{"id":"01KG8AKRMXWD8YF92FS37NN00D","cid":"bafkreielrljox3mwviuvjygkxskerw5so2cghdfbffry5ybxzqm4p7jhre","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11861,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.846Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":11791,"text":"Next day was Sunday; and the mid-day sun shone upon a glassy sea.\r\n\r\nAfter the uproar of the breeze and the gale, this profound, pervading\r\ncalm seemed suited to the tranquil spirit of a day, which, in godly\r\ntowns, makes quiet vistas of the most tumultuous thoroughfares.\r\n\r\nThe ship lay gently rolling in the soft, subdued ocean swell; while all\r\naround were faint white spots; and nearer to, broad, milky patches,\r\nbetokening the vicinity of scores of ships, all bound to one common\r\nport, and tranced in one common calm. Here the long, devious wakes from\r\nEurope, Africa, India, and Peru converged to a line, which braided them\r\nall in one.\r\n\r\nFull before us quivered and danced, in the noon-day heat and mid-air,\r\nthe green heights of New Jersey; and by an optical delusion, the blue\r\nsea seemed to flow under them.\r\n\r\nThe sailors whistled and whistled for a wind; the impatient\r\ncabin-passengers were arrayed in their best; and the emigrants\r\nclustered around the bows, with eyes intent upon the long-sought land.\r\n\r\nBut leaning over, in a reverie, against the side, my Carlo gazed down\r\ninto the calm, violet sea, as if it were an eye that answered his own;\r\nand turning to Harry, said, “This America’s skies must be down in the\r\nsea; for, looking down in this water, I behold what, in Italy, we also\r\nbehold overhead. Ah! after all, I find my Italy somewhere, wherever I\r\ngo. I even found it in rainy Liverpool.”\r\n\r\nPresently, up came a dainty breeze, wafting to us a white wing from the\r\nshore—the pilot-boat! Soon a monkey-jacket mounted the side, and was\r\nbeset by the captain and cabin people for news. And out of bottomless\r\npockets came bundles of newspapers, which were eagerly caught by the\r\nthrong.\r\n\r\nThe captain now abdicated in the pilot’s favor, who proved to be a\r\ntiger of a fellow, keeping us hard at work, pulling and hauling the\r\nbraces, and trimming the ship, to catch the least _cat’s-paw_ of wind.\r\n\r\nWhen, among sea-worn people, a strange man from shore suddenly stands\r\namong them, with the smell of the land in his beard, it conveys a\r\nrealization of the vicinity of the green grass, that not even the\r\ndistant sight of the shore itself can transcend.\r\n\r\nThe steerage was now as a bedlam; trunks and chests were locked and\r\ntied round with ropes; and a general washing and rinsing of faces and\r\nhands was beheld. While this was going on, forth came an order from the\r\nquarter-deck, for every bed, blanket, bolster, and bundle of straw in\r\nthe steerage to be committed to the deep.—A command that was received\r\nby the emigrants with dismay, and then with wrath. But they were\r\nassured, that this was indispensable to the getting rid of an otherwise\r\nlong detention of some weeks at the quarantine. They therefore\r\nreluctantly complied; and overboard went pallet and pillow. Following\r\nthem, went old pots and pans, bottles and baskets. So, all around, the\r\nsea was strewn with stuffed bed-ticks, that limberly floated on the\r\nwaves—couches for all mermaids who were not fastidious. Numberless\r\nthings of this sort, tossed overboard from emigrant ships nearing the\r\nharbor of New York, drift in through the Narrows, and are deposited on\r\nthe shores of Staten Island; along whose eastern beach I have often\r\nwalked, and speculated upon the broken jugs, torn pillows, and\r\ndilapidated baskets at my feet.\r\n\r\nA second order was now passed for the emigrants to muster their forces,\r\nand give the steerage a final, thorough cleaning with sand and water.\r\nAnd to this they were incited by the same warning which had induced\r\nthem to make an offering to Neptune of their bedding. The place was\r\nthen fumigated, and dried with pans of coals from the galley; so that\r\nby evening, no stranger would have imagined, from her appearance, that\r\nthe Highlander had made otherwise than a tidy and prosperous voyage.\r\nThus, some sea-captains take good heed that benevolent citizens shall\r\nnot get a glimpse of the true condition of the steerage while at sea.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTVYBDRAFPDM9FWY5EY5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKRN1ZK3AJ07Z8Y50Y5XK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.005Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.966Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}