"Ship Wm. & Eliza, off the island Ohevahoa, Aug. 19, 1850". Dateline on folded letter to Fairhaven Mass., fascinating contents incl. "There is one or two white men on the isle, one a Boston chap who has adopted native dress and tatooed all over says he is well satisfied with his manner of living, which shows him to be a senseless fellow for the natives of any other tribes will eat him in a minute if they catch him. I was ashore yesterday when the natives took a great shine to a fat man. I suppose they thought he would make a good fry.", red "San Francisco 40 15 Oct." circular datestamp, Very Fine, sent from the Marquesas Islands, made famous by Melville in his book Typee, the William & Eliza sailed from Bedford on Nov. 26, 1848, and returned Oct. 4, 1852, with sperm oil and whale oil -- contemporary references to cannibalism are very unusual

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