{"id":"01KG8AM6M0HZMXSTB2F1H8RA6E","cid":"bafkreihn36wgd566yiwxlduiflkhng3wpi37ag6kel3cehbmzm65hul6x4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8795,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8733,"text":"when 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\n*The strict honesty which the inhabitants of nearly all the Polynesian\r\nIslands manifest toward each other, is in striking contrast with the\r\nthieving propensities some of them evince in their intercourse with\r\nforeigners. It would almost seem that, according to their peculiar code\r\nof morals, the pilfering of a hatchet or a wrought nail from a European,\r\nis looked upon as a praiseworthy action. Or rather, it may be presumed,\r\nthat bearing in mind the wholesale forays made upon them by their\r\nnautical visitors, they consider the property of the latter as a fair\r\nobject of reprisal. This consideration, while it serves to reconcile an\r\napparent contradiction in the moral character of the islanders, should\r\nin some measure alter that low opinion of it which the reader of South\r\nSea voyages is too apt to form.\r\n\r\n\r\nSo much for the respect in which ‘personal property’ is held in Typee;\r\nhow secure an investment of ‘real property’ may be, I cannot take upon\r\nme to say. Whether the land of the valley was the joint property of its\r\ninhabitants, or whether it was parcelled out among a certain number of\r\nlanded proprietors who allowed everybody to ‘squat’ and ‘poach’ as\r\nmuch as he or she pleased, I never could ascertain. At any rate, musty\r\nparchments and title-deeds there were none on the island; and I am half\r\ninclined to believe that its inhabitants hold their broad valleys in fee\r\nsimple from Nature herself; to have and to hold, so long as grass grows\r\nand water runs; or until their French visitors, by a summary mode of\r\nconveyancing, shall appropriate them to their own benefit and behoof.\r\n\r\nYesterday I saw Kory-Kory hie him away, armed with a long pole, with\r\nwhich, standing on the ground, he knocked down the fruit from the\r\ntopmost boughs of the trees, and brought them home in his basket of\r\ncocoanut leaves. Today I see an islander, whom I know to reside in a\r\ndistant part of the valley, doing the self-same thing. On the sloping\r\nbank of the stream are a number of banana-trees I have often seen a\r\nscore or two of young people making a merry foray on the great golden\r\nclusters, and bearing them off, one after another, to different parts\r\nof the vale, shouting and trampling as they went. No churlish old\r\ncurmudgeon could have been the owner of that grove of bread-fruit trees,\r\nor of these gloriously yellow bunches of bananas.\r\n\r\nFrom what I have said it will be perceived that there is a vast\r\ndifference between ‘personal property’ and ‘real estate’ in the valley\r\nof Typee. Some individuals, of course, are more wealthy than others.\r\nFor example, the ridge-pole of Marheyo’s house bends under the weight of\r\nmany a huge packet of tappa; his long couch is laid with mats placed one\r\nupon the other seven deep. Outside, Tinor has ranged along in her\r\nbamboo cupboard--or whatever the place may be called--a goodly array of\r\ncalabashes and wooden trenchers. Now, the house just beyond the grove,\r\nand next to Marheyo’s, occupied by Ruaruga, is not quite so well\r\nfurnished. There are only three moderate-sized packages swinging\r\noverhead: there are only two layers of mats beneath; and the calabashes\r\nand trenchers are not so numerous, nor so tastefully stained and carved.\r\nBut then, Ruaruga has a house--not so pretty a one, to be sure--but just\r\nas commodious as Marheyo’s; and, I suppose, if he wished to vie with\r\nhis neighbour’s establishment, he could do so with very little trouble.\r\nThese, in short, constituted the chief differences perceivable in the\r\nrelative wealth of the people in Typee.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR2518RHM7CX1JZ5VSJG","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNBNT4BT9N3YP5BX9H","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNEAVCZC33KR7W19Y5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.312Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.977Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}