{"id":"01KG8AKW3H6YKZ5QWXWY6XYQAS","cid":"bafkreicv4lujr34ltx3kfvu46cu7xicyheglrhun4l63jtco5lmjvx3p5q","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9350,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":9282,"text":"CHAPTER LXVIII.\r\nA DINNER-PARTY IN IMEEO\r\n\r\n\r\nIt was just in the middle of the merry, mellow afternoon that they\r\nushered us to dinner, underneath a green shelter of palm boughs; open\r\nall round, and so low at the eaves that we stooped to enter.\r\n\r\nWithin, the ground was strewn over with aromatic ferns—called\r\n“nahee”—freshly gathered; which, stirred underfoot, diffused the\r\nsweetest odour. On one side was a row of yellow mats, inwrought with\r\nfibres of bark stained a bright red. Here, seated after the fashion of\r\nthe Turk, we looked out, over a verdant bank, upon the mild, blue,\r\nendless Pacific. So far round had we skirted the island that the view\r\nof Tahiti was now intercepted.\r\n\r\nUpon the ferns before us were laid several layers of broad, thick\r\n“pooroo” leaves; lapping over, one upon the other. And upon these were\r\nplaced, side by side, newly-plucked banana leaves, at least two yards\r\nin length, and very wide; the stalks were withdrawn so as to make them\r\nlie flat. This green cloth was set out and garnished in the manner\r\nfollowing:—\r\n\r\nFirst, a number of “pooroo” leaves, by way of plates, were ranged along\r\non one side; and by each was a rustic nut-bowl, half-filled with\r\nsea-water, and a Tahitian roll, or small bread-fruit, roasted brown. An\r\nimmense flat calabash, placed in the centre, was heaped up with\r\nnumberless small packages of moist, steaming leaves: in each was a\r\nsmall fish, baked in the earth, and done to a turn. This pyramid of a\r\ndish was flanked on either side by an ornamental calabash. One was\r\nbrimming with the golden-hued “poee,” or pudding, made from the red\r\nplantain of the mountains: the other was stacked up with cakes of the\r\nIndian turnip, previously macerated in a mortar, kneaded with the milk\r\nof the cocoa-nut, and then baked. In the spaces between the three\r\ndishes were piled young cocoa-nuts, stripped of their husks. Their eyes\r\nhad been opened and enlarged; so that each was a ready-charged goblet.\r\n\r\nThere was a sort of side-cloth in one corner, upon which, in bright,\r\nbuff jackets, lay the fattest of bananas; “avees,” red-ripe: guavas\r\nwith the shadows of their crimson pulp flushing through a transparent\r\nskin, and almost coming and going there like blushes; oranges, tinged,\r\nhere and there, berry-brown; and great, jolly melons, which rolled\r\nabout in very portliness. Such a heap! All ruddy, ripe, and\r\nround—bursting with the good cheer of the tropical soil from which they\r\nsprang!\r\n\r\n“A land of orchards!” cried the doctor, in a rapture; and he snatched a\r\nmorsel from a sort of fruit of which gentlemen of the sanguine\r\ntemperament are remarkably fond; namely, the ripe cherry lips of Misa\r\nDay-Born, who stood looking on.\r\n\r\nMarharvai allotted seats to his guests; and the meal began. Thinking\r\nthat his hospitality needed some acknowledgment, I rose, and pledged\r\nhim in the vegetable wine of the cocoa-nut; merely repeating the\r\nordinary salutation, “Yar onor boyoee.” Sensible that some compliment,\r\nafter the fashion of white men, was paid him, with a smile, and a\r\ncourteous flourish of the hand, he bade me be seated. No people,\r\nhowever refined, are more easy and graceful in their manners than the\r\nImeeose.\r\n\r\nThe doctor, sitting next our host, now came under his special\r\nprotection. Laying before his guest one of the packages of fish,\r\nMarharvai opened it; and commended its contents to his particular\r\nregards. But my comrade was one of those who, on convivial occasions,\r\ncan always take care of themselves. He ate an indefinite number of\r\n“Pee-hee Lee Lees” (small fish), his own and next neighbour’s\r\nbread-fruit; and helped himself, to right and left, with all the ease\r\nof an accomplished diner-out.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJMWJ4YQ4MFXKN10F0MX9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKW3HZZCHBHXZGWKZVVMA","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.545Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:31.699Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}