{"id":"01KG8AKW3VRYDBCBH7P8R38RGH","cid":"bafkreibe27xyiiopbez2k2n7sfarmkwcfvkusibp7z23dtst4jrvfeionu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9635,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":9570,"text":"CHAPTER LXX.\r\nLIFE AT LOOHOOLOO\r\n\r\n\r\nFinding the society at Loohooloo very pleasant, the young ladies, in\r\nparticular, being extremely sociable; and, moreover, in love with the\r\nfamous good cheer of old Marharvai, we acquiesced in an invitation of\r\nhis to tarry a few days longer. We might then, he said, join a small\r\ncanoe party which was going to a place a league or two distant. So\r\naverse to all exertion are these people that they really thought the\r\nprospect of thus getting rid of a few miles’ walking would prevail with\r\nus, even if there were no other inducement.\r\n\r\nThe people of the hamlet, as we soon discovered, formed a snug little\r\ncommunity of cousins; of which our host seemed the head. Marharvai, in\r\ntruth, was a petty chief who owned the neighbouring lands. And as the\r\nwealthy, in most cases, rejoice in a numerous kindred, the family\r\nfooting upon which everybody visited him was, perhaps, ascribable to\r\nthe fact of his being the lord of the manor. Like Captain Bob, he was,\r\nin some things, a gentleman of the old school—a stickler for the\r\ncustoms of a past and pagan age.\r\n\r\nNowhere else, except in Tamai, did we find the manners of the natives\r\nless vitiated by recent changes. The old-fashioned Tahitian dinner they\r\ngave us on the day of our arrival was a fair sample of their general\r\nmode of living.\r\n\r\nOur time passed delightfully. The doctor went his way, and I mine. With\r\na pleasant companion, he was forever strolling inland, ostensibly to\r\ncollect botanical specimens; while I, for the most part, kept near the\r\nsea; sometimes taking the girls on an aquatic excursion in a canoe.\r\n\r\nOften we went fishing; not dozing over stupid hooks and lines, but\r\nleaping right into the water, and chasing our prey over the coral\r\nrocks, spear in hand.\r\n\r\nSpearing fish is glorious sport. The Imeeose, all round the island,\r\ncatch them in no other way. The smooth shallows between the reef and\r\nthe shore, and, at low water, the reef itself, being admirably adapted\r\nto this mode of capturing them. At almost any time of the day—save ever\r\nthe sacred hour of noon—you may see the fish-hunters pursuing their\r\nsport; with loud halloos, brandishing their spears, and splashing\r\nthrough the water in all directions. Sometimes a solitary native is\r\nseen, far out upon a lonely shallow, wading slowly along, with eye\r\nintent and poised spear.\r\n\r\nBut the best sport of all is going out upon the great reef itself by\r\ntorch-light. The natives follow this recreation with as much spirit as\r\na gentleman of England does the chase; and take full as much delight in\r\nit.\r\n\r\nThe torch is nothing more than a bunch of dry reeds, bound firmly\r\ntogether: the spear, a long, light pole, with an iron head, on one side\r\nbarbed.\r\n\r\nI shall never forget the night that old Marharvai and the rest of us,\r\npaddling off to the reef, leaped at midnight upon the coral ledges with\r\nwaving torches and spears. We were more than a mile from the land; the\r\nsullen ocean, thundering upon the outside of the rocks, dashed the\r\nspray in our faces, almost extinguishing the flambeaux; and, far as the\r\neye could reach, the darkness of sky and water was streaked with a\r\nlong, misty line of foam, marking the course of the coral barrier. The\r\nwild fishermen, flourishing their weapons, and yelling like so many\r\ndemons to scare their prey, sprang from ledge to ledge, and sometimes\r\ndarted their spears in the very midst of the breakers.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMW6EYWHYSJK1QCY6B0N","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW3ZASB2EY6X694291S5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.555Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.750Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}