{"id":"01KG8AM7A18YRNHJQFHSPP56NA","cid":"bafkreigskf5sab3snkrnrnhqklh5pjh467cn4hgyt2m5zu54gwg7juqejq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9283,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9220,"text":"among his dusty demi-johns of different vintages.\r\n\r\nSome of the young men, with more flexible frames than their comrades,\r\nand perhaps with more courageous souls, had a way of walking up\r\nthe trunk of the cocoanut trees which to me seemed little less than\r\nmiraculous; and when looking at them in the act, I experienced that\r\ncurious perplexity a child feels when he beholds a fly moving feet\r\nuppermost along a ceiling.\r\n\r\nI will endeavour to describe the way in which Narnee, a noble young\r\nchief, sometimes performed this feat for my peculiar gratification; but\r\nhis preliminary performances must also be recorded. Upon my signifying\r\nmy desire that he should pluck me the young fruit of some particular\r\ntree, the handsome savage, throwing himself into a sudden attitude of\r\nsurprise, feigns astonishment at the apparent absurdity of the request.\r\nMaintaining this position for a moment, the strange emotions depicted on\r\nhis countenance soften down into one of humorous resignation to my will,\r\nand then looking wistfully up to the tufted top of the tree, he\r\nstands on tip-toe, straining his neck and elevating his arm, as though\r\nendeavouring to reach the fruit from the ground where he stands. As\r\nif defeated in this childish attempt, he now sinks to the earth\r\ndespondingly, beating his breast in well-acted despair; and then,\r\nstarting to his feet all at once, and throwing back his head, raises\r\nboth hands, like a school-boy about to catch a falling ball. After\r\ncontinuing this for a moment or two, as if in expectation that the fruit\r\nwas going to be tossed down to him by some good spirit in the tree-top,\r\nhe turns wildly round in another fit of despair, and scampers off to the\r\ndistance of thirty or forty yards. Here he remains awhile, eyeing the\r\ntree, the very picture of misery; but the next moment, receiving, as it\r\nwere, a flash of inspiration, he rushes again towards it, and clasping\r\nboth arms about the trunk, with one elevated a little above the other,\r\nhe presses the soles of his feet close together against the tree,\r\nextending his legs from it until they are nearly horizontal, and his\r\nbody becomes doubled into an arch; then, hand over hand and foot over\r\nfoot, he rises from the earth with steady rapidity, and almost before\r\nyou are aware of it, has gained the cradled and embowered nest of nuts,\r\nand with boisterous glee flings the fruit to the ground.\r\n\r\nThis mode of walking the tree is only practicable where the trunk\r\ndeclines considerably from the perpendicular. This, however, is almost\r\nalways the case; some of the perfectly straight shafts of the trees\r\nleaning at an angle of thirty degrees.\r\n\r\nThe less active among the men, and many of the children of the valley\r\nhave another method of climbing. They take a broad and stout piece of\r\nbark, and secure each end of it to their ankles, so that when the feet\r\nthus confined are extended apart, a space of little more than twelve\r\ninches is left between them. This contrivance greatly facilitates\r\nthe act of climbing. The band pressed against the tree, and closely\r\nembracing it, yields a pretty firm support; while with the arms clasped\r\nabout the trunk, and at regular intervals sustaining the body, the feet\r\nare drawn up nearly a yard at a time, and a corresponding elevation of\r\nthe hands immediately succeeds. In this way I have seen little children,\r\nscarcely five years of age, fearlessly climbing the slender pole of\r\na young cocoanut tree, and while hanging perhaps fifty feet from the\r\nground, receiving the plaudits of their parents beneath, who clapped\r\ntheir hands, and encouraged them to mount still higher.\r\n\r\nWhat, thought I, on first witnessing one of these exhibitions, would\r\nthe nervous mothers of America and England say to a similar display of\r\nhardihood in any of their children? The Lacedemonian nation might have\r\napproved of it, but most modern dames would have gone into hysterics at\r\nthe sight.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDQACFD93TNSK7H6EN","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM79K79PC63FR5K5P0RP2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7A38DBB7H57C4T2D3CK","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.017Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.609Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}