{"id":"01KG8AKTS36GH3MZK5PR7FSRB1","cid":"bafkreifnicrua7hzhzwsmlk5ylxhyyybrfyhtpak3be75sfrpprfwqp6um","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8135,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":8060,"text":"CHAPTER LVIII.\r\nTHE HUNTING-FEAST; AND A VISIT TO AFREHITOO\r\n\r\n\r\nTwo bullocks and a boar! No bad trophies of our day’s sport. So by\r\ntorchlight we marched into the plantation, the wild hog rocking from\r\nits pole, and the doctor singing an old hunting-song—Tally-ho! the\r\nchorus of which swelled high above the yells of the natives.\r\n\r\nWe resolved to make a night of it. Kindling a great fire just outside\r\nthe dwelling, and hanging one of the heifer’s quarters from a limb of\r\nthe banian-tree, everyone was at liberty to cut and broil for himself.\r\nBaskets of roasted bread-fruit, and plenty of taro pudding; bunches of\r\nbananas, and young cocoa-nuts, had also been provided by the natives\r\nagainst our return.\r\n\r\nThe fire burned bravely, keeping off the mosquitoes, and making every\r\nman’s face glow like a beaker of Port. The meat had the true wild-game\r\nflavour, not at all impaired by our famous appetites, and a couple of\r\nflasks of white brandy, which Zeke, producing from his secret store,\r\ncirculated freely.\r\n\r\nThere was no end to my long comrade’s spirits. After telling his\r\nstories, and singing his songs, he sprang to his feet, clasped a young\r\ndamsel of the grove round the waist, and waltzed over the grass with\r\nher. But there’s no telling all the pranks he played that night. The\r\nnatives, who delight in a wag, emphatically pronounced him “maitai.”\r\n\r\nIt was long after midnight ere we broke up; but when the rest had\r\nretired, Zeke, with the true thrift of a Yankee, salted down what was\r\nleft of the meat.\r\n\r\nThe next day was Sunday; and at my request, Shorty accompanied me to\r\nAfrehitoo—a neighbouring bay, and the seat of a mission, almost\r\ndirectly opposite Papeetee. In Afrehitoo is a large church and\r\nschool-house, both quite dilapidated; and planted amid shrubbery on a\r\nfine knoll, stands a very tasteful cottage, commanding a view across\r\nthe channel. In passing, I caught sight of a graceful calico skirt\r\ndisappearing from the piazza through a doorway. The place was the\r\nresidence of the missionary.\r\n\r\nA trim little sail-boat was dancing out at her moorings, a few yards\r\nfrom the beach.\r\n\r\nStraggling over the low lands in the vicinity were several native\r\nhuts—untidy enough—but much better every way than most of those in\r\nTahiti.\r\n\r\nWe attended service at the church, where we found but a small\r\ncongregation; and after what I had seen in Papeetee, nothing very\r\ninteresting took place. But the audience had a curious, fidgety look,\r\nwhich I knew not how to account for until we ascertained that a sermon\r\nwith the eighth commandment for a text was being preached.\r\n\r\nIt seemed that there lived an Englishman in the district, who, like our\r\nfriends, the planters, was cultivating Tombez potatoes for the Papeetee\r\nmarket.\r\n\r\nIn spite of all his precautions, the natives were in the habit of\r\nmaking nocturnal forays into his inclosure, and carrying off the\r\npotatoes. One night he fired a fowling-piece, charged with pepper and\r\nsalt, at several shadows which he discovered stealing across his\r\npremises. They fled. But it was like seasoning anything else; the\r\nknaves stole again with a greater relish than ever; and the very next\r\nnight, he caught a party in the act of roasting a basketful of potatoes\r\nunder his own cooking-shed. At last, he stated his grievances to the\r\nmissionary; who, for the benefit of his congregation, preached the\r\nsermon we heard.\r\n\r\nNow, there were no thieves in Martair; but then, the people of the\r\nvalley were bribed to be honest. It was a regular business transaction\r\nbetween them and the planters. In consideration of so many potatoes “to\r\nthem in hand, duly paid,” they were to abstain from all depredations\r\nupon the plantation. Another security against roguery was the permanent\r\nresidence upon the premises of their chief, Tonoi.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJM0XE3DYAXBQAACS7ZWM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKTS373GRFN8PJ0J1B612","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.187Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.683Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}