{"id":"01KG8AM7Y9ACVETNGK4CYVGHCH","cid":"bafkreicqmqo4xmvjxl3ad3eqg7ujrpm2owasz6mg6sj4jefzsui46s5sxy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4359,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":4294,"text":"these obstacles with a wide circuit, the path wound along;--one moment\r\nclimbing over a sudden eminence smooth with continued wear, then\r\ndescending on the other side into a steep glen, and crossing the flinty\r\nchannel of a brook. Here it pursued the depths of a glade, occasionally\r\nobliging you to stoop beneath vast horizontal branches; and now you\r\nstepped over huge trunks and boughs that lay rotting across the track.\r\n\r\nSuch was the grand thoroughfare of Typee. After proceeding a little\r\ndistance along it--Kory-Kory panting and blowing with the weight of\r\nhis burden--I dismounted from his back, and grasping the long spear of\r\nMehevi in my hand, assisted my steps over the numerous obstacles of\r\nthe road; preferring this mode of advance to one which, from the\r\ndifficulties of the way, was equally painful to myself and my wearied\r\nservitor.\r\n\r\nOur journey was soon at an end; for, scaling a sudden height, we came\r\nabruptly upon the place of our destination. I wish that it were possible\r\nto sketch in words this spot as vividly as I recollect it.\r\n\r\nHere were situated the Taboo groves of the valley--the scene of many a\r\nprolonged feast, of many a horrid rite. Beneath the dark shadows of\r\nthe consecrated bread-fruit trees there reigned a solemn twilight--a\r\ncathedral-like gloom. The frightful genius of pagan worship seemed to\r\nbrood in silence over the place, breathing its spell upon every object\r\naround. Here and there, in the depths of these awful shades, half\r\nscreened from sight by masses of overhanging foliage, rose the\r\nidolatrous altars of the savages, built of enormous blocks of black and\r\npolished stone, placed one upon another, without cement, to the height\r\nof twelve or fifteen feet, and surmounted by a rustic open temple,\r\nenclosed with a low picket of canes, within which might be seen, in\r\nvarious stages of decay, offerings of bread-fruit and cocoanuts, and the\r\nputrefying relics of some recent sacrifice.\r\n\r\nIn the midst of the wood was the hallowed ‘Hoolah Hoolah’ ground--set\r\napart for the celebration of the fantastical religious ritual of these\r\npeople--comprising an extensive oblong pi-pi, terminating at either end\r\nin a lofty terraced altar, guarded by ranks of hideous wooden idols, and\r\nwith the two remaining sides flanked by ranges of bamboo sheds, opening\r\ntowards the interior of the quadrangle thus formed. Vast trees, standing\r\nin the middle of this space, and throwing over it an umbrageous shade,\r\nhad their massive trunks built round with slight stages, elevated a few\r\nfeet above the ground, and railed in with canes, forming so many rustic\r\npulpits, from which the priests harangued their devotees.\r\n\r\nThis holiest of spots was defended from profanation by the strictest\r\nedicts of the all-pervading ‘taboo’, which condemned to instant death\r\nthe sacrilegious female who should enter or touch its sacred precincts,\r\nor even so much as press with her feet the ground made holy by the\r\nshadows that it cast.\r\n\r\nAccess was had to the enclosure through an embowered entrance, on one\r\nside, facing a number of towering cocoanut trees, planted at intervals\r\nalong a level area of a hundred yards. At the further extremity of this\r\nspace was to be seen a building of considerable size, reserved for the\r\nhabitation of the priests and religious attendants of the groves.\r\n\r\nIn its vicinity was another remarkable edifice, built as usual upon the\r\nsummit of a pi-pi, and at least two hundred feet in length, though not\r\nmore than twenty in breadth. The whole front of this latter structure\r\nwas completely open, and from one end to the other ran a narrow\r\nverandah, fenced in on the edge of the pi-pi with a picket of canes.\r\nIts interior presented the appearance of an immense lounging place, the\r\nentire floor being strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between\r\nparallel trunks of cocoanut trees, selected for the purpose from the\r\nstraightest and most symmetrical the vale afforded.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ78EX3KNDMBF2ER8JQ1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7Y9YQZ76YYVY96ZMSG4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7Y9PTAF6GB91D95EBC4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.665Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.690Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}