{"id":"01KG8AKN251C2HXC1SWN4Y7JN6","cid":"bafkreidxwfckt5pwzh6mn7xqj6skcbxb7vt4kjumgk2zapjjm4rrqjhfae","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2293,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":2212,"text":"CHAPTER XVIII.\r\nThey Visit An Extraordinary Old Antiquary\r\n\r\n\r\n“About prows there, ye paddlers,” cried Media. “In this fog we’ve been\r\nraising, we have sailed by Padulla, our destination.”\r\n\r\nNow Padulla, was but a little island, tributary to a neighboring king;\r\nits population embracing some hundreds of thousands of leaves, and\r\nflowers, and butterflies, yet only two solitary mortals; one, famous as\r\na venerable antiquarian: a collector of objects of Mardian vertu; a\r\ncognoscenti, and dilettante in things old and marvelous; and for that\r\nreason, very choice of himself.\r\n\r\nHe went by the exclamatory cognomen of “Oh-Oh;” a name bestowed upon\r\nhim, by reason of the delighted interjections, with which he welcomed\r\nall accessions to his museum.\r\n\r\nNow, it was to obtain a glimpse of this very museum, that Media was\r\nanxious to touch at Padulla.\r\n\r\nLanding, and passing through a grove, we were accosted by Oh-Oh\r\nhimself; who, having heard the shouts of our paddlers, had sallied\r\nforth, staff in hand.\r\n\r\nThe old man was a sight to see; especially his nose; a remarkable one.\r\nAnd all Mardi over, a remarkable nose is a prominent feature: an ever\r\nobvious passport to distinction. For, after all, this gaining a name,\r\nis but the individualizing of a man; as well achieved by an\r\nextraordinary nose, as by an extraordinary epic. Far better, indeed;\r\nfor you may pass poets without knowing them. Even a hero, is no hero\r\nwithout his sword; nor Beelzebub himself a lion, minus that lasso-tail\r\nof his, wherewith he catches his prey. Whereas, he who is famous\r\nthrough his nose, it is impossible to overlook. He is a celebrity\r\nwithout toiling for a name. Snugly ensconced behind his proboscis, he\r\nrevels in its shadow, receiving tributes of attention wherever he goes.\r\n\r\nNot to enter at large upon the topography of Oh-Oh’s nasal organ, all\r\nmust be content with this; that it was of a singular magnitude, and\r\nboldly aspiring at the end; an exclamation point in the face of the\r\nwearer, forever wondering at the visible universe. The eyes of Oh-Oh\r\nwere like the creature’s that the Jew abhors: placed slanting in his\r\nhead, and converging their rays toward the mouth; which was no Mouth,\r\nbut a gash.\r\n\r\nI mean not to be harsh, or unpleasant upon thee, Oh-Oh; but I must\r\npaint thee as thou wert.\r\n\r\nThe rest of his person was crooked, and dwarfed, and surmounted by a\r\nhump, that sat on his back like a burden. And a weary load is a hump,\r\nHeaven knows, only to be cast off in the grave.\r\n\r\nThus old, and antiquated, and gable-ended, was the tabernacle of\r\nOh-Oh’s soul. But his person was housed in as curious a structure.\r\nBuilt of old boughs of trees blown down in the groves, and covered over\r\nwith unruly thatching, it seemed, without, some ostrich nest. But\r\nwithin, so intricate, and grotesque, its brown alleys and cells, that\r\nthe interior of no walnut was more labyrinthine.\r\n\r\nAnd here, strewn about, all dusty and disordered, were the precious\r\nantiques, and curios, and obsoletes, which to Oh-Oh were dear as the\r\napple of his eye, or the memory of departed days.\r\n\r\nThe old man was exceedingly importunate, in directing attention to his\r\nrelics; concerning each of which, he had an endless story to tell. Time\r\nwould fail; nay, patience, to repeat his legends. So, in order, here\r\nfollow the most prominent of his rarities:—\r\n\r\n\r\nThe identical Canoe, in which, ages back, the god Unja came from the\r\nbottom of the sea. (Very ponderous; of lignum-vitae wood).\r\n\r\nA stone Flower-pot, containing in the original soil, Unja’s last\r\nfootprints, when he embarked from Mardi for parts unknown. (One\r\nfoot-print unaccountably reversed).\r\n\r\nThe Jaw-bones of Tooroorooloo, a great orator in the days of Unja.\r\n(Somewhat twisted).\r\n\r\nA quaint little Fish-hook. (Made from the finger-bones of Kravi the\r\nCunning).\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ1AXYV6P72ERCVTGNDX","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKN250NSETR0RR2JW0P0G","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:11.333Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.516Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}