{"id":"01KG8AKVEE8E132YZ2405NGVV6","cid":"bafkreiahtjxmisf3uzbjip62mln6rjicmar2bilsi7nusy2dqcpm72ain4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8951,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":8888,"text":"All things considered, I could not help looking upon Taloo as offering\r\n“a splendid opening” for us adventurers. To say nothing of the\r\nfacilities presented for going to sea in the whaler, or hiring\r\nourselves out as day labourers in the sugar plantation, there were\r\nhopes to be entertained of being promoted to some office of high trust\r\nand emolument about the person of her majesty, the queen.\r\n\r\nNor was this expectation altogether Quixotic. In the train of many\r\nPolynesian princes roving whites are frequently found: gentleman\r\npensioners of state, basking in the tropical sunshine of the court, and\r\nleading the pleasantest lives in the world. Upon islands little visited\r\nby foreigners the first seaman that settles down is generally\r\ndomesticated in the family of the head chief or king; where he\r\nfrequently discharges the functions of various offices, elsewhere\r\nfilled by as many different individuals. As historiographer, for\r\ninstance, he gives the natives some account of distant countries; as\r\ncommissioner of the arts and sciences, he instructs them in the use of\r\nthe jack-knife, and the best way of shaping bits of iron hoop into\r\nspear-heads; and as interpreter to his majesty, he facilitates\r\nintercourse with strangers; besides instructing the people generally in\r\nthe uses of the most common English phrases, civil and profane; but\r\noftener the latter.\r\n\r\nThese men generally marry well; often—like Hardy of Hannamanoo—into the\r\nWood royal.\r\n\r\nSometimes they officiate as personal attendant, or First Lord in\r\nWaiting, to the king. At Amboi, one of the Tonga Islands, a vagabond\r\nWelshman bends his knee as cupbearer to his cannibal majesty. He mixes\r\nhis morning cup of “arva,” and, with profound genuflections, presents\r\nit in a cocoa-nut bowl, richly carved. Upon another island of the same\r\ngroup, where it is customary to bestow no small pains in dressing the\r\nhair—frizzing it out by a curious process into an enormous Pope’s\r\nhead—an old man-of-war’s-man fills the post of barber to the king. And\r\nas his majesty is not very neat, his mop is exceedingly populous; so\r\nthat, when Jack is not engaged in dressing the head intrusted to his\r\ncharge, he busies himself in gently titillating it—a sort of skewer\r\nbeing actually worn about in the patient’s hair for that special\r\npurpose.\r\n\r\nEven upon the Sandwich Islands a low rabble of foreigners is kept about\r\nthe person of Tammahammaha for the purpose of ministering to his ease\r\nor enjoyment.\r\n\r\nBilly Loon, a jolly little negro, tricked out in a soiled blue jacket,\r\nstudded all over with rusty bell buttons, and garnished with shabby\r\ngold lace, is the royal drummer and pounder of the tambourine. Joe, a\r\nwooden-legged Portuguese who lost his leg by a whale, is violinist; and\r\nMordecai, as he is called, a villainous-looking scamp, going about with\r\nhis cups and balls in a side pocket, diverts the court with his\r\njugglery. These idle rascals receive no fixed salary, being altogether\r\ndependent upon the casual bounty of their master. Now and then they run\r\nup a score at the Dance Houses in Honolulu, where the illustrious\r\nTammahammaha III afterwards calls and settles the bill.\r\n\r\nA few years since an auctioneer to his majesty came near being added to\r\nthe retinue of state. It seems that he was the first man who had\r\npractised his vocation in the Sandwich Islands; and delighted with the\r\nsport of bidding upon his wares, the king was one of his best\r\ncustomers. At last he besought the man to leave all and follow him, and\r\nhe should be handsomely provided for at court. But the auctioneer\r\nrefused; and so the ivory hammer lost the chance of being borne before\r\nhim on a velvet cushion when the next king went to be crowned.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMW29HSTF991W8C0ZGZQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVEB3X9FYQCT50NWEYMB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVEEHX5V9Q1FDC5SPYHT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.870Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.351Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}