{"id":"01KG8AKYGV57JBATVHRBKXBR7M","cid":"bafkreiczsajeq5eoqderiyb4tmdz3ciahxq2vacv3v5563wx6pbfgxrle4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10885,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.843Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":10818,"text":"slowly, and gradually coming upon its deftly hidden and aromatic\r\n_“heart;”_ for so this central piece is denominated.\r\n\r\nIt is generally of a rich, tawny, Indian hue, somewhat inclined to\r\nluster; is exceedingly agreeable to the touch; diffuses a pungent odor,\r\nas of an old dusty bottle of Port, newly opened above ground; and,\r\naltogether, is an object which no man, who enjoys his dinners, could\r\nrefrain from hanging over, and caressing.\r\n\r\nNor is this delectable morsel of _old junk_ wanting in many\r\ninteresting, mournful, and tragic suggestions. Who can say in what\r\ngales it may have been; in what remote seas it may have sailed? How\r\nmany stout masts of seventy-fours and frigates it may have staid in the\r\ntempest? How deep it may have lain, as a hawser, at the bottom of\r\nstrange harbors? What outlandish fish may have nibbled at it in the\r\nwater, and what un-catalogued sea-fowl may have pecked at it, when\r\nforming part of a lofty stay or a shroud?\r\n\r\nNow, this particular part of the rope, this nice little “cut” it was,\r\nthat among the sailors was the most eagerly sought after. And getting\r\nhold of a foot or two of old cable, they would cut into it lovingly, to\r\nsee whether it had any _“tenderloin.”_\r\n\r\nFor my own part, nevertheless, I can not say that this tit-bit was at\r\nall an agreeable one in the mouth; however pleasant to the sight of an\r\nantiquary, or to the nose of an epicure in nautical fragrancies.\r\nIndeed, though possibly I might have been mistaken, I thought it had\r\nrather an astringent, acrid taste; probably induced by the tar, with\r\nwhich the flavor of all ropes is more or less vitiated. But the sailors\r\nseemed to like it, and at any rate nibbled at it with great gusto. They\r\nconverted one pocket of their trowsers into a junk-shop, and when\r\nsolicited by a shipmate for a _“chaw,”_ would produce a small coil of\r\nrope.\r\n\r\nAnother device adopted to alleviate their hardships, was the\r\nsubstitution of dried tea-leaves, in place of tobacco, for their pipes.\r\nNo one has ever supped in a forecastle at sea, without having been\r\nstruck by the prodigious residuum of tea-leaves, or cabbage stalks, in\r\nhis tin-pot of bohea. There was no lack of material to supply every\r\npipe-bowl among us.\r\n\r\nI had almost forgotten to relate the most noteworthy thing in this\r\nmatter; namely, that notwithstanding the general scarcity of the\r\ngenuine weed, Jackson was provided with a supply; nor did it give out,\r\nuntil very shortly previous to our arrival in port.\r\n\r\nIn the lowest depths of despair at the loss of their precious solace,\r\nwhen the sailors would be seated inconsolable as the Babylonish\r\ncaptives, Jackson would sit cross-legged in his bunk, which was an\r\nupper one, and enveloped in a cloud of tobacco smoke, would look down\r\nupon the mourners below, with a sardonic grin at their forlornness.\r\n\r\nHe recalled to mind their folly in selling for filthy lucre, their\r\nsupplies of the weed; he painted their stupidity; he enlarged upon the\r\nsufferings they had brought upon themselves; he exaggerated those\r\nsufferings, and every way derided, reproached, twitted, and hooted at\r\nthem. No one dared to return his scurrilous animadversions, nor did any\r\npresume to ask him to relieve their necessities out of his fullness. On\r\nthe contrary, as has been just related, they divided with him the\r\n_nail-rods_ they found.\r\n\r\nThe extraordinary dominion of this one miserable Jackson, over twelve\r\nor fourteen strong, healthy tars, is a riddle, whose solution must be\r\nleft to the philosophers.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJT56X170QDPVSWQMHVCD","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYGVDG94HDT1WWNKX3R0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.019Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:34.258Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}