midnight
I soon became quite an accomplished hand at making tappa -- could braid a grass sling as well as the best of them -- and once , with my knife , carved the handle of a javelin so exquisitely that I have no doubt , to this day , Karnoonoo , its owner , preserves it as a surprising specimen of my skill . As noon approached , all those who had wandered forth from our habitation began to return ; and when mid-day was fairly come , scarcely a sound was to be heard in the valley -- a deep sleep fell upon all . The luxurious siesta was hardly ever omitted , except by old Marheyo , who was so eccentric a character , that he seemed to be governed by no fixed principles whatever ; but acting just according to the humour of the moment , slept , eat , or tinkered away at his little hut , without regard to the proprieties of time or place . Frequently he might have been seen taking a nap in the sun at noon-day , or a bath in the stream at midnight . Once I beheld him perched eighty feet from the ground , in the tuft of a cocoa-nut tree , smoking ; and often I saw him standing up to the waist in water , engaged in plucking out the stray hairs of his beard , using a piece of muscle-shell for tweezers . The noontide slumber lasted generally an hour and a half , very often longer ; and after the sleepers had arisen from their mats they again had recourse to their pipes , and then made preparations for the most important meal of the day . I , however , like those gentlemen of leisure who breakfast at home and dine at their club , almost invariably , during my intervals of health , enjoyed the afternoon repast with the bachelor chiefs of the Ti , who were always rejoiced to see me , and lavishly spread before me all the good things which their larder afforded .