{"id":"01KG8AKT5V16N7ZGZ8AGC0RYW5","cid":"bafkreidavaonchbvuhgvh6qycgquhhvcw46n3jbev2suo65u75zyxjpnku","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6840,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":6797,"text":"specifically heavier than water; it is easily worked, and extremely\r\nstrong and durable. But its chief merit lies in resisting the action of\r\nthe salt water, and the attacks of insects; which resistance is caused\r\nby its containing a resinous oil called _“poonja.”_\r\n\r\nTo my surprise, he informed me that the Irrawaddy was wholly built by\r\nthe native shipwrights of India, who, he modestly asserted, surpassed\r\nthe European artisans.\r\n\r\nThe rigging, also, was of native manufacture. As the _kayar,_ of which\r\nit is composed, is now getting into use both in England and America, as\r\nwell for ropes and rigging as for mats and rugs, my Lascar friend’s\r\naccount of it, joined to my own observations, may not be uninteresting.\r\n\r\nIn India, it is prepared very much in the same way as in Polynesia. The\r\ncocoa-nut is gathered while the husk is still green, and but partially\r\nripe; and this husk is removed by striking the nut forcibly, with both\r\nhands, upon a sharp-pointed stake, planted uprightly in the ground. In\r\nthis way a boy will strip nearly fifteen hundred in a day. But the\r\n_kayar_ is not made from the husk, as might be supposed, but from the\r\nrind of the nut; which, after being long soaked in water, is beaten\r\nwith mallets, and rubbed together into fibers. After this being dried\r\nin the sun, you may spin it, just like hemp, or any similar substance.\r\nThe fiber thus produced makes very strong and durable ropes, extremely\r\nwell adapted, from their lightness and durability, for the running\r\nrigging of a ship; while the same causes, united with its great\r\nstrength and buoyancy, render it very suitable for large cables and\r\nhawsers.\r\n\r\nBut the elasticity of the _kayar_ ill fits it for the shrouds and\r\nstanding-rigging of a ship, which require to be comparatively firm.\r\nHence, as the Irrawaddy’s shrouds were all of this substance, the\r\nLascar told me, they were continually setting up or slacking off her\r\nstanding-rigging, according as the weather was cold or warm. And the\r\nloss of a foretopmast, between the tropics, in a squall, he attributed\r\nto this circumstance.\r\n\r\nAfter a stay of about two weeks, the Irrawaddy had her heavy Indian\r\nspars replaced with Canadian pine, and her _kayar_ shrouds with hempen\r\nones. She then mustered her pagans, and hoisted sail for London.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRKNBM8ACW2DR0GKXD88","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT5VSWK4YV7ZNG93NYF4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.571Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.767Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}