{"id":"01KG8AP5X3863BE54SXGEN2S29","cid":"bafkreigxxse6b567cacefdvveomkij4qyfjplbfysoam25jrjcorqai3ee","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2921,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:30.764Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 37","source_file":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","start_line":2869,"text":"heavy chest to his boarding house. Not to seem ignorant about the\r\nthing—though in truth he was entirely so, concerning the precise way in\r\nwhich to manage the barrow—Queequeg puts his chest upon it; lashes it\r\nfast; and then shoulders the barrow and marches up the wharf. “Why,”\r\nsaid I, “Queequeg, you might have known better than that, one would\r\nthink. Didn’t the people laugh?”\r\n\r\nUpon this, he told me another story. The people of his island of\r\nRokovoko, it seems, at their wedding feasts express the fragrant water\r\nof young cocoanuts into a large stained calabash like a punchbowl; and\r\nthis punchbowl always forms the great central ornament on the braided\r\nmat where the feast is held. Now a certain grand merchant ship once\r\ntouched at Rokovoko, and its commander—from all accounts, a very\r\nstately punctilious gentleman, at least for a sea captain—this\r\ncommander was invited to the wedding feast of Queequeg’s sister, a\r\npretty young princess just turned of ten. Well; when all the wedding\r\nguests were assembled at the bride’s bamboo cottage, this Captain\r\nmarches in, and being assigned the post of honor, placed himself over\r\nagainst the punchbowl, and between the High Priest and his majesty the\r\nKing, Queequeg’s father. Grace being said,—for those people have their\r\ngrace as well as we—though Queequeg told me that unlike us, who at such\r\ntimes look downwards to our platters, they, on the contrary, copying\r\nthe ducks, glance upwards to the great Giver of all feasts—Grace, I\r\nsay, being said, the High Priest opens the banquet by the immemorial\r\nceremony of the island; that is, dipping his consecrated and\r\nconsecrating fingers into the bowl before the blessed beverage\r\ncirculates. Seeing himself placed next the Priest, and noting the\r\nceremony, and thinking himself—being Captain of a ship—as having plain\r\nprecedence over a mere island King, especially in the King’s own\r\nhouse—the Captain coolly proceeds to wash his hands in the\r\npunchbowl;—taking it I suppose for a huge finger-glass. “Now,” said\r\nQueequeg, “what you tink now?—Didn’t our people laugh?”\r\n\r\nAt last, passage paid, and luggage safe, we stood on board the\r\nschooner. Hoisting sail, it glided down the Acushnet river. On one\r\nside, New Bedford rose in terraces of streets, their ice-covered trees\r\nall glittering in the clear, cold air. Huge hills and mountains of\r\ncasks on casks were piled upon her wharves, and side by side the\r\nworld-wandering whale ships lay silent and safely moored at last; while\r\nfrom others came a sound of carpenters and coopers, with blended noises\r\nof fires and forges to melt the pitch, all betokening that new cruises\r\nwere on the start; that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only\r\nbegins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on,\r\nfor ever and for aye. Such is the endlessness, yea, the intolerableness\r\nof all earthly effort.\r\n\r\nGaining the more open water, the bracing breeze waxed fresh; the little\r\nMoss tossed the quick foam from her bows, as a young colt his\r\nsnortings. How I snuffed that Tartar air!—how I spurned that turnpike\r\nearth!—that common highway all over dented with the marks of slavish\r\nheels and hoofs; and turned me to admire the magnanimity of the sea\r\nwhich will permit no records.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 37"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AK7FP6P1V67V3ATJHHZ83","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J198KE6FY8WPVJQQRCZ6","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AP5X9QM9M8GK5MZCWB27R","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AP5X9MYNCFZEVQN4Y1BA0","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:49:34.115Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:49:40.755Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}