{"id":"01KG8AM3BHXG7TXCYV6D4AGPMS","cid":"bafkreibzydpnbn52bpumhvu3z7wutmmepn6oh6tw3obcocczc6tu5zivyy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":966,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":911,"text":"CHAPTER TWO\r\n\r\nPASSAGE FROM THE CRUISING GROUND TO THE MARQUESAS--SLEEPY TIMES ABOARD\r\nSHIP--SOUTH SEA SCENERY--LAND HO--THE FRENCH SQUADRON DISCOVERED AT\r\nANCHOR IN THE BAY OF NUKUHEVA--STRANGE PILOT--ESCORT OF CANOES--A\r\nFLOTILLA OF COCOANUTS--SWIMMING VISITORS--THE DOLLY BOARDED BY\r\nTHEM--STATE OF AFFAIRS THAT ENSUE\r\n\r\n\r\nI can never forget the eighteen or twenty days during which the light\r\ntrade-winds were silently sweeping us towards the islands. In pursuit of\r\nthe sperm whale, we had been cruising on the line some twenty degrees\r\nto the westward of the Gallipagos; and all that we had to do, when our\r\ncourse was determined on, was to square in the yards and keep the vessel\r\nbefore the breeze, and then the good ship and the steady gale did the\r\nrest between them. The man at the wheel never vexed the old lady with\r\nany superfluous steering, but comfortably adjusting his limbs at the\r\ntiller, would doze away by the hour. True to her work, the Dolly headed\r\nto her course, and like one of those characters who always do best when\r\nlet alone, she jogged on her way like a veteran old sea-pacer as she\r\nwas.\r\n\r\nWhat a delightful, lazy, languid time we had whilst we were thus gliding\r\nalong! There was nothing to be done; a circumstance that happily\r\nsuited our disinclination to do anything. We abandoned the fore-peak\r\naltogether, and spreading an awning over the forecastle, slept, ate,\r\nand lounged under it the live-long day. Every one seemed to be under the\r\ninfluence of some narcotic. Even the officers aft, whose duty required\r\nthem never to be seated while keeping a deck watch, vainly endeavoured\r\nto keep on their pins; and were obliged invariably to compromise the\r\nmatter by leaning up against the bulwarks, and gazing abstractedly over\r\nthe side. Reading was out of the question; take a book in your hand, and\r\nyou were asleep in an instant.\r\n\r\nAlthough I could not avoid yielding in a great measure to the general\r\nlanguor, still at times I contrived to shake off the spell, and to\r\nappreciate the beauty of the scene around me. The sky presented a\r\nclear expanse of the most delicate blue, except along the skirts of the\r\nhorizon, where you might see a thin drapery of pale clouds which never\r\nvaried their form or colour. The long, measured, dirge-like well of\r\nthe Pacific came rolling along, with its surface broken by little tiny\r\nwaves, sparkling in the sunshine. Every now and then a shoal of flying\r\nfish, scared from the water under the bows, would leap into the air,\r\nand fall the next moment like a shower of silver into the sea. Then you\r\nwould see the superb albicore, with his glittering sides, sailing aloft,\r\nand often describing an arc in his descent, disappear on the surface of\r\nthe water. Far off, the lofty jet of the whale might be seen, and nearer\r\nat hand the prowling shark, that villainous footpad of the seas, would\r\ncome skulking along, and, at a wary distance, regard us with his evil\r\neye. At times, some shapeless monster of the deep, floating on the\r\nsurface, would, as we approached, sink slowly into the blue waters, and\r\nfade away from the sight. But the most impressive feature of the\r\nscene was the almost unbroken silence that reigned over sky and water.\r\nScarcely a sound could be heard but the occasional breathing of the\r\ngrampus, and the rippling at the cut-water.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"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":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.969Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.257Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}