{"id":"01KG8AM7VCAYDYEWN6VK53R2XC","cid":"bafkreiciu3ay5j3wleu7gfltopguykrtpfvn7icahh3e6cqmrdet4xnc6q","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9546,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9482,"text":"gleamed forth from out this setting like a couple of diamonds inserted\r\nin ebony.\r\n\r\nAlthough convinced that tattooing was a religious observance, still the\r\nnature of the connection between it and the superstitious idolatry of\r\nthe people was a point upon which I could never obtain any information.\r\nLike the still more important system of the ‘Taboo’, it always appeared\r\ninexplicable to me.\r\n\r\nThere is a marked similarity, almost an identity, between the religious\r\ninstitutions of most of the Polynesian islands, and in all exists the\r\nmysterious ‘Taboo’, restricted in its uses to a greater or less extent.\r\nSo strange and complex in its arrangements is this remarkable system,\r\nthat I have in several cases met with individuals who, after residing\r\nfor years among the islands in the Pacific, and acquiring a considerable\r\nknowledge of the language, have nevertheless been altogether unable to\r\ngive any satisfactory account of its operations. Situated as I was\r\nin the Typee valley, I perceived every hour the effects of this\r\nall-controlling power, without in the least comprehending it. Those\r\neffects were, indeed, wide-spread and universal, pervading the most\r\nimportant as well as the minutest transactions of life. The savage, in\r\nshort, lives in the continual observance of its dictates, which guide\r\nand control every action of his being.\r\n\r\nFor several days after entering the valley I had been saluted at least\r\nfifty times in the twenty-four hours with the talismanic word ‘Taboo’\r\nshrieked in my ears, at some gross violation of its provisions, of which\r\nI had unconsciously been guilty. The day after our arrival I happened to\r\nhand some tobacco to Toby over the head of a native who sat between\r\nus. He started up, as if stung by an adder; while the whole company,\r\nmanifesting an equal degree of horror, simultaneously screamed out\r\n‘Taboo!’ I never again perpetrated a similar piece of ill-manners,\r\nwhich, indeed, was forbidden by the canons of good breeding, as well as\r\nby the mandates of the taboo. But it was not always so easy to perceive\r\nwherein you had contravened the spirit of this institution. I was many\r\ntimes called to order, if I may use the phrase, when I could not for the\r\nlife of me conjecture what particular offence I had committed.\r\n\r\nOne day I was strolling through a secluded portion of the valley, and\r\nhearing the musical sound of the cloth-mallet at a little distance, I\r\nturned down a path that conducted me in a few moments to a house where\r\nthere were some half-dozen girls employed in making tappa. This was an\r\noperation I had frequently witnessed, and had handled the bark in all\r\nthe various stages of its preparation. On the present occasion the\r\nfemales were intent upon their occupation, and after looking up and\r\ntalking gaily to me for a few moments, they resumed their employment. I\r\nregarded them for a while in silence, and then carelessly picking up a\r\nhandful of the material that lay around, proceeded unconsciously to pick\r\nit apart. While thus engaged, I was suddenly startled by a scream, like\r\nthat of a whole boarding-school of young ladies just on the point of\r\ngoing into hysterics. Leaping up with the idea of seeing a score of\r\nHappar warriors about to perform anew the Sabine atrocity, I found\r\nmyself confronted by the company of girls, who, having dropped their\r\nwork, stood before me with starting eyes, swelling bosoms, and fingers\r\npointed in horror towards me.\r\n\r\nThinking that some venomous reptile must be concealed in the bark which\r\nI held in my hand, I began cautiously to separate and examine it. Whilst\r\nI did so the horrified girls re-doubled their shrieks. Their wild cries\r\nand frightened motions actually alarmed me, and throwing down the tappa,\r\nI was about to rush from the house, when in the same instant their\r\nclamours ceased, and one of them, seizing me by the arm, pointed to the\r\nbroken fibres that had just fallen from my grasp, and screamed in my\r\nears the fatal word Taboo!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDMZY05FRQ5JENW1SE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VH7J2GJGN1FD6A8DFC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VH6KKKP29WEZ0GGPHD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.572Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.883Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}