{"id":"01KG8AM6KNBNT4BT9N3YP5BX9H","cid":"bafkreic3idfqkigqoqt5m4x2yf6kzlplf4ouf4rwfoicw77kemb4isrnhy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8739,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8684,"text":"CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN\r\n\r\nTHE SOCIAL CONDITION AND GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE TYPEES\r\n\r\n\r\nI have already mentioned that the influence exerted over the people\r\nof the valley by their chiefs was mild in the extreme; and as to any\r\ngeneral rule or standard of conduct by which the commonality were\r\ngoverned in their intercourse with each other, so far as my observation\r\nextended, I should be almost tempted to say, that none existed on the\r\nisland, except, indeed, the mysterious ‘Taboo’ be considered as such.\r\nDuring the time I lived among the Typees, no one was ever put upon his\r\ntrial for any offence against the public. To all appearance there\r\nwere no courts of law or equity. There was no municipal police for the\r\npurpose of apprehending vagrants and disorderly characters. In\r\nshort, there were no legal provisions whatever for the well-being and\r\nconservation of society, the enlightened end of civilized legislation.\r\nAnd yet everything went on in the valley with a harmony and smoothness\r\nunparalleled, I will venture to assert, in the most select, refined, and\r\npious associations of mortals in Christendom. How are we to explain this\r\nenigma? These islanders were heathens! savages! ay, cannibals! and how\r\ncame they without the aid of established law, to exhibit, in so eminent\r\na degree, that social order which is the greatest blessing and highest\r\npride of the social state?\r\n\r\nIt may reasonably be inquired, how were these people governed? how were\r\ntheir passions controlled in their everyday transactions? It must have\r\nbeen by an inherent principle of honesty and charity towards each other.\r\nThey seemed to be governed by that sort of tacit common-sense law which,\r\nsay what they will of the inborn lawlessness of the human race, has\r\nits precepts graven on every breast. The grand principles of virtue and\r\nhonour, however they may be distorted by arbitrary codes, are the same\r\nall the world over: and where these principles are concerned, the right\r\nor wrong of any action appears the same to the uncultivated as to the\r\nenlightened mind. It is to this indwelling, this universally diffused\r\nperception of what is just and noble, that the integrity of the\r\nMarquesans in their intercourse with each other, is to be attributed.\r\nIn the darkest nights they slept securely, with all their worldly wealth\r\naround them, in houses the doors of which were never fastened. The\r\ndisquieting ideas of theft or assassination never disturbed them.\r\n\r\nEach islander reposed beneath his own palmetto thatching, or sat under\r\nhis own bread-fruit trees, with none to molest or alarm him. There was\r\nnot a padlock in the valley, nor anything that answered the purpose\r\nof one: still there was no community of goods. This long spear, so\r\nelegantly carved, and highly polished, belongs to Wormoonoo: it is far\r\nhandsomer than the one which old Marheyo so greatly prizes; it is the\r\nmost valuable article belonging to its owner. And yet I have seen it\r\nleaning against a cocoanut tree in the grove, and there it was found\r\nwhen sought for. Here is a sperm-whale tooth, graven all over with\r\ncunning devices: it is the property of Karluna; it is the most precious\r\nof the damsel’s ornaments. In her estimation its price is far above\r\nrubies--and yet there hangs the dental jewel by its cord of braided\r\nbark, in the girl’s house, which is far back in the valley; the door is\r\nleft open, and all the inmates have gone off to bathe in the stream.*\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR2518RHM7CX1JZ5VSJG","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6M0HZMXSTB2F1H8RA6E","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.301Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.885Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}