{"id":"01KG8AM6M5YZGV4KBJWBZJ9G9V","cid":"bafkreidrrpxqef6y66ow7xmso5xbqipfix6kujwwiqrae3qlyx2y4lg2ia","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8894,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8839,"text":"employed in erecting this tenement, reminded me of a colony of beavers\r\nat work. To be sure, they were hardly as silent and demure as those\r\nwonderful creatures, nor were they by any means as diligent. To tell the\r\ntruth they were somewhat inclined to be lazy, but a perfect tumult of\r\nhilarity prevailed; and they worked together so unitedly, and seemed\r\nactuated by such an instinct of friendliness, that it was truly\r\nbeautiful to behold.\r\n\r\nNot a single female took part in this employment: and if the degree of\r\nconsideration in which the ever-adorable sex is held by the men be--as\r\nthe philosophers affirm--a just criterion of the degree of refinement\r\namong a people, then I may truly pronounce the Typees to be as polished\r\na community as ever the sun shone upon. The religious restrictions of\r\nthe taboo alone excepted, the women of the valley were allowed every\r\npossible indulgence. Nowhere are the ladies more assiduously courted;\r\nnowhere are they better appreciated as the contributors to our highest\r\nenjoyments; and nowhere are they more sensible of their power. Far\r\ndifferent from their condition among many rude nations, where the women\r\nare made to perform all the work while their ungallant lords and masters\r\nlie buried in sloth, the gentle sex in the valley of Typee were exempt\r\nfrom toil, if toil it might be called that, even in the tropical\r\nclimate, never distilled one drop of perspiration. Their light household\r\noccupations, together with the manufacture of tappa, the platting of\r\nmats, and the polishing of drinking-vessels, were the only employments\r\npertaining to the women. And even these resembled those pleasant\r\navocations which fill up the elegant morning leisure of our fashionable\r\nladies at home. But in these occupations, slight and agreeable though\r\nthey were, the giddy young girls very seldom engaged. Indeed these\r\nwilful care-killing damsels were averse to all useful employment.\r\n\r\nLike so many spoiled beauties, they ranged through the groves--bathed\r\nin the stream--danced--flirted--played all manner of mischievous pranks,\r\nand passed their days in one merry round of thoughtless happiness.\r\n\r\nDuring my whole stay on the island I never witnessed a single quarrel,\r\nnor anything that in the slightest degree approached even to a dispute.\r\nThe natives appeared to form one household, whose members were bound\r\ntogether by the ties of strong affection. The love of kindred I did not\r\nso much perceive, for it seemed blended in the general love; and where\r\nall were treated as brothers and sisters, it was hard to tell who were\r\nactually related to each other by blood.\r\n\r\nLet it not be supposed that I have overdrawn this picture. I have\r\nnot done so. Nor let it be urged, that the hostility of this tribe\r\nto foreigners, and the hereditary feuds they carry on against their\r\nfellow-islanders beyond the mountains, are facts which contradict me.\r\nNot so; these apparent discrepancies are easily reconciled. By many a\r\nlegendary tale of violence and wrong, as well as by events which have\r\npassed before their eyes, these people have been taught to look upon\r\nwhite men with abhorrence. The cruel invasion of their country by Porter\r\nhas alone furnished them with ample provocation; and I can sympathize\r\nin the spirit which prompts the Typee warrior to guard all the passes to\r\nhis valley with the point of his levelled spear, and, standing upon\r\nthe beach, with his back turned upon his green home, to hold at bay the\r\nintruding European.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR2518RHM7CX1JZ5VSJG","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6KNEAVCZC33KR7W19Y5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6M0R5WT4W86SWBZH5PT","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.317Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.119Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}