{"id":"01KFNR8896FCTSKVFYNZAEKWPJ","cid":"bafkreihjadnmxqogndu2nppvnwo7oihvovmgbdo47h4v7ov4tkf25a4ah4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10024,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.441Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":9969,"text":"murder him. But, gentlemen, the fool had been branded for the slaughter\r\nby the gods. Immediately the hammer touched the cheek; the next instant\r\nthe lower jaw of the mate was stove in his head; he fell on the hatch\r\nspouting blood like a whale.\r\n\r\n“Ere the cry could go aft Steelkilt was shaking one of the backstays\r\nleading far aloft to where two of his comrades were standing their\r\nmastheads. They were both Canallers.\r\n\r\n“‘Canallers!’ cried Don Pedro. ‘We have seen many whale-ships in our\r\nharbours, but never heard of your Canallers. Pardon: who and what are\r\nthey?’\r\n\r\n“‘Canallers, Don, are the boatmen belonging to our grand Erie Canal.\r\nYou must have heard of it.’\r\n\r\n“‘Nay, Senor; hereabouts in this dull, warm, most lazy, and hereditary\r\nland, we know but little of your vigorous North.’\r\n\r\n“‘Aye? Well then, Don, refill my cup. Your chicha’s very fine; and ere\r\nproceeding further I will tell ye what our Canallers are; for such\r\ninformation may throw side-light upon my story.’\r\n\r\n“For three hundred and sixty miles, gentlemen, through the entire\r\nbreadth of the state of New York; through numerous populous cities and\r\nmost thriving villages; through long, dismal, uninhabited swamps, and\r\naffluent, cultivated fields, unrivalled for fertility; by billiard-room\r\nand bar-room; through the holy-of-holies of great forests; on Roman\r\narches over Indian rivers; through sun and shade; by happy hearts or\r\nbroken; through all the wide contrasting scenery of those noble Mohawk\r\ncounties; and especially, by rows of snow-white chapels, whose spires\r\nstand almost like milestones, flows one continual stream of Venetianly\r\ncorrupt and often lawless life. There’s your true Ashantee, gentlemen;\r\nthere howl your pagans; where you ever find them, next door to you;\r\nunder the long-flung shadow, and the snug patronising lee of churches.\r\nFor by some curious fatality, as it is often noted of your metropolitan\r\nfreebooters that they ever encamp around the halls of justice, so\r\nsinners, gentlemen, most abound in holiest vicinities.\r\n\r\n“‘Is that a friar passing?’ said Don Pedro, looking downwards into the\r\ncrowded plazza, with humorous concern.\r\n\r\n“‘Well for our northern friend, Dame Isabella’s Inquisition wanes in\r\nLima,’ laughed Don Sebastian. ‘Proceed, Senor.’\r\n\r\n“‘A moment! Pardon!’ cried another of the company. ‘In the name of all\r\nus Limeese, I but desire to express to you, sir sailor, that we have by\r\nno means overlooked your delicacy in not substituting present Lima for\r\ndistant Venice in your corrupt comparison. Oh! do not bow and look\r\nsurprised; you know the proverb all along this coast—“Corrupt as Lima.”\r\nIt but bears out your saying, too; churches more plentiful than\r\nbilliard-tables, and for ever open—and “Corrupt as Lima.” So, too,\r\nVenice; I have been there; the holy city of the blessed evangelist, St.\r\nMark!—St. Dominic, purge it! Your cup! Thanks: here I refill; now, you\r\npour out again.’\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR848CJHT30V0G0Y4QYWRF","peer_label":"54","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR848CJHT30V0G0Y4QYWRF","peer_label":"54","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR81RMVAX2BBMMBW51V97D","peer_label":"Moby Dick; Or, The Whale","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"partOf"},{"peer":"01KFNR0H0Q791Y1SMZWEQ09FGV","peer_label":"Moby Dick","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KFNR88E0BHMBCFFXBDCJRBYJ","peer_label":"Chunk 6","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR88E9G15HGJHMSK6CGN3A","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:03.876Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:16.697Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}