Atbenceum [London], 1015 (10 April 1847), 382-84.

‘Omoo’ in the dialect of the Marquesas Islands signifies a person wandering from one island to another. The narrative before us opens with the author's escape from the island of Nukuheva-where, as our readers will sufficiently remember, (see Ath. Nos. 956, 957, 980, and 988,) the writer had been, as he states, detained in a sort of indulgent captivity among the Typees. A leading object of these pages is declared to be that of giving an account of the wild aspects under which sailor life exists in the South Seas. “For the most part, the vessels navigating those remote waters are engaged in the sperm whale fishery; a business which is not only peculiarly fitted to attract the most reckless seamen of all nations, but in various ways is calculated to foster in them a spirit of the utmost licence. These voyages, also, are unusually long and perilous. Theonly harbours accessible are among the barbarous or semi-civilized islands of Polynesia, or along the lawless western coast of South America. Hence, scenes the most novel, and not directly connected with the business of whaling, frequently occur among the crews of ships in the Pacific.” As a roving sailor the author spent, he says, about threemonths in various parts of Tahiti and Imeeo; and under circumstances most favourable for correct observations on the social condition of the natives.