{"id":"01KG8AKVEB3XQDDG33S3T4RKF8","cid":"bafkreig2vnlxj52ch5klz6d4eml6ipx3yl5ky5wvyfk4ean2fgazyppf7u","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8746,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":8678,"text":"in short tunics of white tappa; with garlands of flowers on their\r\nheads. Following them were the duennas, who remained clustering about\r\nthe house, while the girls advanced a few paces; and, in an instant,\r\ntwo of them, taller than their companions, were standing, side by side,\r\nin the middle of a ring formed by the clasped hands of the rest. This\r\nmovement was made in perfect silence.\r\n\r\nPresently the two girls join hands overhead; and, crying out, “Ahloo!\r\nahloo!” wave them to and fro. Upon which the ring begins to circle\r\nslowly; the dancers moving sideways, with their arms a little drooping.\r\nSoon they quicken their pace; and, at last, fly round and round: bosoms\r\nheaving, hair streaming, flowers dropping, and every sparkling eye\r\ncircling in what seemed a line of light.\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, the pair within are passing and repassing each other\r\nincessantly. Inclining sideways, so that their long hair falls far\r\nover, they glide this way and that; one foot continually in the air,\r\nand their fingers thrown forth, and twirling in the moonbeams.\r\n\r\n“Ahloo! ahloo!” again cry the dance queens; and coming together in the\r\nmiddle of the ring, they once more lift up the arch, and stand\r\nmotionless.\r\n\r\n“Ahloo! ahloo!” Every link of the circle is broken; and the girls,\r\ndeeply breathing, stand perfectly still. They pant hard and fast a\r\nmoment or two; and then, just as the deep flush is dying away from\r\ntheir faces, slowly recede, all round; thus enlarging the ring.\r\n\r\nAgain the two leaders wave their hands, when the rest pause; and now,\r\nfar apart, stand in the still moonlight like a circle of fairies.\r\nPresently, raising a strange chant, they softly sway themselves,\r\ngradually quickening the movement, until, at length, for a few\r\npassionate moments, with throbbing bosoms and glowing cheeks, they\r\nabandon themselves to all the spirit of the dance, apparently lost to\r\neverything around. But soon subsiding again into the same languid\r\nmeasure as before, they become motionless; and then, reeling forward on\r\nall sides, their eyes swimming in their heads, join in one wild chorus,\r\nand sink into each other’s arms.\r\n\r\nSuch is the Lory-Lory, I think they call it; the dance of the\r\nbacksliding girls of Tamai.\r\n\r\nWhile it was going on, we had as much as we could do to keep the doctor\r\nfrom rushing forward and seizing a partner.\r\n\r\nThey would give us no more “hevars” that night; and Rartoo fairly\r\ndragged us away to a canoe, hauled up on the lake shore; when we\r\nreluctantly embarked, and paddling over to the village, arrived there\r\nin time for a good nap before sunrise.\r\n\r\nThe next day, the doctor went about trying to hunt up the overnight\r\ndancers. He thought to detect them by their late rising; but never was\r\nman more mistaken; for, on first sallying out, the whole village was\r\nasleep, waking up in concert about an hour after. But, in the course of\r\nthe day, he came across several whom he at once charged with taking\r\npart in the “hevar.” There were some prim-looking fellows standing by\r\n(visiting elders from Afrehitoo, perhaps), and the girls looked\r\nembarrassed; but parried the charge most skilfully.\r\n\r\nThough soft as doves, in general, the ladies of Tamai are,\r\nnevertheless, flavoured with a slight tincture of what we queerly\r\nenough call the “devil”; and they showed it on the present occasion.\r\nFor when the doctor pressed one rather hard, she all at once turned\r\nround upon him, and, giving him a box on the ear, told him to “hanree\r\nperrar!” (be off with himself.)\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMW653738A199PG39GTQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKVEBNAZVGKB3HY9066YM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:17.867Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.028Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}