{"id":"01KG8AKWR3TPZ7DBR27211C722","cid":"bafkreifcyxrgbcbddfg5c7tueadmm62ud3z26lt6dofgdygjvpymfgxw4y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4100,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":4034,"text":"and crave permission to return to duty, it would not now be permitted.\r\n\r\n“Oh! get along with your gammon, counsellor,” exclaimed Black Dan,\r\nabsolutely indignant that his understanding should be thus insulted.\r\n\r\nQuite enraged, Wilson bade him hold his peace; and then, summoning a\r\nfat old native to his side, addressed him in Tahitian, giving\r\ndirections for leading us away to a place of safe keeping.\r\n\r\nHereupon, being marshalled in order, with the old man at our head, we\r\nwere put in motion, with loud shouts, along a fine pathway, running far\r\non through wide groves of the cocoa-nut and bread-fruit.\r\n\r\nThe rest of our escort trotted on beside us in high good-humour;\r\njabbering broken English, and in a hundred ways giving us to understand\r\nthat Wilson was no favourite of theirs, and that we were prime, good\r\nfellows for holding out as we did. They seemed to know our whole\r\nhistory.\r\n\r\nThe scenery around was delightful. The tropical day was fast drawing to\r\na close; and from where we were, the sun looked like a vast red fire\r\nburning in the woodlands—its rays falling aslant through the endless\r\nranks of trees, and every leaf fringed with flame. Escaped from the\r\nconfined decks of the frigate, the air breathed spices to us; streams\r\nwere heard flowing; green boughs were rocking; and far inland, all\r\nsunset flushed, rose the still, steep peaks of the island.\r\n\r\nAs we proceeded, I was more and more struck by the picturesqueness of\r\nthe wide, shaded road. In several places, durable bridges of wood were\r\nthrown over large water-courses; others were spanned by a single arch\r\nof stone. In any part of the road, three horsemen might have ridden\r\nabreast.\r\n\r\nThis beautiful avenue—by far the best thing which civilization has done\r\nfor the island—is called by foreigners “the Broom Road,” though for\r\nwhat reason I do not know. Originally planned for the convenience of\r\nthe missionaries journeying from one station to another, it almost\r\ncompletely encompasses the larger peninsula; skirting for a distance of\r\nat least sixty miles along the low, fertile lands bordering the sea.\r\nBut on the side next Taiarboo, or the lesser peninsula, it sweeps\r\nthrough a narrow, secluded valley, and thus crosses the island in that\r\ndirection.\r\n\r\nThe uninhabited interior, being almost impenetrable from the\r\ndensely-wooded glens, frightful precipices, and sharp mountain ridges\r\nabsolutely inaccessible, is but little known, even to the natives\r\nthemselves; and so, instead of striking directly across from one\r\nvillage to another, they follow the Broom Road round and round.\r\n\r\nIt is by no means, however, altogether travelled on foot; horses being\r\nnow quite plentiful. They were introduced from Chili; and possessing\r\nall the gaiety, fleetness, and docility of the Spanish breed, are\r\nadmirably adapted to the tastes of the higher classes, who as\r\nequestrians have become very expert. The missionaries and chiefs never\r\nthink of journeying except in the saddle; and at all hours of the day\r\nyou see the latter galloping along at full speed. Like the Sandwich\r\nIslanders, they ride like Pawnee-Loups.\r\n\r\nFor miles and miles I have travelled the Broom Road, and never wearied\r\nof the continual change of scenery. But wherever it leads you—whether\r\nthrough level woods, across grassy glens, or over hills waving with\r\npalms—the bright blue sea on one side, and the green mountain pinnacles\r\non the other, are always in sight.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJFYVWHFREQ56Q3P64W9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWQZTCPMYRBEXB681TZ4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.203Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.672Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}