{"id":"01KG8AKXAJGXH862F7MXPG0BFY","cid":"bafkreigqo3jptrarvxmk5iysruwbkfcwyg5md4qtbzswri2lzfybhwh2ta","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10799,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":10731,"text":"CHAPTER LXXIX.\r\nTALOO CHAPEL—HOLDING COURT IN POLYNESIA\r\n\r\n\r\nIn Partoowye is to be seen one of the best-constructed and handsomest\r\nchapels in the South Seas. Like the buildings of the palace, it stands\r\nupon an artificial pier, presenting a semicircular sweep to the bay.\r\nThe chapel is built of hewn blocks of coral; a substance which,\r\nalthough extremely friable, is said to harden by exposure to the\r\natmosphere. To a stranger, these blocks look extremely curious. Their\r\nsurface is covered with strange fossil-like impressions, the seal of\r\nwhich must have been set before the flood. Very nearly white when hewn\r\nfrom the reefs, the coral darkens with age; so that several churches in\r\nPolynesia now look almost as sooty and venerable as famed St. Paul’s.\r\n\r\nIn shape, the chapel is an octagon, with galleries all round. It will\r\nseat, perhaps, four hundred people. Everything within is stained a\r\ntawny red; and there being but few windows, or rather embrasures, the\r\ndusky benches and galleries, and the tall spectre of a pulpit look\r\nanything but cheerful.\r\n\r\nOn Sundays we always went to worship here. Going in the family suite of\r\nPo-Po, we, of course, maintained a most decorous exterior; and hence,\r\nby all the elderly people of the village, were doubtless regarded as\r\npattern young men.\r\n\r\nPo-Po’s seat was in a snug corner; and it being particularly snug, in\r\nthe immediate vicinity of one of the Palm pillars supporting the\r\ngallery, I invariably leaned against it: Po-Po and his lady on one\r\nside, the doctor and the dandy on the other, and the children and poor\r\nrelations seated behind.\r\n\r\nAs for Loo, instead of sitting (as she ought to have done) by her good\r\nfather and mother, she must needs run up into the gallery, and sit with\r\na parcel of giddy creatures of her own age; who, all through the\r\nsermon, did nothing but look down on the congregation; pointing out,\r\nand giggling at the queer-looking old ladies in dowdy bonnets and scant\r\ntunics. But Loo, herself, was never guilty of these improprieties.\r\n\r\nOccasionally during the week they have afternoon service in the chapel,\r\nwhen the natives themselves have something to say; although their\r\nauditors are but few. An introductory prayer being offered by the\r\nmissionary, and a hymn sung, communicants rise in their places, and\r\nexhort in pure Tahitian, and with wonderful tone and gesture. And among\r\nthem all, Deacon Po-Po, though he talked most, was the one whom you\r\nwould have liked best to hear. Much would I have given to have\r\nunderstood some of his impassioned bursts; when he tossed his arms\r\noverhead, stamped, scowled, and glared, till he looked like the very\r\nAngel of Vengeance.\r\n\r\n“Deluded man!” sighed the doctor, on one of these occasions, “I fear he\r\ntakes the fanatical view of the subject.” One thing was certain: when\r\nPo-Po spoke, all listened; a great deal more than could be said for the\r\nrest; for under the discipline of two or three I could mention, some of\r\nthe audience napped; others fidgeted; a few yawned; and one irritable\r\nold gentleman, in a nightcap of cocoa-nut leaves, used to clutch his\r\nlong staff in a state of excessive nervousness, and stride out of the\r\nchurch, making all the noise he could, to emphasize his disgust.\r\n\r\nRight adjoining the chapel is an immense, rickety building, with\r\nwindows and shutters, and a half-decayed board flooring laid upon\r\ntrunks of palm-trees. They called it a school-house; but as such we\r\nnever saw it occupied. It was often used as a court-room, however; and\r\nhere we attended several trials; among others, that of a decayed naval\r\nofficer, and a young girl of fourteen; the latter charged with having\r\nbeen very naughty on a particular occasion set forth in the pleadings;\r\nand the former with having aided and abetted her in her naughtiness,\r\nand with other misdemeanours.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNJB4TTVM38AAA62BEH5","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXAJ2PTPF85JESZF069C","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.794Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.763Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}