{"id":"01KG8AKSV4JGT4G0RY7Z8T57E3","cid":"bafkreiba5gn6phwtxmavkz2ow2igcdios7rcnfxpsglz2ug7c6ftyd7c7i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1793,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.838Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":1732,"text":"Even when I had become quite well and strong again, I wondered how the\r\nsailors could really like such stuff; but many of them had a jug of it,\r\nbesides the Greenlander, which they brought along to sea with them, _to\r\ntaper off with,_ as they called it. But this tapering off did not last\r\nvery long, for the Jamaica was all gone on the second day, and the jugs\r\nwere tossed overboard. I wonder where they are now?\r\n\r\nBut to tell the truth, I found, in spite of its sharp taste, the\r\nspirits I drank was just the thing I needed; but I suppose, if I could\r\nhave had a cup of nice hot coffee, it would have done quite as well,\r\nand perhaps much better. But that was not to be had at that time of\r\nnight, or, indeed, at any other time; for the thing they called\r\n_coffee,_ which was given to us every morning at breakfast, was the\r\nmost curious tasting drink I ever drank, and tasted as little like\r\ncoffee, as it did like lemonade; though, to be sure, it was generally\r\nas cold as lemonade, and I used to think the cook had an icehouse, and\r\ndropt ice into his coffee. But what was more curious still, was the\r\ndifferent quality and taste of it on different mornings. Sometimes it\r\ntasted fishy, as if it was a decoction of Dutch herrings; and then it\r\nwould taste very salty, as if some _old horse,_ or sea-beef, had been\r\nboiled in it; and then again it would taste a sort of cheesy, as if the\r\ncaptain had sent his cheese-parings forward to make our coffee of; and\r\nyet another time it would have such a very bad flavor, that I was\r\nalmost ready to think some old stocking-heels had been boiled in it.\r\nWhat under heaven it was made of, that it had so many different bad\r\nflavors, always remained a mystery; for when at work at his vocation,\r\nour old cook used to keep himself close shut-up in his caboose, a\r\nlittle cook-house, and never told any of his secrets.\r\n\r\nThough a very serious character, as I shall hereafter show, he was for\r\nall that, and perhaps for that identical reason, a very suspicious\r\nlooking sort of a cook, that I don’t believe would ever succeed in\r\ngetting the cooking at Delmonico’s in New York. It was well for him\r\nthat he was a black cook, for I have no doubt his color kept us from\r\nseeing his dirty face! I never saw him wash but once, and that was at\r\none of his own soup pots one dark night when he thought no one saw him.\r\nWhat induced him to be washing his face then, I never could find out;\r\nbut I suppose he must have suddenly waked up, after dreaming about some\r\nreal estate on his cheeks. As for his coffee, notwithstanding the\r\ndisagreeableness of its flavor, I always used to have a strange\r\ncuriosity every morning, to see what new taste it was going to have;\r\nand though, sure enough, I never missed making a new discovery, and\r\nadding another taste to my palate, I never found that there was any\r\nchange in the badness of the beverage, which always seemed the same in\r\nthat respect as before.\r\n\r\nIt may well be believed, then, that now when I was seasick, a cup of\r\nsuch coffee as our old cook made would have done me no good, if indeed\r\nit would not have come near making an end of me. And bad as it was, and\r\nsince it was not to be had at that time of night, as I said before, I\r\nthink I was excusable in taking something else in place of it, as I\r\ndid; and under the circumstances, it would be unhandsome of them, if my\r\nfellow-members of the Temperance Society should reproach me for\r\nbreaking my bond, which I would not have done except in case of\r\nnecessity. But the evil effect of breaking one’s bond upon any occasion\r\nwhatever, was witnessed in the present case; for it insidiously opened\r\nthe way to subsequent breaches of it, which though very slight, yet\r\ncarried no apology with them.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNGWY1VPN4C4Z8PCB5TN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSV4NAW4PM51EZJYQKMM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.228Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.050Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}