{"id":"01KG8AM79NXGDXGMGYWFC2XY9V","cid":"bafkreieiqqjmolc3i7cmbrthvieqla7qt27kyepx357mhcr3hdqsiy3nle","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8999,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8933,"text":"CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT\r\n\r\nFISHING PARTIES--MODE OF DISTRIBUTING THE FISH--MIDNIGHT\r\nBANQUET--TIME-KEEPING TAPERS--UNCEREMONIOUS STYLE OF EATING THE FISH\r\n\r\n\r\nThere was no instance in which the social and kindly dispositions of the\r\nTypees were more forcibly evinced than in the manner the conducted their\r\ngreat fishing parties. Four times during my stay in the valley the young\r\nmen assembled near the full of the moon, and went together on these\r\nexcursions. As they were generally absent about forty-eight hours, I was\r\nled to believe that they went out towards the open sea, some distance\r\nfrom the bay. The Polynesians seldom use a hook and line, almost always\r\nemploying large well-made nets, most ingeniously fabricated from the\r\ntwisted fibres of a certain bark. I examined several of them which had\r\nbeen spread to dry upon the beach at Nukuheva. They resemble very much\r\nour own seines, and I should think they were nearly as durable.\r\n\r\nAll the South Sea Islanders are passionately fond of fish; but none\r\nof them can be more so than the inhabitants of Typee. I could not\r\ncomprehend, therefore, why they so seldom sought it in their waters, for\r\nit was only at stated times that the fishing parties were formed, and\r\nthese occasions were always looked forward to with no small degree of\r\ninterest.\r\n\r\nDuring their absence the whole population of the place were in a\r\nferment, and nothing was talked of but ‘pehee, pehee’ (fish, fish).\r\nTowards the time when they were expected to return the vocal telegraph\r\nwas put into operation--the inhabitants, who were scattered throughout\r\nthe length of the valley, leaped upon rocks and into trees, shouting\r\nwith delight at the thoughts of the anticipated treat. As soon as the\r\napproach of the party was announced, there was a general rush of the\r\nmen towards the beach; some of them remaining, however, about the Ti in\r\norder to get matters in readiness for the reception of the fish, which\r\nwere brought to the Taboo Groves in immense packages of leaves, each one\r\nof them being suspended from a pole carried on the shoulders of two men.\r\n\r\nI was present at the Ti on one of these occasions, and the sight was\r\nmost interesting. After all the packages had arrived, they were laid in\r\na row under the verandah of the building and opened.\r\n\r\nThe fish were all quite small, generally about the size of a herring,\r\nand of every variety. About one-eighth of the whole being reserved\r\nfor the use of the Ti itself, the remainder was divided into numerous\r\nsmaller packages, which were immediately dispatched in every direction\r\nto the remotest parts of the valley. Arrived at their destination, these\r\nwere in turn portioned out, and equally distributed among the various\r\nhouses of each particular district. The fish were under a strict Taboo,\r\nuntil the distribution was completed, which seemed to be effected in the\r\nmost impartial manner. By the operation of this system every man, woman,\r\nand child in the vale, were at one and the same time partaking of this\r\nfavourite article of food.\r\n\r\nOnce I remember the party arrived at midnight; but the unseasonableness\r\nof the tour did not repress the impatience of the islanders. The\r\ncarriers dispatched from the Ti were to be seen hurrying in all\r\ndirections through the deep groves; each individual preceded by a boy\r\nbearing a flaming torch of dried cocoanut boughs, which from time to\r\ntime was replenished from the materials scattered along the path. The\r\nwild glare of these enormous flambeaux, lighting up with a startling\r\nbrilliancy the innermost recesses of the vale, and seen moving rapidly\r\nalong beneath the canopy of leaves, the savage shout of the excited\r\nmessengers sounding the news of their approach, which was answered\r\non all sides, and the strange appearance of their naked bodies, seen\r\nagainst the gloomy background, produced altogether an effect upon my\r\nmind that I shall long remember.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRV9ZTXTWN4CWJXTETCY","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM79NYVNTXJM2BJAYWH5K","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.005Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.330Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}