{"id":"01KG8AM7VH6KKKP29WEZ0GGPHD","cid":"bafkreiekbv3vmzdcxbal7c3evt2ksvhxequo6c5yjwgpb4lde3mtsqnt5m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9604,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 5","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9540,"text":"I 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\nI subsequently found out that the fabric they were engaged in making was\r\nof a peculiar kind, destined to be worn on the heads of the females, and\r\nthrough every stage of its manufacture was guarded by a rigorous taboo,\r\nwhich interdicted the whole masculine gender from even so much as\r\ntouching it.\r\n\r\nFrequently in walking through the groves I observed bread-fruit and\r\ncocoanut trees, with a wreath of leaves twined in a peculiar fashion\r\nabout their trunks. This was the mark of the taboo. The trees\r\nthemselves, their fruit, and even the shadows they cast upon the ground,\r\nwere consecrated by its presence. In the same way a pipe, which the king\r\nhad bestowed upon me, was rendered sacred in the eyes of the natives,\r\nnone of whom could I ever prevail upon to smoke from it. The bowl was\r\nencircled by a woven band of grass, somewhat resembling those Turks’\r\nheads occasionally worked in the handles of our whip-stalks.\r\n\r\nA similar badge was once braided about my wrist by the royal hand\r\nof Mehevi himself, who, as soon as he had concluded the operation,\r\npronounced me ‘Taboo’. This occurred shortly after Toby’s disappearance;\r\nand, were it not that from the first moment I had entered the valley\r\nthe natives had treated me with uniform kindness, I should have supposed\r\nthat their conduct afterwards was to be ascribed to the fact that I had\r\nreceived this sacred investiture.\r\n\r\nThe capricious operations of the taboo are not its least remarkable\r\nfeature: to enumerate them all would be impossible. Black hogs--infants\r\nto a certain age--women in an interesting situation--young men while the\r\noperation of tattooing their faces is going on--and certain parts of the\r\nvalley during the continuance of a shower--are alike fenced about by the\r\noperation of the taboo.\r\n\r\nI witnessed a striking instance of its effects in the bay of Tior,\r\nmy visit to which place has been alluded to in a former part of this\r\nnarrative. On that occasion our worthy captain formed one of the party.\r\nHe was a most insatiable sportsman. Outward bound, and off the pitch of\r\nCape Horn, he used to sit on the taffrail, and keep the steward loading\r\nthree or four old fowling pieces, with which he would bring down\r\nalbatrosses, Cape pigeons, jays, petrels, and divers other marine fowl,\r\nwho followed chattering in our wake. The sailors were struck aghast at\r\nhis impiety, and one and all attributed our forty days’ beating about\r\nthat horrid headland to his sacrilegious slaughter of these inoffensive\r\nbirds.\r\n\r\nAt Tior he evinced the same disregard for the religious prejudices of\r\nthe islanders, as he had previously shown for the superstitions of the\r\nsailors. Having heard that there were a considerable number of fowls in\r\nthe valley the progeny of some cocks and hens accidentally left there by\r\nan English vessel, and which, being strictly tabooed, flew about almost\r\nin a wild state--he determined to break through all restraints, and\r\nbe the death of them. Accordingly, he provided himself with a most\r\nformidable looking gun, and announced his landing on the beach by\r\nshooting down a noble cock that was crowing what proved to be his own\r\nfuneral dirge, on the limb of an adjoining tree. ‘Taboo’, shrieked the\r\naffrighted savages. ‘Oh, hang your taboo,’ says the nautical sportsman;\r\n‘talk taboo to the marines’; and bang went the piece again, and down\r\ncame another victim. At this the natives ran scampering through the\r\ngroves, horror-struck at the enormity of the act.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 5"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDMZY05FRQ5JENW1SE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VCAYDYEWN6VK53R2XC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VCCX2Q29AF9P6Q49BJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.577Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.780Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}