{"id":"01KG8AKVEE616YGHRFNQS6VGF9","cid":"bafkreientuqznnobmzli55xp2clgvaycbrio3627vppk63atno7kmxkx4m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9145,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":9070,"text":"CHAPTER LXVII.\r\nTHE JOURNEY ROUND THE BEACH\r\n\r\n\r\nIt was on the fourth day of the first month of the Hegira, or flight\r\nfrom Tamai (we now reckoned our time thus), that, rising bright and\r\nearly, we were up and away out of the valley of Martair before the\r\nfishermen even were stirring.\r\n\r\nIt was the earliest dawn. The morning only showed itself along the\r\nlower edge of a bank of purple clouds pierced by the misty peaks of\r\nTahiti. The tropical day seemed too languid to rise. Sometimes,\r\nstarting fitfully, it decked the clouds with faint edgings of pink and\r\ngray, which, fading away, left all dim again. Anon, it threw out thin,\r\npale rays, growing lighter and lighter, until at last, the golden\r\nmorning sprang out of the East with a bound—darting its bright beams\r\nhither and thither, higher and higher, and sending them, broadcast,\r\nover the face of the heavens.\r\n\r\nAll balmy from the groves of Tahiti came an indolent air, cooled by its\r\ntransit over the waters; and grateful underfoot was the damp and\r\nslightly yielding beach, from which the waves seemed just retired.\r\n\r\nThe doctor was in famous spirits; removing his Koora, he went splashing\r\ninto the sea; and, after swimming a few yards, waded ashore, hopping,\r\nskipping, and jumping along the beach; but very careful to cut all his\r\ncapers in the direction of our journey.\r\n\r\nSay what they will of the glowing independence one feels in the saddle,\r\ngive me the first morning flush of your cheery pedestrian!\r\n\r\nThus exhilarated, we went on, as light-hearted and care-free as we\r\ncould wish.\r\n\r\nAnd here I cannot refrain from lauding the very superior inducements\r\nwhich most intertropical countries afford, not only to mere rovers like\r\nourselves, but to penniless people generally. In these genial regions\r\none’s wants are naturally diminished; and those which remain are easily\r\ngratified; fuel, house-shelter, and, if you please, clothing, may be\r\nentirely dispensed with.\r\n\r\nHow different our hard northern latitudes! Alas! the lot of a “poor\r\ndevil,” twenty degrees north of the tropic of Cancer, is indeed\r\npitiable.\r\n\r\nAt last, the beach contracted to hardly a yard’s width, and the dense\r\nthicket almost dipped into the sea. In place of the smooth sand, too,\r\nwe had sharp fragments of broken coral, which made travelling\r\nexceedingly unpleasant. “Lord! my foot!” roared the doctor, fetching it\r\nup for inspection, with a galvanic fling of the limb. A sharp splinter\r\nhad thrust itself into the flesh through a hole in his boot. My sandals\r\nwere worse yet; their soles taking a sort of fossil impression of\r\neverything trod upon.\r\n\r\nTurning round a bold sweep of the beach, we came upon a piece of fine,\r\nopen ground, with a fisherman’s dwelling in the distance, crowning a\r\nknoll which rolled off into the water.\r\n\r\nThe hut proved to be a low, rude erection, very recently thrown up; for\r\nthe bamboos were still green as grass, and the thatching fresh and\r\nfragrant as meadow hay. It was open upon three sides; so that, upon\r\ndrawing near, the domestic arrangements within were in plain sight. No\r\none was stirring; and nothing was to be seen but a clumsy old chest of\r\nnative workmanship, a few calabashes, and bundles of tappa hanging\r\nagainst a post; and a heap of something, we knew not what, in a dark\r\ncorner. Upon close inspection, the doctor discovered it to be a loving\r\nold couple, locked in each other’s arms, and rolled together in a tappa\r\nmantle.\r\n\r\n“Halloa! Darby!” he cried, shaking the one with a beard. But Darby\r\nheeded him not; though Joan, a wrinkled old body, started up in\r\naffright, and yelled aloud. Neither of us attempting to gag her, she\r\npresently became quiet; and, after staring hard and asking some\r\nunintelligible questions, she proceeded to rouse her still slumbering\r\nmate.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMW6X0YKAMMDDK1V09A9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW3H0050F3N5W7Y2EK9D","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.870Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.441Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}