{"id":"01KG8AKKW06MKZP9RB232GNZG9","cid":"bafkreidx2q5gvz3yzlyctfcucwku6kn2ld4l3hknfq7xvtbbsb3y3yhg6m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7535,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.931Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":7463,"text":"CHAPTER LIV.\r\nThey Visit The Great Central Temple Of Vivenza\r\n\r\n\r\nThe throng that greeted us upon landing were exceedingly boisterous.\r\n\r\n“Whence came ye?” they cried. “Whither bound? Saw ye ever such a land\r\nas this? Is it not a great and extensive republic? Pray, observe how\r\ntall we are; just feel of our thighs; Are we not a glorious people?\r\nHere, feel of our beards. Look round; look round; be not afraid; Behold\r\nthose palms; swear now, that this land surpasses all others. Old\r\nBello’s mountains are mole-hills to ours; his rivers, rills; his\r\nempires, villages; his palm-trees, shrubs.”\r\n\r\n“True,” said Babbalanja. “But great Oro must have had some hand in\r\nmaking your mountains and streams.—Would ye have been as great in a\r\ndesert?”\r\n\r\n“Where is your king?” asked Media, drawing himself up in his robe, and\r\ncocking his crown.\r\n\r\n“Ha, ha, my fine fellow! We are all kings here; royalty breathes in the\r\ncommon air. But come on, come on. Let us show you our great Temple of\r\nFreedom.”\r\n\r\nAnd so saying, irreverently grasping his sacred arm, they conducted us\r\ntoward a lofty structure, planted upon a bold hill, and supported by\r\nthirty pillars of palm; four quite green; as if recently added; and\r\nbeyond these, an almost interminable vacancy, as if all the palms in\r\nMardi, were at some future time, to aid in upholding that fabric.\r\n\r\nUpon the summit of the temple was a staff; and as we drew nigh, a man\r\nwith a collar round his neck, and the red marks of stripes upon his\r\nback, was just in the act of hoisting a tappa standard— correspondingly\r\nstriped. Other collared menials were going in and out of the temple.\r\n\r\nNear the porch, stood an image like that on the top of the arch we had\r\nseen. Upon its pedestal, were pasted certain hieroglyphical notices;\r\naccording to Mohi, offering rewards for missing men, so many hands\r\nhigh.\r\n\r\nEntering the temple, we beheld an amphitheatrical space, in the middle\r\nof which, a great fire was burning. Around it, were many chiefs, robed\r\nin long togas, and presenting strange contrasts in their style of\r\ntattooing.\r\n\r\nSome were sociably laughing, and chatting; others diligently making\r\nexcavations between their teeth with slivers of bamboo; or turning\r\ntheir heads into mills, were grinding up leaves and ejecting their\r\njuices. Some were busily inserting the down of a thistle into their\r\nears. Several stood erect, intent upon maintaining striking attitudes;\r\ntheir javelins tragically crossed upon their chests. They would have\r\nlooked very imposing, were it not, that in rear their vesture was sadly\r\ndisordered. Others, with swelling fronts, seemed chiefly indebted to\r\ntheir dinners for their dignity. Many were nodding and napping. And,\r\nhere and there, were sundry indefatigable worthies, making a great show\r\nof imperious and indispensable business; sedulously folding banana\r\nleaves into scrolls, and recklessly placing them into the hands of\r\nlittle boys, in gay turbans and trim little girdles, who thereupon fled\r\nas if with salvation for the dying.\r\n\r\nIt was a crowded scene; the dusky chiefs, here and there, grouped\r\ntogether, and their fantastic tattooings showing like the carved work\r\non quaint old chimney-stacks, seen from afar. But one of their number\r\novertopped all the rest. As when, drawing nigh unto old Rome, amid the\r\ncrowd of sculptured columns and gables, St. Peter’s grand dome soars\r\nfar aloft, serene in the upper air; so, showed one calm grand forehead\r\namong those of this mob of chieftains. That head was Saturnina’s. Gall\r\nand Spurzheim! saw you ever such a brow?—poised like an avalanche,\r\nunder the shadow of a forest! woe betide the devoted valleys below!\r\nLavatar! behold those lips,—like mystic scrolls! Those eyes,— like\r\npanthers’ caves at the base of Popocatepetl!\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJTNYED78JDVK740586B3","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKKW1Z9M7MSJV6V4QTP6B","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:10.112Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.363Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}