{"id":"01KG8AKNQ4GQ5E6J9S36HRRJ16","cid":"bafkreiaqmqvibnniiv7co7jyiqdtskql6yq2mndropjrrf6x7vjqvx72kq","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3279,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","start_line":3224,"text":"the foremost of the Tapparians, one Nimni; who, conducting us to his\r\nabode, with much deference introduced us to a portly old Begum, and\r\nthree slender damsels; his wife and daughters.\r\n\r\nSoon, refreshments appeared:—green and yellow compounds, and divers\r\nenigmatical dainties; besides vegetable liqueurs of a strange and\r\nalarming flavor served in fragile little leaves, folded into cups, and\r\nvery troublesome to handle.\r\n\r\nExcessively thirsty, Babbalanja made bold to inquire for water; which\r\ncalled forth a burst of horror from the old Begum, and minor shrieks\r\nfrom her daughters; who declared, that the beverage to which remote\r\nreference had been made, was far too widely diffused in Mardi, to be at\r\nall esteemed in Pimminee.\r\n\r\n“But though we seldom imbibe it,” said the old Begum, ceremoniously\r\nadjusting her necklace of cowrie-shells, “we occasionally employ it for\r\nmedicinal purposes.”\r\n\r\n“Ah, indeed?” said Babbalanja.\r\n\r\n“But oh! believe me; even then, we imbibe not the ordinary fluid of the\r\nsprings and streams; but that which in afternoon showers softly drains\r\nfrom our palm-trees into the little hollow or miniature reservoir\r\nbeneath its compacted roots.”\r\n\r\nA goblet of this beverage was now handed Babbalanja; but having a\r\ncurious, gummy flavor, it proved any thing but palatable.\r\n\r\nPresently, in came a company of young men, relatives of Nimni. They\r\nwere slender as sky-sail-poles; standing in a row, resembled a\r\npicket-fence; and were surmounted by enormous heads of hair, combed out\r\nall round, variously dyed, and evened by being singed with a lighted\r\nwisp of straw. Like milliners’ parcels, they were very neatly done up;\r\nwearing redolent robes.\r\n\r\n“How like the woodlands they smell,” whispered Yoomy. “Ay, marvelously\r\nlike sap,” said Mohi.\r\n\r\nOne part of their garniture consisted of numerous tasseled cords, like\r\nthose of an aigulette, depending from the neck, and attached here and\r\nthere about the person. A separate one, at a distance, united their\r\nankles. These served to measure and graduate their movements; keeping\r\ntheir gestures, paces, and attitudes, within the prescribed standard of\r\nTapparian gentility. When they went abroad, they were preceded by\r\ncertain footmen; who placed before them small, carved boards, whereon\r\ntheir masters stepped; thus avoiding contact with the earth. The simple\r\ndevice of a shoe, as a fixture for the foot, was unknown in Pimminee.\r\n\r\nBeing told, that Taji was lately from the sun, they manifested not the\r\nslightest surprise; one of them incidentally observing, however, that\r\nthe eclipses there, must be a sad bore to endure.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQT1D2ESC8ARZG3BEHPB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1954N2G0NAERBNJXEX9","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKNPZ5W1CNMKC0ESXDXE3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:12.004Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:21.507Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}