{"id":"01KG8AKYRKHNV7ETTZE509J3QE","cid":"bafkreid6pk52nesz6urcjyt6smmcszqbdv6n3c3t5t4klwtgthviylcphi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5775,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":5711,"text":"linked us together. In such an enterprise, I somewhat distrusted the\r\ndoctor, for he was no sailor, and very tall; and a canoe is the most\r\nticklish of navigable things. However, it could not be helped; and so\r\nwe went.\r\n\r\nBut a word about the canoes before we go any further. Among the Society\r\nIslands, the art of building them, like all native accomplishments, has\r\ngreatly deteriorated; and they are now the most inelegant, as well as\r\nthe most insecure of any in the South Seas. In Cook’s time, according\r\nto his account, there was at Tahiti a royal fleet of seventeen hundred\r\nand twenty large war canoes, handsomely carved, and otherwise adorned.\r\nAt present, those used are quite small; nothing more than logs hollowed\r\nout, sharpened at one end, and then launched into the water.\r\n\r\nTo obviate a certain rolling propensity, the Tahitians, like all\r\nPolynesians, attach to them what sailors call an “outrigger.” It\r\nconsists of a pole floating alongside, parallel to the canoe, and\r\nconnected with it by a couple of cross sticks, a yard or more in\r\nlength. Thus equipped, the canoe cannot be overturned, unless you\r\novercome the buoyancy of the pole, or lift it entirely out of the\r\nwater.\r\n\r\nNow, Captain Bob’s “gig” was exceedingly small; so small, and of such a\r\ngrotesque shape, that the sailors christened it the Pill Box; and by\r\nthis appellation it always went. In fact, it was a sort of “sulky,”\r\nmeant for a solitary paddler, but, on an emergency, capable of floating\r\ntwo or three. The outrigger was a mere switch, alternately rising in\r\nair, and then depressed in the water.\r\n\r\nAssuming the command of the expedition, upon the strength of my being a\r\nsailor, I packed the Long Doctor with a paddle in the bow, and then\r\nshoving off, leaped into the stern; thus leaving him to do all the\r\nwork, and reserving to myself the dignified sinecure of steering. All\r\nwould have gone on well, were it not that my paddler made such clumsy\r\nwork that the water spattered, and showered down upon us without\r\nceasing. Continuing to ply his tool, however, quite energetically, I\r\nthought he would improve after a while, and so let him alone. But by\r\nand bye, getting wet through with this little storm we were raising,\r\nand seeing no signs of its clearing off, I conjured him, in mercy’s\r\nname, to stop short, and let me wring myself out. Upon this, he\r\nsuddenly turned round, when the canoe gave a roll, the outrigger flew\r\noverhead, and the next moment came rap on the doctor’s skull, and we\r\nwere both in the water.\r\n\r\nFortunately, we were just over a ledge of coral, not half-a-fathom\r\nunder the surface. Depressing one end of the filled canoe, and letting\r\ngo of it quickly, it bounced up, and discharged a great part of its\r\ncontents; so that we easily baled out the remainder, and again\r\nembarked. This time, my comrade coiled himself away in a very small\r\nspace; and enjoining upon him not to draw a single unnecessary breath,\r\nI proceeded to urge the canoe along by myself. I was astonished at his\r\ndocility, never speaking a word, and stirring neither hand nor foot;\r\nbut the secret was, he was unable to swim, and in case we met with a\r\nsecond mishap, there were no more ledges beneath to stand upon.\r\n“Crowning’s but a shabby way of going out of the world,” he exclaimed,\r\nupon my rallying him; “and I’m not going to be guilty of it.”\r\n\r\nAt last, the ship was at hand, and we approached with much caution,\r\nwishing to avoid being hailed by anyone from the quarter-deck. Dropping\r\nsilently under her bows, we heard a low whistle—the signal agreed\r\nupon—and presently a goodly-sized bag was lowered over to us.\r\n\r\nWe cut the line, and then paddled away as fast as we could, and made\r\nthe best of our way home. Here, we found the rest waiting impatiently.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJK787DP46KQK6575RP1D","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKYRK20C40ZGM140KYCQ1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.267Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.259Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}