{"id":"01KG8AM7VH4RTJ6YTWB3WY75YB","cid":"bafkreicjdbuqmlwjlslqgpyyzojd6oh3xeqb3r3m2qpu6svnx3huroi7x4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9961,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9918,"text":"the 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\nOne of the three I distinctly saw. It was in a state of perfect\r\npreservation, and from the slight glimpse I had of it, seemed to have\r\nbeen subjected to some smoking operation which had reduced it to the\r\ndry, hard, and mummy-like appearance it presented. The two long scalp\r\nlocks were twisted up into balls upon the crown of the head in the same\r\nway that the individual had worn them during life. The sunken cheeks\r\nwere rendered yet more ghastly by the rows of glistening teeth which\r\nprotruded from between the lips, while the sockets of the eyes--filled\r\nwith oval bits of mother-of-pearl shell, with a black spot in the\r\ncentre--heightened the hideousness of its aspect.\r\n\r\nTwo of the three were heads of the islanders; but the third, to my\r\nhorror, was that of a white man. Although it had been quickly removed\r\nfrom my sight, still the glimpse I had of it was enough to convince me\r\nthat I could not be mistaken.\r\n\r\nGracious God! what dreadful thoughts entered my head; in solving this\r\nmystery perhaps I had solved another, and the fate of my lost companion\r\nmight be revealed in the shocking spectacle I had just witnessed. I\r\nlonged to have torn off the folds of cloth and satisfied the awful\r\ndoubts under which I laboured. But before I had recovered from the\r\nconsternation into which I had been thrown, the fatal packages were\r\nhoisted aloft, and once more swung over my head. The natives now\r\ngathered round me tumultuously, and laboured to convince me that what\r\nI had just seen were the heads of three Happar warriors, who had been\r\nslain in battle. This glaring falsehood added to my alarm, and it was\r\nnot until I reflected that I had observed the packages swinging from\r\ntheir elevation before Toby’s disappearance, that I could at all recover\r\nmy composure.\r\n\r\nBut although this horrible apprehension had been dispelled, I had\r\ndiscovered enough to fill me, in my present state of mind, with the most\r\nbitter reflections. It was plain that I had seen the last relic of some\r\nunfortunate wretch, who must have been massacred on the beach by the\r\nsavages, in one of those perilous trading adventures which I have before\r\ndescribed.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AKFW2J4QSDMKVSYK4F3Y2","peer_type":"section","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VASTWN1TQG4NYN504P","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VP5RYF5SG23J1GVZJC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.577Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:43.190Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}