{"id":"01KG8AM8KH7W102AKDC7HQY69H","cid":"bafkreicjjkur7jjg36frrpwxetf4jbpdmhfs3cl473qwpd6fywuihs3vim","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":5277,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":5212,"text":"CHAPTER FIFTEEN\r\n\r\nKINDNESS OF MARHEYO AND THE REST OF THE ISLANDERS--A FULL DESCRIPTION OF\r\nTHE BREAD-FRUIT TREE--DIFFERENT MODES OF PREPARING THE FRUIT\r\n\r\n\r\nAll the inhabitants of the valley treated me with great kindness; but as\r\nto the household of Marheyo, with whom I was now permanently domiciled,\r\nnothing could surpass their efforts to minister to my comfort. To the\r\ngratification of my palate they paid the most unwearied attention.\r\nThey continually invited me to partake of food, and when after eating\r\nheartily I declined the viands they continued to offer me, they seemed\r\nto think that my appetite stood in need of some piquant stimulant to\r\nexcite its activity.\r\n\r\nIn pursuance of this idea, old Marheyo himself would hie him away to\r\nthe sea-shore by the break of day, for the purpose of collecting\r\nvarious species of rare sea-weed; some of which among these people are\r\nconsidered a great luxury. After a whole day spent in this employment,\r\nhe would return about nightfall with several cocoanut shells filled with\r\ndifferent descriptions of kelp. In preparing these for use he manifested\r\nall the ostentation of a professed cook, although the chief mystery of\r\nthe affair appeared to consist in pouring water in judicious quantities\r\nupon the slimy contents of his cocoanut shells.\r\n\r\nThe first time he submitted one of these saline salads to my critical\r\nattention I naturally thought that anything collected at such pains must\r\npossess peculiar merits; but one mouthful was a complete dose; and great\r\nwas the consternation of the old warrior at the rapidity with which I\r\nejected his Epicurean treat.\r\n\r\nHow true it is, that the rarity of any particular article enhances\r\nits value amazingly. In some part of the valley--I know not where, but\r\nprobably in the neighbourhood of the sea--the girls were sometimes in\r\nthe habit of procuring small quantities of salt, a thimble-full or\r\nso being the result of the united labours of a party of five or six\r\nemployed for the greater part of the day. This precious commodity they\r\nbrought to the house, enveloped in multitudinous folds of leaves; and\r\nas a special mark of the esteem in which they held me, would spread\r\nan immense leaf on the ground, and dropping one by one a few minute\r\nparticles of the salt upon it, invite me to taste them.\r\n\r\nFrom the extravagant value placed upon the article, I verily believe,\r\nthat with a bushel of common Liverpool salt all the real estate in Typee\r\nmight have been purchased. With a small pinch of it in one hand, and a\r\nquarter section of a bread-fruit in the other, the greatest chief in the\r\nvalley would have laughed at all luxuries of a Parisian table.\r\n\r\nThe celebrity of the bread-fruit tree, and the conspicuous place it\r\noccupies in a Typee bill of fare, induces me to give at some length\r\na general description of the tree, and the various modes in which the\r\nfruit is prepared.\r\n\r\nThe bread-fruit tree, in its glorious prime, is a grand and towering\r\nobject, forming the same feature in a Marquesan landscape that the\r\npatriarchal elm does in New England scenery. The latter tree it not a\r\nlittle resembles in height, in the wide spread of its stalwart branches,\r\nand in its venerable and imposing aspect.\r\n\r\nThe leaves of the bread-fruit are of great size, and their edges are cut\r\nand scolloped as fantastically as those of a lady’s lace collar. As they\r\nannually tend towards decay, they almost rival in brilliant variety\r\nof their gradually changing hues the fleeting shades of the expiring\r\ndolphin. The autumnal tints of our American forests, glorious as they\r\nare, sink into nothing in comparison with this tree.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ7N0JD72BFQ4GQJBJ2M","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM8KEGPTS0WDFZE7W5ZZJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.345Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:37.667Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}