{"id":"01KG8AM7VASTWN1TQG4NYN504P","cid":"bafkreiazsv36rziwteutgnecu32j6dhi2v5jdfakmi3bir3ygat74fa7o4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9924,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9868,"text":"From the time of my casual encounter with Karky the artist, my life was\r\none of absolute wretchedness. Not a day passed but I was persecuted by\r\nthe solicitations of some of the natives to subject myself to the odious\r\noperation of tattooing. Their importunities drove me half wild, for I\r\nfelt how easily they might work their will upon me regarding this or\r\nanything else which they took into their heads. Still, however, the\r\nbehaviour of the islanders towards me was as kind as ever. Fayaway was\r\nquite as engaging; Kory-Kory as devoted; and Mehevi the king just as\r\ngracious and condescending as before. But I had now been three months in\r\ntheir valley, as nearly as I could estimate; I had grown familiar with\r\nthe narrow limits to which my wandering had been confined; and I began\r\nbitterly to feel the state of captivity in which I was held. There\r\nwas no one with whom I could freely converse; no one to whom I could\r\ncommunicate my thoughts; no one who could sympathize with my sufferings.\r\nA thousand times I thought how much more endurable would have been my\r\nlot had Toby still been with me. But I was left alone, and the thought\r\nwas terrible to me. Still, despite my griefs, I did all in my power\r\nto appear composed and cheerful, well knowing that by manifesting any\r\nuneasiness, or any desire to escape, I should only frustrate my object.\r\n\r\nIt was during the period I was in this unhappy frame of mind that the\r\npainful malady under which I had been labouring--after having almost\r\ncompletely subsided--began again to show itself, and with symptoms as\r\nviolent as ever. This added calamity nearly unmanned me; the recurrence\r\nof the complaint proved that without powerful remedial applications\r\nall hope of cure was futile; and when I reflected that just beyond the\r\nelevations, which bound me in, was the medical relief I needed, and that\r\nalthough so near, it was impossible for me to avail myself of it, the\r\nthought was misery.\r\n\r\nIn this wretched situation, every circumstance which evinced the\r\nsavage nature of the beings at whose mercy I was, augmented the fearful\r\napprehensions that consumed me. An occurrence which happened about this\r\ntime affected me most powerfully.\r\n\r\nI have already mentioned that from the ridge-pole of Marheyo’s house\r\nwere suspended a number of packages enveloped in tappa. Many of these I\r\nhad often seen in the hands of the natives, and their contents had been\r\nexamined in my presence. But there were three packages hanging\r\nvery nearly over the place where I lay, which from their remarkable\r\nappearance had often excited my curiosity. Several times I had asked\r\nKory-Kory to show me their contents, but my servitor, who, in almost\r\nevery other particular had acceded to my wishes, refused to gratify me\r\nin this.\r\n\r\nOne day, returning unexpectedly from the ‘Ti’, my arrival seemed to\r\nthrow the inmates of the house into the greatest confusion. They were\r\nseated together on the mats, and by the lines which extended from the\r\nroof to the floor I immediately perceived that the mysterious packages\r\nwere for some purpose or another under inspection. The evident alarm\r\nthe savages betrayed filled me with forebodings of evil, and with an\r\nuncontrollable desire to penetrate the secret so jealously guarded.\r\nDespite the efforts of Marheyo and Kory-Kory to restrain me, I forced\r\nmy way into the midst of the circle, and just caught a glimpse of three\r\nhuman heads, which others of the party were hurriedly enveloping in the\r\ncoverings from which they had been taken.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKFW2J4QSDMKVSYK4F3Y2","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VH4RTJ6YTWB3WY75YB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.570Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.058Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}