{"id":"01KG8AKT6KBKKRQS1G8EZVC0BP","cid":"bafkreihcraqdvnmfenlnto7n3sr4mdcbf7grtiy4rd4razhluhe7outlny","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7423,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":7348,"text":"CHAPTER LIII.\r\nFARMING IN POLYNESIA\r\n\r\n\r\nThe planters were both whole-souled fellows; but, in other respects, as\r\nunlike as possible.\r\n\r\nOne was a tall, robust Yankee, born in the backwoods of Maine, sallow,\r\nand with a long face;—the other was a short little Cockney, who had\r\nfirst clapped his eyes on the Monument.\r\n\r\nThe voice of Zeke, the Yankee, had a twang like a cracked viol; and\r\nShorty (as his comrade called him), clipped the aspirate from every\r\nword beginning with one. The latter, though not the tallest man in the\r\nworld, was a good-looking young fellow of twenty-five. His cheeks were\r\ndyed with the fine Saxon red, burned deeper from his roving life: his\r\nblue eye opened well, and a profusion of fair hair curled over a\r\nwell-shaped head.\r\n\r\nBut Zeke was no beauty. A strong, ugly man, he was well adapted for\r\nmanual labour; and that was all. His eyes were made to see with, and\r\nnot for ogling. Compared with the Cockney, he was grave, and rather\r\ntaciturn; but there was a deal of good old humour bottled up in him,\r\nafter all. For the rest, he was frank, good-hearted, shrewd, and\r\nresolute; and like Shorty, quite illiterate.\r\n\r\nThough a curious conjunction, the pair got along together famously.\r\nBut, as no two men were ever united in any enterprise without one\r\ngetting the upper hand of the other, so in most matters Zeke had his\r\nown way. Shorty, too, had imbibed from him a spirit of invincible\r\nindustry; and Heaven only knows what ideas of making a fortune on their\r\nplantation.\r\n\r\nWe were much concerned at this; for the prospect of their setting us,\r\nin their own persons, an example of downright hard labour, was anything\r\nbut agreeable. But it was now too late to repent what we had done.\r\n\r\nThe first day—thank fortune—we did nothing. Having treated us as guests\r\nthus far, they no doubt thought it would be wanting in delicacy to set\r\nus to work before the compliments of the occasion were well over. The\r\nnext morning, however, they both looked business-like, and we were put\r\nto.\r\n\r\n“Wall, b’ys” (boys), said Zeke, knocking the ashes out of his pipe,\r\nafter breakfast—“we must get at it. Shorty, give Peter there (the\r\ndoctor), the big hoe, and Paul the other, and let’s be off.” Going to a\r\ncorner, Shorty brought forth three of the implements; and distributing\r\nthem impartially, trudged on after his partner, who took the lead with\r\nsomething in the shape of an axe.\r\n\r\nFor a moment left alone in the house, we looked at each other, quaking.\r\nWe were each equipped with a great, clumsy piece of a tree, armed at\r\none end with a heavy, flat mass of iron.\r\n\r\nThe cutlery part—especially adapted to a primitive soil—was an\r\nimportation from Sydney; the handles must have been of domestic\r\nmanufacture. “Hoes”—so called—we had heard of, and seen; but they were\r\nharmless in comparison with the tools in our hands.\r\n\r\n“What’s to be done with them?” inquired I of Peter.\r\n\r\n“Lift them up and down,” he replied; “or put them in motion some way or\r\nother. Paul, we are in a scrape—but hark! they are calling;” and\r\nshouldering the hoes, off we marched.\r\n\r\nOur destination was the farther side of the plantation, where the\r\nground, cleared in part, had not yet been broken up; but they were now\r\nsetting about it. Upon halting, I asked why a plough was not used; some\r\nof the young wild steers might be caught and trained for draught.\r\n\r\nZeke replied that, for such a purpose, no cattle, to his knowledge, had\r\never been used in any part of Polynesia. As for the soil of Martair, so\r\nobstructed was it with roots, crossing and recrossing each other at all\r\npoints, that no kind of a plough could be used to advantage. The heavy\r\nSydney hoes were the only thing for such land.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJM0K7QP7RWE0EFXH0T20","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKT6K7DSE5NFBM7EECRFS","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:16.595Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.250Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}