{"id":"01KG8AM2RV0MHBP31QPRCEKSN1","cid":"bafkreibisuzhurinhhyzfew3bmevnh2y5zhnq2pdccmfydgdacpuvao5qy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10924,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.206Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":10859,"text":"In fact he was the royal favourite, and had a good deal to say in his\r\nmaster’s councils. He wore a Manilla hat and a sort of tappa morning\r\ngown, sufficiently loose and negligent to show the verse of a song\r\ntattooed upon his chest, and a variety of spirited cuts by native\r\nartists in other parts of his body. He sported a fishing rod in his\r\nhand, and carried a sooty old pipe slung about his neck.\r\n\r\nThis old rover having retired from active life, had resided in Nukuheva\r\nsome time--could speak the language, and for that reason was frequently\r\nemployed by the French as an interpreter. He was an arrant old gossip\r\ntoo; for ever coming off in his canoe to the ships in the bay, and\r\nregaling their crews with choice little morsels of court scandal--such,\r\nfor instance, as a shameful intrigue of his majesty with a Happar\r\ndamsel, a public dancer at the feasts--and otherwise relating some\r\nincredible tales about the Marquesas generally. I remember in particular\r\nhis telling the Dolly’s crew what proved to be literally a cock-and-bull\r\nstory, about two natural prodigies which he said were then on the\r\nisland. One was an old monster of a hermit, having a marvellous\r\nreputation for sanctity, and reputed a famous sorcerer, who lived away\r\noff in a den among the mountains, where he hid from the world a\r\ngreat pair of horns that grew out of his temples. Notwithstanding his\r\nreputation for piety, this horrid old fellow was the terror of all the\r\nisland round, being reported to come out from his retreat, and go a\r\nman-hunting every dark night. Some anonymous Paul Pry, too, coming down\r\nthe mountain, once got a peep at his den, and found it full of bones. In\r\nshort, he was a most unheard-of monster.\r\n\r\nThe other prodigy Jimmy told us about was the younger son of a chief,\r\nwho, although but just turned of ten, had entered upon holy orders,\r\nbecause his superstitious countrymen thought him especially intended\r\nfor the priesthood from the fact of his having a comb on his head like\r\na rooster. But this was not all; for still more wonderful to relate, the\r\nboy prided himself upon his strange crest, being actually endowed with a\r\ncock’s voice, and frequently crowing over his peculiarity.\r\n\r\nBut to return to Toby. The moment he saw the old rover on the beach, he\r\nran up to him, the natives following after, and forming a circle round\r\nthem.\r\n\r\nAfter welcoming him to the shore, Jimmy went on to tell him how that he\r\nknew all about our having run away from the ship, and being among the\r\nTypees. Indeed, he had been urged by Mowanna to come over to the valley,\r\nand after visiting his friends there, to bring us back with him, his\r\nroyal master being exceedingly anxious to share with him the reward\r\nwhich had been held out for our capture. He, however, assured Toby that\r\nhe had indignantly spurned the offer.\r\n\r\nAll this astonished my comrade not a little, as neither of us had\r\nentertained the least idea that any white man ever visited the Typees\r\nsociably. But Jimmy told him that such was the case nevertheless,\r\nalthough he seldom came into the bay, and scarcely ever went back\r\nfrom the beach. One of the priests of the valley, in some way or other\r\nconnected with an old tattooed divine in Nukuheva, was a friend of his,\r\nand through him he was ‘taboo’.\r\n\r\nHe said, moreover, that he was sometimes employed to come round to the\r\nbay, and engage fruit for ships lying in Nukuheva. In fact, he was now\r\non that very errand, according to his own account, having just come\r\nacross the mountains by the way of Happar. By noon of the next day the\r\nfruit would be heaped up in stacks on the beach, in readiness for the\r\nboats which he then intended to bring into the bay.\r\n\r\nJimmy now asked Toby whether he wished to leave the island--if he did,\r\nthere was a ship in want of men lying in the other harbour, and he would\r\nbe glad to take him over, and see him on board that very day.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDJJNJKJG4WZCP7VKN","peer_type":"backmatter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM2RV3CXXVGGWT8YG7ZZY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM2RRGN6MAWTR2FXAB6TP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.371Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.950Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}