{"id":"01KG8AM3BHTFSPP7PJBHTYK57K","cid":"bafkreigxzzwegq32y7sci4bx2zgfm3gf574ekzolucmovkpbwzukmwhut4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1050,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":1000,"text":"distinguished may be attributed to the singular fact, that their\r\nexistence was altogether unknown to the world until the year 1791, when\r\nthey were discovered by Captain Ingraham, of Boston, Massachusetts,\r\nnearly two centuries after the discovery of the adjacent islands by the\r\nagent of the Spanish Viceroy. Notwithstanding this, I shall follow the\r\nexample of most voyagers, and treat of them as forming part and parcel\r\nof Marquesas.\r\n\r\nNukuheva is the most important of these islands, being the only one\r\nat which ships are much in the habit of touching, and is celebrated as\r\nbeing the place where the adventurous Captain Porter refitted his ships\r\nduring the late war between England and the United States, and whence he\r\nsallied out upon the large whaling fleet then sailing under the enemy’s\r\nflag in the surrounding seas. This island is about twenty miles in\r\nlength and nearly as many in breadth. It has three good harbours on its\r\ncoast; the largest and best of which is called by the people living\r\nin its vicinity ‘Taiohae’, and by Captain Porter was denominated\r\nMassachusetts Bay. Among the adverse tribes dwelling about the shores of\r\nthe other bays, and by all voyagers, it is generally known by the name\r\nbestowed upon the island itself--Nukuheva. Its inhabitants have become\r\nsomewhat corrupted, owing to their recent commerce with Europeans, but\r\nso far as regards their peculiar customs and general mode of life, they\r\nretain their original primitive character, remaining very nearly in the\r\nsame state of nature in which they were first beheld by white men. The\r\nhostile clans, residing in the more remote sections of the island, and\r\nvery seldom holding any communication with foreigners, are in every\r\nrespect unchanged from their earliest known condition.\r\n\r\nIn the bay of Nukuheva was the anchorage we desired to reach. We had\r\nperceived the loom of the mountains about sunset; so that after running\r\nall night with a very light breeze, we found ourselves close in with\r\nthe island the next morning, but as the bay we sought lay on its farther\r\nside, we were obliged to sail some distance along the shore, catching,\r\nas we proceeded, short glimpses of blooming valleys, deep glens,\r\nwaterfalls, and waving groves hidden here and there by projecting and\r\nrocky headlands, every moment opening to the view some new and startling\r\nscene of beauty.\r\n\r\nThose who for the first time visit the South Sea, generally are\r\nsurprised at the appearance of the islands when beheld from the sea.\r\nFrom the vague accounts we sometimes have of their beauty, many people\r\nare apt to picture to themselves enamelled and softly swelling plains,\r\nshaded over with delicious groves, and watered by purling brooks, and\r\nthe entire country but little elevated above the surrounding ocean. The\r\nreality is very different; bold rock-bound coasts, with the surf beating\r\nhigh against the lofty cliffs, and broken here and there into deep\r\ninlets, which open to the view thickly-wooded valleys, separated by the\r\nspurs of mountains clothed with tufted grass, and sweeping down towards\r\nthe sea from an elevated and furrowed interior, form the principal\r\nfeatures of these islands.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPECF4NC6VSF5HWWA2R5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM3BHF9041JBB10KSK4H7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM411ECDM29B8RGJ072XG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.969Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.309Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}