{"id":"01KG8AKW3VY7EB77QEAXR51ZA1","cid":"bafkreibw2lzoroy5dxnywgdizlfrknzveodohhltp6b5i6jk5igten5aqe","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9532,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":9472,"text":"with filberts, are used as a taper; the larger nuts, thinned and\r\npolished, furnish him with a beautiful goblet: the smaller ones, with\r\nbowls for his pipes; the dry husks kindle his fires; their fibres are\r\ntwisted into fishing-lines and cords for his canoes; he heals his\r\nwounds with a balsam compounded from the juice of the nut; and with the\r\noil extracted from its meat embalms the bodies of the dead.\r\n\r\nThe noble trunk itself is far from being valueless. Sawn into posts, it\r\nupholds the islander’s dwelling; converted into charcoal, it cooks his\r\nfood; and supported on blocks of stone, rails in his lands. He impels\r\nhis canoe through the water with a paddle of the wood, and goes to\r\nbattle with clubs and spears of the same hard material.\r\n\r\nIn pagan Tahiti a cocoa-nut branch was the symbol of regal authority.\r\nLaid upon the sacrifice in the temple, it made the offering sacred; and\r\nwith it the priests chastised and put to flight the evil spirits which\r\nassailed them. The supreme majesty of Oro, the great god of their\r\nmythology, was declared in the cocoa-nut log from which his image was\r\nrudely carved. Upon one of the Tonga Islands, there stands a living\r\ntree revered itself as a deity. Even upon the Sandwich Islands, the\r\ncocoa-palm retains all its ancient reputation; the people there having\r\nthought of adopting it as the national emblem.\r\n\r\nThe cocoa-nut is planted as follows: Selecting a suitable place, you\r\ndrop into the ground a fully ripe nut, and leave it. In a few days, a\r\nthin, lance-like shoot forces itself through a minute hole in the\r\nshell, pierces the husk, and soon unfolds three pale-green leaves in\r\nthe air; while originating, in the same soft white sponge which now\r\ncompletely fills the nut, a pair of fibrous roots, pushing away the\r\nstoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction, penetrate the\r\nshell, and strike vertically into the ground. A day or two more, and\r\nthe shell and husk, which, in the last and germinating stage of the\r\nnut, are so hard that a knife will scarcely make any impression,\r\nspontaneously burst by some force within; and, henceforth, the hardy\r\nyoung plant thrives apace; and needing no culture, pruning, or\r\nattention of any sort, rapidly advances to maturity. In four or five\r\nyears it bears; in twice as many more, it begins to lift its head among\r\nthe groves, where, waxing strong, it flourishes for near a century.\r\n\r\nThus, as some voyager has said, the man who but drops one of these nuts\r\ninto the ground may be said to confer a greater and more certain\r\nbenefit upon himself and posterity than many a life’s toil in less\r\ngenial climes.\r\n\r\nThe fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable. As long as it lives it\r\nbears, and without intermission. Two hundred nuts, besides innumerable\r\nwhite blossoms of others, may be seen upon it at one time; and though a\r\nwhole year is required to bring any one of them to the germinating\r\npoint, no two, perhaps, are at one time in precisely the same stage of\r\ngrowth.\r\n\r\nThe tree delights in a maritime situation. In its greatest perfection,\r\nit is perhaps found right on the seashore, where its roots are actually\r\nwashed. But such instances are only met with upon islands where the\r\nswell of the sea is prevented from breaking on the beach by an\r\nencircling reef. No saline flavour is perceptible in the nut produced\r\nin such a place. Although it bears in any soil, whether upland or\r\nbottom, it does not flourish vigorously inland; and I have frequently\r\nobserved that, when met with far up the valley, its tall stem inclines\r\nseaward, as if pining after a more genial region.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMWJ4YQ4MFXKN10F0MX9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW3HZAYPPZ4VDET6V86B","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW3VP4J9MXSW4659FFV0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.555Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.716Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}