{"id":"01KG8AM40M9PAP07FDMXE9WV9Z","cid":"bafkreiffwfbrlhuehww2twcoly4lauv3vrwujrd6jv2pnfymzhcw3pq25a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6906,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":6848,"text":"business of night, sleep. With the Marquesans it might almost most be\r\nstyled the great business of life, for they pass a large portion\r\nof their time in the arms of Somnus. The native strength of their\r\nconstitution is no way shown more emphatically than in the quantity of\r\nsleep they can endure. To many of them, indeed, life is little else than\r\nan often interrupted and luxurious nap.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER TWENTY-ONE\r\n\r\nTHE SPRING OF ARVA WAI--REMARKABLE MONUMENTAL REMAINS--SOME IDEAS WITH\r\nREGARD TO THE HISTORY OF THE PI-PIS FOUND IN THE VALLEY\r\n\r\n\r\nAlmost every country has its medicinal springs famed for their healing\r\nvirtues. The Cheltenham of Typee is embosomed in the deepest solitude,\r\nand but seldom receives a visitor. It is situated remote from any\r\ndwelling, a little way up the mountain, near the head of the valley; and\r\nyou approach it by a pathway shaded by the most beautiful foliage, and\r\nadorned with a thousand fragrant plants.\r\n\r\nThe mineral waters of Arva Wai* ooze forth from the crevices of a rock,\r\nand gliding down its mossy side, fall at last, in many clustering\r\ndrops, into a natural basin of stone fringed round with grass and\r\ndewy-looking little violet-coloured flowers, as fresh and beautiful as\r\nthe perpetual moisture they enjoy can make them.\r\n\r\n\r\n*I presume this might be translated into ‘Strong Waters’. Arva is the\r\nname bestowed upon a root the properties of which are both inebriating\r\nand medicinal. ‘Wai’ is the Marquesan word for water.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe water is held in high estimation by the islanders, some of whom\r\nconsider it an agreeable as well as a medicinal beverage; they bring it\r\nfrom the mountain in their calabashes, and store it away beneath heaps\r\nof leaves in some shady nook near the house. Old Marheyo had a great\r\nlove for the waters of the spring. Every now and then he lugged off to\r\nthe mountain a great round demijohn of a calabash, and, panting with his\r\nexertions, brought it back filled with his darling fluid.\r\n\r\nThe water tasted like a solution of a dozen disagreeable things, and was\r\nsufficiently nauseous to have made the fortune of the proprietor, had\r\nthe spa been situated in the midst of any civilized community.\r\n\r\nAs I am no chemist, I cannot give a scientific analysis of the water.\r\nAll I know about the matter is, that one day Marheyo in my presence\r\npoured out the last drop from his huge calabash, and I observed at the\r\nbottom of the vessel a small quantity of gravelly sediment very much\r\nresembling our common sand. Whether this is always found in the water,\r\nand gives it its peculiar flavour and virtues, or whether its presence\r\nwas merely incidental, I was not able to ascertain.\r\n\r\nOne day in returning from this spring by a circuitous path, I came upon\r\na scene which reminded me of Stonehenge and the architectural labours of\r\nthe Druids.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1KKRF4W20PAGWA82S1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40M63B4RF7VNFD841SF","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40MM0GVFTP9H0KRW5MK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.644Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.431Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}