{"id":"01KG8AJRHKGBQCXXRZ958PW2D5","cid":"bafkreighgogtshjncspvg5pvwhber4vwvbifyf44z7bdw4jcbs4isiiw5a","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# CHAPTER XXX. Hints For A Full Length Of Samoa\n## Overview\nThis chapter, titled \"Hints For A Full Length Of Samoa,\" is part of the novel [Mardi: And a Voyage Thither](arke:01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA). It was extracted from the file [mardi_vol1.txt](arke:01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK) and is included in the [Melville Complete Works](arke:01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW) collection. This chapter follows [CHAPTER XXIX. What They Lighted Upon In Further Searching The Craft, And The Resolution They Came To](arke:01KG8AJRHGF2HZDP4MNWTGF642) and precedes [CHAPTER XXXI. Rovings Alow And Aloft](arke:01KG8AJRHKM4X7XAKFB7G9REDB).\n\n## Context\nThe chapter focuses on the character Samoa, a native of the Samoan Islands (also known as the Navigator Islands). The narrator describes Samoa's physical appearance, including his distinctive ear piercing, nose ornament, and tattooing. The text also touches upon the origin of Samoa's name, given to him by a sea captain, and his preferred title, \"the Upoluan,\" referencing the island of Upolu where he was born. The narrator also briefly introduces Annatoo, another character, whose appearance is described unflatteringly.\n\n## Contents\nThis chapter provides a detailed physical description of the character Samoa, emphasizing his unique adornments and tattoos. It delves into the etymology of his name and his personal preferences regarding his appellation. The narrative also includes a brief, critical characterization of Annatoo. The chapter serves to introduce and characterize these individuals within the broader narrative of the novel.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:13.171Z","description_model":"gemini-2.5-flash-lite","description_title":"CHAPTER XXX. Hints For A Full Length Of Samoa","end_line":3514,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:39.468Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"CHAPTER XXX.\nHints For A Full Length Of Samoa","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":3448,"text":"CHAPTER XXX.\r\nHints For A Full Length Of Samoa\r\n\r\n\r\nMy original intention to touch at the Kingsmill Chain, or the countries\r\nadjacent, was greatly strengthened by thus encountering Samoa; and the\r\nmore I had to do with my Belisarius, the more I was pleased with him.\r\nNor could I avoid congratulating myself, upon having fallen in with a\r\nhero, who in various ways, could not fail of proving exceedingly\r\nuseful.\r\n\r\nLike any man of mark, Samoa best speaks for himself; but we may as well\r\nconvey some idea of his person. Though manly enough, nay, an obelisk in\r\nstature, the savage was far from being sentimentally prepossessing. Be\r\nnot alarmed; but he wore his knife in the lobe of his dexter ear,\r\nwhich, by constant elongation almost drooped upon his shoulder. A mode\r\nof sheathing it exceedingly handy, and far less brigandish than the\r\nHighlander’s dagger concealed in his leggins.\r\n\r\nBut it was the mother of Samoa, who at a still earlier day had\r\npunctured him through and through in still another direction. The\r\nmiddle cartilage of his nose was slightly pendent, peaked, and Gothic,\r\nand perforated with a hole; in which, like a Newfoundland dog carrying\r\na cane, Samoa sported a trinket: a well polished nail.\r\n\r\nIn other respects he was equally a coxcomb. In his style of tattooing,\r\nfor instance, which seemed rather incomplete; his marks embracing but a\r\nvertical half of his person, from crown to sole; the other side being\r\nfree from the slightest stain. Thus clapped together, as it were, he\r\nlooked like a union of the unmatched moieties of two distinct beings;\r\nand your fancy was lost in conjecturing, where roamed the absent ones.\r\nWhen he turned round upon you suddenly, you thought you saw some one\r\nelse, not him whom you had been regarding before.\r\n\r\nBut there was one feature in Samoa beyond the reach of the innovations\r\nof art:—his eye; which in civilized man or savage, ever shines in the\r\nhead, just as it shone at birth. Truly, our eyes are miraculous things.\r\nBut alas, that in so many instances, these divine organs should be mere\r\nlenses inserted into the socket, as glasses in spectacle rims.\r\n\r\nBut my Islander had a soul in his eye; looking out upon you there, like\r\nsomebody in him. What an eye, to be sure! At times, brilliantly\r\nchangeful as opal; in anger, glowing like steel at white heat.\r\n\r\nBelisarius, be it remembered, had but very recently lost an arm. But\r\nyou would have thought he had been born without it; so Lord Nelson-\r\nlike and cavalierly did he sport the honorable stump.\r\n\r\nBut no more of Samoa; only this: that his name had been given him by a\r\nsea-captain; to whom it had been suggested by the native designation of\r\nthe islands to which he belonged; the Saviian or Samoan group,\r\notherwise known as the Navigator Islands. The island of Upolua, one of\r\nthat cluster, claiming the special honor of his birth, as Corsica does\r\nNapoleon’s, we shall occasionally hereafter speak of Samoa as the\r\nUpoluan; by which title he most loved to be called.\r\n\r\nIt is ever ungallant to pass over a lady. But what shall be said of\r\nAnnatoo? As I live, I can make no pleasing portrait of the dame; for as\r\nin most ugly subjects, flattering would but make the matter worse.\r\nFurthermore, unalleviated ugliness should ever go unpainted, as\r\nsomething unnecessary to duplicate. But the only ugliness is that of\r\nthe heart, seen through the face. And though beauty be obvious, the\r\nonly loveliness is invisible.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"CHAPTER XXX.\nHints For A Full Length Of Samoa"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJA6157W2830190N652KA","peer_type":"novel","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AJRHGF2HZDP4MNWTGF642","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AJRHKM4X7XAKFB7G9REDB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"next"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:47:42.131Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:14.238Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}