{"id":"01KG8AM79N4QDBYG7MSRGCPZY4","cid":"bafkreic42mlygmcx3457wnv34a554xhov7j25qvorxkmymdboxbh2dedtm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9180,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9124,"text":"upon my admiration. They were perfectly tame and insensible to fear.\r\nFrequently, after seating myself upon the ground in some shady place\r\nduring the heat of the day, I would be completely overrun with them.\r\nIf I brushed one off my arm, it would leap perhaps into my hair: when I\r\ntried to frighten it away by gently pinching its leg, it would turn for\r\nprotection to the very hand that attacked it.\r\n\r\nThe birds are also remarkably tame. If you happened to see one perched\r\nupon a branch within reach of your arm, and advanced towards it, it did\r\nnot fly away immediately, but waited quietly looking at you, until you\r\ncould almost touch it, and then took wing slowly, less alarmed at your\r\npresence, it would seem, than desirous of removing itself from your\r\npath. Had salt been less scarce in the valley than it was, this was the\r\nvery place to have gone birding with it. I remember that once, on an\r\nuninhabited island of the Gallipagos, a bird alighted on my outstretched\r\narm, while its mate chirped from an adjoining tree. Its tameness, far\r\nfrom shocking me, as a similar occurrence did Selkirk, imparted to\r\nme the most exquisite thrill of delight I ever experienced, and with\r\nsomewhat of the same pleasure did I afterwards behold the birds and\r\nlizards of the valley show their confidence in the kindliness of man.\r\n\r\nAmong the numerous afflictions which the Europeans have entailed upon\r\nsome of the natives of the South Seas, is the accidental introduction\r\namong them of that enemy of all repose and ruffler of even tempers--the\r\nMosquito. At the Sandwich Islands and at two or three of the Society\r\ngroup, there are now thriving colonies of these insects, who promise ere\r\nlong to supplant altogether the aboriginal sand-flies. They sting, buzz,\r\nand torment, from one end of the year to the other, and by incessantly\r\nexasperating the natives materially obstruct the benevolent labours of\r\nthe missionaries.\r\n\r\nFrom this grievous visitation, however the Typees are as yet wholly\r\nexempt; but its place is unfortunately in some degree supplied by the\r\noccasional presence of a minute species of fly, which, without stinging,\r\nis nevertheless productive of no little annoyance. The tameness of the\r\nbirds and lizards is as nothing when compared to the fearless confidence\r\nof this insect. He will perch upon one of your eye-lashes, and go to\r\nroost there if you do not disturb him, or force his way through your\r\nhair, or along the cavity of the nostril, till you almost fancy he is\r\nresolved to explore the very brain itself. On one occasion I was so\r\ninconsiderate as to yawn while a number of them were hovering around\r\nme. I never repeated the act. Some half-dozen darted into the open\r\napartment, and began walking about its ceiling; the sensation was\r\ndreadful. I involuntarily closed my mouth, and the poor creatures being\r\nenveloped in inner darkness, must in their consternation have stumbled\r\nover my palate, and been precipitated into the gulf beneath. At any\r\nrate, though I afterwards charitably held my mouth open for at least\r\nfive minutes, with a view of affording egress to the stragglers, none of\r\nthem ever availed themselves of the opportunity.\r\n\r\nThere are no wild animals of any kind on the island unless it be decided\r\nthat the natives themselves are such. The mountains and the interior\r\npresent to the eye nothing but silent solitudes, unbroken by the roar\r\nof beasts of prey, and enlivened by few tokens even of minute animated\r\nexistence. There are no venomous reptiles, and no snakes of any\r\ndescription to be found in any of the valleys.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDQACFD93TNSK7H6EN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7A1VA4ZQMD11A6GXCED","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM79K79PC63FR5K5P0RP2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.005Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.582Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}