reader a little about the natural
history of the valley.
Whence, in the name of Count Buffon and Baron Cuvier, came those
dogs that I saw in Typee? Dogs!--Big hairless rats rather; all
with smooth, shining speckled hides--fat sides, and very
disagreeable faces. Whence could they have come? That they were
not the indigenous production of the region, I am firmly
convinced. Indeed they seemed aware of their being interlopers,
looking fairly ashamed, and always trying to hide themselves in
some dark corner. It was plain enough they did not feel at home
in the vale--that they wished themselves well out of it, and back
to the ugly country from which they must have come.
Scurvy curs! they were my abhorrence; I should have liked
nothing better than t
