{"id":"01KG8AKXGZDVHNF4NJ4CG78WQJ","cid":"bafkreicfturlqqjfi4hxdxjim2br6l5n6f5mrsqxrioj52kfcdwl7iormm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1570,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.534Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","start_line":1533,"text":"dry under a weight. In two days’ time the thin membrane, all over\r\ntracings like those of a leaf, was transparent as isinglass, and tinted\r\nwith brilliant hues, like those of a changing silk.\r\n\r\nAlmost every day, we spied Black Fish; coal-black and glossy. They\r\nseemed to swim by revolving round and round in the water, like a wheel;\r\ntheir dorsal fins, every now and then shooting into view, like spokes.\r\n\r\nOf a somewhat similar species, but smaller, and clipper-built about the\r\nnose, were the Algerines; so called, probably, from their corsair\r\npropensities; waylaying peaceful fish on the high seas, and plundering\r\nthem of body and soul at a gulp. Atrocious Turks! a crusade should be\r\npreached against them.\r\n\r\nBesides all these, we encountered Killers and Thrashers, by far the\r\nmost spirited and “spunky” of the finny tribes. Though little larger\r\nthan a porpoise, a band of them think nothing of assailing leviathan\r\nhimself. They bait the monster, as dogs a bull. The Killers seizing the\r\nRight whale by his immense, sulky lower lip, and the Thrashers\r\nfastening on to his back, and beating him with their sinewy tails.\r\nOften they come off conquerors, worrying the enemy to death. Though,\r\nsooth to say, if leviathan gets but one sweep al them with his terrible\r\ntail, they go flying into the air, as if tossed from Taurus’ horn.\r\n\r\nThis sight we beheld. Had old Wouvermans, who once painted a bull bait,\r\nbeen along with us, a rare chance, that, for his pencil. And Gudin or\r\nIsabey might have thrown the blue rolling sea into the picture. Lastly,\r\none of Claude’s setting summer suns would have glorified the whole. Oh,\r\nbelieve me, God’s creatures fighting, fin for fin, a thousand miles\r\nfrom land, and with the round horizon for an arena; is no ignoble\r\nsubject for a masterpiece.\r\n\r\nSuch are a few of the sights of the great South Sea. But there is no\r\ntelling all. The Pacific is populous as China.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ6BYF8663QGPBCA5NS8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1HYC04JWXEK48P07WPK","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXGZ01H9A378501K59VN","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.999Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.532Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}