{"id":"01KFNR89NR7SRD13C2W32NHV1M","cid":"bafkreid3gpukvpvnbcwe72ttx2elm6sn4lbsuo7hdsu7hopywpvln6pdey","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":14862,"extracted_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:04.761Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 31","source_file":"01KFNR0Z394A878Y5AQ63MQEM2","start_line":14816,"text":"mole, or rampart, lengthwise connecting Asia with Australia, and\r\ndividing the long unbroken Indian ocean from the thickly studded\r\noriental archipelagoes. This rampart is pierced by several sally-ports\r\nfor the convenience of ships and whales; conspicuous among which are\r\nthe straits of Sunda and Malacca. By the straits of Sunda, chiefly,\r\nvessels bound to China from the west, emerge into the China seas.\r\n\r\nThose narrow straits of Sunda divide Sumatra from Java; and standing\r\nmidway in that vast rampart of islands, buttressed by that bold green\r\npromontory, known to seamen as Java Head; they not a little correspond\r\nto the central gateway opening into some vast walled empire: and\r\nconsidering the inexhaustible wealth of spices, and silks, and jewels,\r\nand gold, and ivory, with which the thousand islands of that oriental\r\nsea are enriched, it seems a significant provision of nature, that such\r\ntreasures, by the very formation of the land, should at least bear the\r\nappearance, however ineffectual, of being guarded from the all-grasping\r\nwestern world. The shores of the Straits of Sunda are unsupplied with\r\nthose domineering fortresses which guard the entrances to the\r\nMediterranean, the Baltic, and the Propontis. Unlike the Danes, these\r\nOrientals do not demand the obsequious homage of lowered top-sails from\r\nthe endless procession of ships before the wind, which for centuries\r\npast, by night and by day, have passed between the islands of Sumatra\r\nand Java, freighted with the costliest cargoes of the east. But while\r\nthey freely waive a ceremonial like this, they do by no means renounce\r\ntheir claim to more solid tribute.\r\n\r\nTime out of mind the piratical proas of the Malays, lurking among the\r\nlow shaded coves and islets of Sumatra, have sallied out upon the\r\nvessels sailing through the straits, fiercely demanding tribute at the\r\npoint of their spears. Though by the repeated bloody chastisements they\r\nhave received at the hands of European cruisers, the audacity of these\r\ncorsairs has of late been somewhat repressed; yet, even at the present\r\nday, we occasionally hear of English and American vessels, which, in\r\nthose waters, have been remorselessly boarded and pillaged.\r\n\r\nWith a fair, fresh wind, the Pequod was now drawing nigh to these\r\nstraits; Ahab purposing to pass through them into the Javan sea, and\r\nthence, cruising northwards, over waters known to be frequented here\r\nand there by the Sperm Whale, sweep inshore by the Philippine Islands,\r\nand gain the far coast of Japan, in time for the great whaling season\r\nthere. By these means, the circumnavigating Pequod would sweep almost\r\nall the known Sperm Whale cruising grounds of the world, previous to\r\ndescending upon the Line in the Pacific; where Ahab, though everywhere\r\nelse foiled in his pursuit, firmly counted upon giving battle to Moby\r\nDick, in the sea he was most known to frequent; and at a season when he\r\nmight most reasonably be presumed to be haunting it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 31"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFNR84AAHSNQ4BFJ0ASPHB53","peer_label":"76","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":"01KFNR89PBD3E01B3VSJTV6FEV","peer_label":"Chunk 32","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KFNR89MGW4Z5NR9K3QH60WF6","peer_label":"Chunk 30","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-23T15:41:05.238Z","ts":"2026-01-23T15:41:17.840Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}