{"id":"01KG8AM56F01SVQ7MPBRFQ2M8B","cid":"bafkreicvhh3ke4i4afmhheecfgqgwks6sazy3fkcqty55omozwphafcky4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7576,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":7514,"text":"Now, all I can say is, that in all my excursions through the valley of\r\nTypee, I never saw any of these alleged enormities. If any of them are\r\npractised upon the Marquesas Islands they must certainly have come to\r\nmy knowledge while living for months with a tribe of savages, wholly\r\nunchanged from their original primitive condition, and reputed the most\r\nferocious in the South Seas.\r\n\r\nThe fact is, that there is a vast deal of unintentional humbuggery\r\nin some of the accounts we have from scientific men concerning the\r\nreligious institutions of Polynesia. These learned tourists generally\r\nobtain the greater part of their information from retired old South-Sea\r\nrovers, who have domesticated themselves among the barbarous tribes of\r\nthe Pacific. Jack, who has long been accustomed to the long-bow, and\r\nto spin tough yarns on the ship’s forecastle, invariably officiates as\r\nshowman of the island on which he has settled, and having mastered a few\r\ndozen words of the language, is supposed to know all about the people\r\nwho speak it. A natural desire to make himself of consequence in the\r\neyes of the strangers, prompts him to lay claim to a much greater\r\nknowledge of such matters than he actually possesses. In reply to\r\nincessant queries, he communicates not only all he knows but a good deal\r\nmore, and if there be any information deficient still he is at no\r\nloss to supply it. The avidity with which his anecdotes are noted\r\ndown tickles his vanity, and his powers of invention increase with the\r\ncredulity auditors. He knows just the sort of information wanted, and\r\nfurnishes it to any extent.\r\n\r\nThis is not a supposed case; I have met with several individuals like\r\nthe one described, and I have been present at two or three of their\r\ninterviews with strangers.\r\n\r\nNow, when the scientific voyager arrives at home with his collection\r\nof wonders, he attempts, perhaps, to give a description of some of the\r\nstrange people he has been visiting. Instead of representing them as\r\na community of lusty savages, who are leading a merry, idle, innocent\r\nlife, he enters into a very circumstantial and learned narrative of\r\ncertain unaccountable superstitions and practices, about which he knows\r\nas little as the islanders themselves. Having had little time, and\r\nscarcely any opportunity, to become acquainted with the customs he\r\npretends to describe, he writes them down one after another in an\r\noff-hand, haphazard style; and were the book thus produced to be\r\ntranslated into the tongue of the people of whom it purports to give the\r\nhistory, it would appear quite as wonderful to them as it does to the\r\nAmerican public, and much more improbable.\r\n\r\nFor my own part, I am free to confess my almost entire inability to\r\ngratify any curiosity that may be felt with regard to the theology of\r\nthe valley. I doubt whether the inhabitants themselves could do so. They\r\nare either too lazy or too sensible to worry themselves about abstract\r\npoints of religious belief. While I was among them, they never held any\r\nsynods or councils to settle the principles of their faith by agitating\r\nthem. An unbounded liberty of conscience seemed to prevail. Those\r\nwho pleased to do so were allowed to repose implicit faith in an\r\nill-favoured god with a large bottle-nose and fat shapeless arms crossed\r\nupon his breast; whilst others worshipped an image which, having no\r\nlikeness either in heaven or on earth, could hardly be called an idol.\r\nAs the islanders always maintained a discreet reserve with regard to\r\nmy own peculiar views on religion, I thought it would be excessively\r\nill-bred of me to pry into theirs.\r\n\r\nBut, although my knowledge of the religious faith of the Typees was\r\nunavoidably limited, one of their superstitious observances with which I\r\nbecame acquainted interested me greatly.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR250Y3B8PH384FGZ4CM","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM56F6P4NDCNNBT1BZS74","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM56K767CMZVQWNP8EJ0E","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.855Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:40.415Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}