{"id":"01KG8AM6KN2AWGZXWZZ7QBZ8H9","cid":"bafkreifkv2zfnaui77wgyvniw5cemb5zpk7ee6iuyzsdcufn44czjqszmi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8587,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8530,"text":"head of the vale. There are no villages; the houses stand here and there\r\nin the shadow of the groves, or are scattered along the banks of the\r\nwinding stream; their golden-hued bamboo sides and gleaming white thatch\r\nforming a beautiful contrast to the perpetual verdure in which they are\r\nembowered. There are no roads of any kind in the valley. Nothing but a\r\nlabyrinth of footpaths twisting and turning among the thickets without\r\nend.\r\n\r\nThe penalty of the Fall presses very lightly upon the valley of Typee;\r\nfor, with the one solitary exception of striking a light, I scarcely saw\r\nany piece of work performed there which caused the sweat to stand upon\r\na single brow. As for digging and delving for a livelihood, the thing is\r\naltogether unknown. Nature has planted the bread-fruit and the banana,\r\nand in her own good time she brings them to maturity, when the idle\r\nsavage stretches forth his hand, and satisfies his appetite.\r\n\r\nIll-fated people! I shudder when I think of the change a few years\r\nwill produce in their paradisaical abode; and probably when the most\r\ndestructive vices, and the worst attendances on civilization, shall have\r\ndriven all peace and happiness from the valley, the magnanimous\r\nFrench will proclaim to the world that the Marquesas Islands have been\r\nconverted to Christianity! and this the Catholic world will doubtless\r\nconsider as a glorious event. Heaven help the ‘Isles of the Sea’!--The\r\nsympathy which Christendom feels for them, has, alas! in too many\r\ninstances proved their bane.\r\n\r\nHow little do some of these poor islanders comprehend when they look\r\naround them, that no inconsiderable part of their disasters originate\r\nin certain tea-party excitements, under the influence of which\r\nbenevolent-looking gentlemen in white cravats solicit alms, and old\r\nladies in spectacles, and young ladies in sober russet gowns, contribute\r\nsixpences towards the creation of a fund, the object of which is to\r\nameliorate the spiritual condition of the Polynesians, but whose end has\r\nalmost invariably been to accomplish their temporal destruction!\r\n\r\nLet the savages be civilized, but civilize them with benefits, and not\r\nwith evils; and let heathenism be destroyed, but not by destroying the\r\nheathen. The Anglo-Saxon hive have extirpated Paganism from the greater\r\npart of the North American continent; but with it they have likewise\r\nextirpated the greater portion of the Red race. Civilization is\r\ngradually sweeping from the earth the lingering vestiges of Paganism,\r\nand at the same time the shrinking forms of its unhappy worshippers.\r\n\r\nAmong the islands of Polynesia, no sooner are the images overturned, the\r\ntemples demolished, and the idolators converted into NOMINAL Christians,\r\nthat disease, vice, and premature death make their appearance. The\r\ndepopulated land is then recruited from the rapacious, hordes of\r\nenlightened individuals who settle themselves within its borders,\r\nand clamorously announce the progress of the Truth. Neat villas, trim\r\ngardens, shaven lawns, spires, and cupolas arise, while the poor savage\r\nsoon finds himself an interloper in the country of his fathers, and\r\nthat too on the very site of the hut where he was born. The spontaneous\r\nfruits of the earth, which God in his wisdom had ordained for the\r\nsupport of the indolent natives, remorselessly seized upon and\r\nappropriated by the stranger, are devoured before the eyes of the\r\nstarving inhabitants, or sent on board the numerous vessels which now\r\ntouch at their shores.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR25VD49M8PDP0DQV6HE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNTD902P4JS9C1FWZ7","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNHV54ZNG4PP642JJY","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.301Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.862Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}