Today I tried to install mongodb via MacPorts on Mac OS X Lion. I got this error message:
Error: Target org.macports.build returned: shell command failed (see log for details)
Log for mongodb is at: /opt/local/var/macports/logs/_opt_local_var_macports_sources_rsync.macports.org_release_ports_databases_mongodb/mongodb/main.log
Error: Status 1 encountered during processing.
To report a bug, see <http://guide.macports.org/#project.tickets>
Maybe it is not the best idea to install MongoDB via MacPorts. I just downloaded the compiled binarys from the MongoDB Homepage: http://www.mongodb.org/downloads. Just unzip it and that’s it.
No you have to create a directory.
mkdir /data
cd /data
mkdir db
MongoDB expects that this directory exists and puts all necessary DB files into this directory.
Navigate in the command line to the unpacked directory and execute this command as root to start the MongoDB server:
./bin/mongod
And the server is running 
In another shell you can start the client. The client can run without root rights.
./bin/mongo
Now you can start to work
> db.foo.save( { a : 1 } )
> db.foo.find()