{"id":"01KG8AM8K3HVM6HWZPQFX30MDT","cid":"bafkreifw4yuqsqvbxevhhtlxgeugssjioj6j2m4uolal75gqvo4adhlp7y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5211,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":5164,"text":"of it like an urchin about to gallop off upon a cane, and then grasping\r\nthe smaller one firmly in both hands, he rubs its pointed end slowly\r\nup and down the extent of a few inches on the principal stick, until at\r\nlast he makes a narrow groove in the wood, with an abrupt termination\r\nat the point furthest from him, where all the dusty particles which the\r\nfriction creates are accumulated in a little heap.\r\n\r\nAt first Kory-Kory goes to work quite leisurely, but gradually quickens\r\nhis pace, and waxing warm in the employment, drives the stick furiously\r\nalong the smoking channel, plying his hands to and fro with amazing\r\nrapidity, the perspiration starting from every pore. As he approaches\r\nthe climax of his effort, he pants and gasps for breath, and his eyes\r\nalmost start from their sockets with the violence of his exertions. This\r\nis the critical stage of the operation; all his previous labours\r\nare vain if he cannot sustain the rapidity of the movement until the\r\nreluctant spark is produced. Suddenly he stops, becoming perfectly\r\nmotionless. His hands still retain their hold of the smaller stick,\r\nwhich is pressed convulsively against the further end of the channel\r\namong the fine powder there accumulated, as if he had just pierced\r\nthrough and through some little viper that was wriggling and struggling\r\nto escape from his clutches. The next moment a delicate wreath of smoke\r\ncurls spirally into the air, the heap of dusty particles glows with\r\nfire, and Kory-Kory, almost breathless, dismounts from his steed.\r\n\r\nThis operation appeared to me to be the most laborious species of work\r\nperformed in Typee; and had I possessed a sufficient intimacy with the\r\nlanguage to have conveyed my ideas upon the subject, I should certainly\r\nhave suggested to the most influential of the natives the expediency of\r\nestablishing a college of vestals to be centrally located in the valley,\r\nfor the purpose of keeping alive the indispensable article of fire; so\r\nas to supersede the necessity of such a vast outlay of strength and\r\ngood temper, as were usually squandered on these occasions. There might,\r\nhowever, be special difficulties in carrying this plan into execution.\r\n\r\nWhat a striking evidence does this operation furnish of the wide\r\ndifference between the extreme of savage and civilized life. A gentleman\r\nof Typee can bring up a numerous family of children and give them all\r\na highly respectable cannibal education, with infinitely less toil\r\nand anxiety than he expends in the simple process of striking a light;\r\nwhilst a poor European artisan, who through the instrumentality of a\r\nlucifer performs the same operation in one second, is put to his wit’s\r\nend to provide for his starving offspring that food which the children\r\nof a Polynesian father, without troubling their parents, pluck from the\r\nbranches of every tree around them.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ7N942MRV9G2GWR758Q","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8KEYDMX4SYX0ACNPVP3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.331Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.562Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}