{"id":"01KG8AM41DFYWDFJGZQ2MH96YM","cid":"bafkreidgmb5kg4sodnyzwp455a7ut64vukjs3h4tv6alwdoinetuzfqgwm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1192,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":1137,"text":"of ‘whinhenies’ (young girls), who in this manner were coming off from\r\nthe shore to welcome is. As they drew nearer, and I watched the rising\r\nand sinking of their forms, and beheld the uplifted right arm bearing\r\nabove the water the girdle of tappa, and their long dark hair trailing\r\nbeside them as they swam, I almost fancied they could be nothing else\r\nthan so many mermaids--and very like mermaids they behaved too.\r\n\r\nWe were still some distance from the beach, and under slow headway,\r\nwhen we sailed right into the midst of these swimming nymphs, and they\r\nboarded us at every quarter; many seizing hold of the chain-plates and\r\nspringing into the chains; others, at the peril of being run over by\r\nthe vessel in her course, catching at the bob-stays, and wreathing their\r\nslender forms about the ropes, hung suspended in the air. All of them\r\nat length succeeded in getting up the ship’s side, where they clung\r\ndripping with the brine and glowing from the bath, their jet-black\r\ntresses streaming over their shoulders, and half enveloping their\r\notherwise naked forms. There they hung, sparkling with savage vivacity,\r\nlaughing gaily at one another, and chattering away with infinite glee.\r\nNor were they idle the while, for each one performed the simple offices\r\nof the toilette for the other. Their luxuriant locks, wound up and\r\ntwisted into the smallest possible compass, were freed from the briny\r\nelement; the whole person carefully dried, and from a little round\r\nshell that passed from hand to hand, anointed with a fragrant oil: their\r\nadornments were completed by passing a few loose folds of white tappa,\r\nin a modest cincture, around the waist. Thus arrayed they no longer\r\nhesitated, but flung themselves lightly over the bulwarks, and were\r\nquickly frolicking about the decks. Many of them went forward, perching\r\nupon the headrails or running out upon the bowsprit, while others seated\r\nthemselves upon the taffrail, or reclined at full length upon the boats.\r\nWhat a sight for us bachelor sailors! How avoid so dire a temptation?\r\nFor who could think of tumbling these artless creatures overboard, when\r\nthey had swum miles to welcome us?\r\n\r\nTheir appearance perfectly amazed me; their extreme youth, the\r\nlight clear brown of their complexions, their delicate features, and\r\ninexpressibly graceful figures, their softly moulded limbs, and free\r\nunstudied action, seemed as strange as beautiful.\r\n\r\nThe Dolly was fairly captured; and never I will say was vessel carried\r\nbefore by such a dashing and irresistible party of boarders! The ship\r\ntaken, we could not do otherwise than yield ourselves prisoners, and for\r\nthe whole period that she remained in the bay, the Dolly, as well as her\r\ncrew, were completely in the hands of the mermaids.\r\n\r\nIn the evening after we had come to an anchor the deck was illuminated\r\nwith lanterns, and this picturesque band of sylphs, tricked out with\r\nflowers, and dressed in robes of variegated tappa, got up a ball in\r\ngreat style. These females are passionately fond of dancing, and in the\r\nwild grace and spirit of the style excel everything I have ever seen.\r\nThe varied dances of the Marquesan girls are beautiful in the extreme,\r\nbut there is an abandoned voluptuousness in their character which I dare\r\nnot attempt to describe.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJPECF4NC6VSF5HWWA2R5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM411X4P9DQPMXXNHDTPY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:26.669Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.333Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}