# Sketch Eighth: Norfolk Isle and the Chola Widow explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Herman Melville. ## What happens The narrator recounts his first visit to the Encantadas, where a sailor spots a white handkerchief waving from Norfolk Isle. A boat is sent and rescues Hunilla, a Chola widow who has been stranded for over 180 days after her husband Felipe and brother Truxill died. She survived by collecting dew and tortoises, and her story of solitude and suffering is told with deep sympathy. ## Themes in this chapter ### Isolation and Alienation Hunilla's 180 days alone on Norfolk Isle exemplify extreme isolation and the psychological toll of solitude. ### Nature and Desolation The barren, blighted landscape of the Encantadas and the harsh conditions Hunilla endures highlight the theme of nature's desolation. ### Fate and Free Will Hunilla's survival and rescue are portrayed as a narrow chance, with a mysterious presentiment guiding her to the ship just in time. ## Character check-ins ### Hunilla The Chola widow rescued from Norfolk Isle; she survived alone after her husband and brother died. ### The Narrator (Encantadas) The first-person narrator who visits Norfolk Isle and helps rescue Hunilla. ### The Narrator (Encantadas Sketch Eight) The narrator who describes the events of Sketch Eighth. ## Key lines > At last they in an island did espy A seemly woman sitting by the shore, That with great sorrow and sad agony Seemed some great misfortune to deplore; And loud to them for succor called evermore. The sailors finally saw a woman on the island who appeared to be in deep distress, crying out for help. _Opening epigraph sets the scene of a woman in distress on a remote island._ > Black his eye as the midnight sky. White his neck as the driven snow, Red his cheek as the morning light;— Cold he lies in the ground below. My love is dead, Gone to his deathbed, ys All under the cactus tree. A lament for a dead lover, describing his features and his burial under a cactus. _Second epigraph mourns a lost love, foreshadowing Hunilla's widowhood._ > Each lonely scene shall thee restore, For thee the tear be duly shed; Belov’d till life can charm no more, And mourned till Pity’s self be dead. Every desolate place will remind you of your loss, and you will be mourned forever. _Third epigraph emphasizes enduring grief and remembrance._ > It was my first visit to the Encantadas. Two days had been spent ashore in hunting tortoises. The narrator describes his initial trip to the Galápagos, where they spent two days collecting tortoises. _Sets the context for the narrator's encounter with Hunilla._ > In a half-hour’s time the swift boat returned. It went with six and came with seven; and the seventh was a woman. The rescue boat returned with an extra passenger: a woman. _Highlights the dramatic rescue of Hunilla._ > Her story was soon told, and though given in her own strange language was as quickly understood; for our captain, from long trading on the Chilean coast, was well versed in the Spanish. Hunilla's story was quickly translated by the captain, who knew Spanish from his trading voyages. _Explains how the crew learned Hunilla's history._ > A Cholo, or half-breed Indian woman of Payta in Peru, three years gone by, with her young new-wedded husband Felipe, of pure Castilian blood, and her one only Indian brother, Truxill, Hunilla had taken passage on the main in a French whaler... Hunilla, a half-Indian woman from Peru, had traveled with her husband and brother on a French whaler three years earlier. _Provides background on Hunilla's origins and the purpose of her voyage._ > The object of the little party was to procure tortoise oil, a fluid which for its great purity and delicacy is held in high estimation wherever known... The group's goal was to collect tortoise oil, a highly valued product. _Explains the economic motivation for their journey._ > After the one hundred and eightieth day no further mark was seen; that last one was the faintest, as the first the deepest. Hunilla stopped marking the days after 180, with the final mark barely visible. _Indicates the duration of her isolation and her fading hope._ > Those two unnamed events which befell Hunilla on this isle, let them abide between her and her God. The narrator refuses to disclose two terrible events that happened to Hunilla, leaving them private. _Shows the narrator's restraint and respect for Hunilla's suffering._ > How did you come to cross the isle this morning, then, Hunilla? ... Señor, something came flitting by me. It touched my cheek, my heart, Señor. When asked how she knew to cross the island, Hunilla says a mysterious presence guided her. _Suggests a supernatural or intuitive element in her rescue._ > Nor did ever any wife of the most famous admiral, in her husband’s barge, receive more silent reverence of respect than poor Hunilla from this boat’s crew. The crew treated Hunilla with the utmost respect, as if she were an admiral's wife. _Emphasizes the crew's compassion and reverence for Hunilla._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_28_se/chapters/sketch-eighth-norfolk-isle-and-the-chola-widow - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_28_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_28_se/chapters