{"id":"01KG8AMGEB3PVWB94MQRC1S7TS","cid":"bafkreicp4qxfrjv463oksyd754dk3e6qh5da6der4mrta4m4bsi7iqp5cu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3971,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.270Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","start_line":3898,"text":"CHAPTER XXV.\r\nTHE DOG-DAYS OFF CAPE HORN.\r\n\r\n\r\nColder and colder; we are drawing nigh to the Cape. Now gregoes, pea\r\njackets, monkey jackets reefing jackets, storm jackets, oil jackets,\r\npaint jackets, round jackets short jackets, long jackets, and all\r\nmanner of jackets, are the order of the day, not excepting the immortal\r\nwhite jacket, which begins to be sturdily buttoned up to the throat,\r\nand pulled down vigorously at the skirts, to bring them well over the\r\nloins.\r\n\r\nBut, alas! those skirts were lamentably scanty; and though, with its\r\nquiltings, the jacket was stuffed out about the breasts like a\r\nChristmas turkey, and of a dry cold day kept the wearer warm enough in\r\nthat vicinity, yet about the loins it was shorter than ballet-dancer’s\r\nskirts; so that while my chest was in the temperate zone close\r\nadjoining the torrid, my hapless thighs were in Nova Zembla, hardly an\r\nicicle’s toss from the Pole.\r\n\r\nThen, again, the repeated soakings and dryings it had undergone, had by\r\nthis time made it shrink woefully all over, especially in the arms, so\r\nthat the wristbands had gradually crawled up near to the elbows; and it\r\nrequired an energetic thrust to push the arm through, in drawing the\r\njacket on.\r\n\r\nI endeavoured to amend these misfortunes by sewing a sort of canvas\r\nruffle round the skirts, by way of a continuation or supplement to the\r\noriginal work, and by doing the same with the wristbands.\r\n\r\nThis is the time for oil-skin suits, dread-naughts, tarred trowsers and\r\noveralls, sea-boots, comforters, mittens, woollen socks, Guernsey\r\nfrocks, Havre shirts, buffalo-robe shirts, and moose-skin drawers.\r\nEvery man’s jacket is his wigwam, and every man’s hat his caboose.\r\n\r\nPerfect license is now permitted to the men respecting their clothing.\r\nWhatever they can rake and scrape together they put on—swaddling\r\nthemselves in old sails, and drawing old socks over their heads for\r\nnight-caps. This is the time for smiting your chest with your hand, and\r\ntalking loud to keep up the circulation.\r\n\r\nColder, and colder, and colder, till at last we spoke a fleet of\r\nicebergs bound North. After that, it was one incessant “_cold snap_,”\r\nthat almost snapped off our fingers and toes. Cold! It was cold as\r\n_Blue Flujin_, where sailors say fire freezes.\r\n\r\nAnd now coming up with the latitude of the Cape, we stood southward to\r\ngive it a wide berth, and while so doing were becalmed; ay, becalmed\r\noff Cape Horn, which is worse, far worse, than being becalmed on the\r\nLine.\r\n\r\nHere we lay forty-eight hours, during which the cold was intense. I\r\nwondered at the liquid sea, which refused to freeze in such a\r\ntemperature. The clear, cold sky overhead looked like a steel-blue\r\ncymbal, that might ring, could you smite it. Our breath came and went\r\nlike puffs’ of smoke from pipe-bowls. At first there was a long gauky\r\nswell, that obliged us to furl most of the sails, and even send down\r\nt’-gallant-yards, for fear of pitching them overboard.\r\n\r\nOut of sight of land, at this extremity of both the inhabitable and\r\nuninhabitable world, our peopled frigate, echoing with the voices of\r\nmen, the bleating of lambs, the cackling of fowls, the gruntings of\r\npigs, seemed like Noah’s old ark itself, becalmed at the climax of the\r\nDeluge.\r\n\r\nThere was nothing to be done but patiently to await the pleasure of the\r\nelements, and “whistle for a wind,” the usual practice of seamen in a\r\ncalm. No fire was allowed, except for the indispensable purpose of\r\ncooking, and heating bottles of water to toast Selvagee’s feet. He who\r\npossessed the largest stock of vitality, stood the best chance to\r\nescape freezing. It was horrifying. In such weather any man could have\r\nundergone amputation with great ease, and helped take up the arteries\r\nhimself.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQSEG0NG7XBMK0AZEKS5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J19NC56FFGBCM2SWEZZY","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AMGEH97XVMSTK7HT39XBJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.371Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:45.523Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}