{"id":"01KG8AKVEB9TJPX42HT65HG40T","cid":"bafkreie7mvw4bt6uomxnhoobw3iatwofhhbs4szepvyekwpxnn67jytk7i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8508,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":8439,"text":"CHAPTER LXI.\r\nPREPARING FOR THE JOURNEY\r\n\r\n\r\nDuring the remainder of the day we loitered about, talking over our\r\nplans.\r\n\r\nThe doctor was all eagerness to visit Tamai, a solitary inland village,\r\nstanding upon the banks of a considerable lake of the same name, and\r\nembosomed among groves. From Afrehitoo you went to this place by a\r\nlonely pathway leading through the wildest scenery in the world. Much,\r\ntoo, we had heard concerning the lake itself, which abounded in such\r\ndelicious fish that, in former times, angling parties occasionally came\r\nover to it from Papeetee.\r\n\r\nUpon its banks, moreover, grew the finest fruit of the islands, and in\r\ntheir greatest perfection. The “Ve,” or Brazilian plum, here attained\r\nthe size of an orange; and the gorgeous “Arheea,” or red apple of\r\nTahiti, blushed with deeper dyes than in any of the seaward valleys.\r\n\r\nBeside all this, in Tamai dwelt the most beautiful and unsophisticated\r\nwomen in the entire Society group. In short, the village was so remote\r\nfrom the coast, and had been so much less affected by recent changes\r\nthan other places that, in most things, Tahitian life was here seen as\r\nformerly existing in the days of young Otoo, the boy-king, in Cook’s\r\ntime.\r\n\r\nAfter obtaining from the planters all the information which was needed,\r\nwe decided upon penetrating to the village; and after a temporary\r\nsojourn there, to strike the beach again, and journey round to Taloo, a\r\nharbour on the opposite side of the island.\r\n\r\nWe at once put ourselves in travelling trim. Just previous to leaving\r\nTahiti, having found my wardrobe reduced to two suits (frock and\r\ntrousers, both much the worse for wear), I had quilted them together\r\nfor mutual preservation (after a fashion peculiar to sailors);\r\nengrafting a red frock upon a blue one, and producing thereby a choice\r\nvariety in the way of clothing. This was the extent of my wardrobe. Nor\r\nwas the doctor by any means better off. His improvidence had at last\r\ndriven him to don the nautical garb; but by this time his frock—a light\r\ncotton one—had almost given out, and he had nothing to replace it.\r\nShorty very generously offered him one which was a little less ragged;\r\nbut the alms were proudly refused; Long Ghost preferring to assume the\r\nancient costume of Tahiti—the “Roora.”\r\n\r\nThis garment, once worn as a festival dress, is now seldom met with;\r\nbut Captain Bob had often shown us one which he kept as an heirloom. It\r\nwas a cloak, or mantle, of yellow tappa, precisely similar to the\r\n“poncho” worn by the South-American Spaniards. The head being slipped\r\nthrough a slit in the middle, the robe hangs about the person in ample\r\ndrapery. Tonoi obtained sufficient coarse brown tappa to make a short\r\nmantle of this description; and in five minutes the doctor was\r\nequipped. Zeke, eyeing his toga critically, reminded its proprietor\r\nthat there were many streams to ford, and precipices to scale, between\r\nMartair and Tamai; and if he travelled in petticoats, he had better\r\nhold them up.\r\n\r\nBesides other deficiencies, we were utterly shoeless. In the free and\r\neasy Pacific, sailors seldom wear shoes; mine had been tossed overboard\r\nthe day we met the Trades; and except in one or two tramps ashore, I\r\nhad never worn any since. In Martair, they would have been desirable:\r\nbut none were to be had. For the expedition we meditated, however, they\r\nwere indispensable. Zeke, being the owner of a pair of huge,\r\ndilapidated boots, hanging from a rafter like saddlebags, the doctor\r\nsucceeded in exchanging for them a case-knife, the last valuable\r\narticle in his possession. For myself, I made sandals from a bullock’s\r\nhide, such as are worn by the Indians in California. They are made in a\r\nminute; the sole, rudely fashioned to the foot, being confined across\r\nthe instep by three straps of leather.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMW6XG57RW1M3Z4C0QXT","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVE8GXTJH9RSX0095M2P","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.867Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.917Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}