{"id":"01KG8AKXAN9K4G749MD9BB2BS0","cid":"bafkreif3bqom3ebw4yrdnox37owhwul464y5l4q3m5rfdsp5ub4oetmcjm","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10299,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":10234,"text":"CHAPTER LXXV.\r\nA RAMBLE THROUGH THE SETTLEMENT\r\n\r\n\r\nThe following morning, making our toilets carefully, we donned our\r\nsombreros, and sallied out on a tour. Without meaning to reveal our\r\ndesigns upon the court, our principal object was, to learn what chances\r\nthere were for white men to obtain employment under the queen. On this\r\nhead, it is true, we had questioned Po-Po; but his answers had been\r\nvery discouraging; so we determined to obtain further information\r\nelsewhere.\r\n\r\nBut, first, to give some little description of the village.\r\n\r\nThe settlement of Partoowye is nothing more than some eighty houses,\r\nscattered here and there, in the midst of an immense grove, where the\r\ntrees have been thinned out and the underbrush cleared away. Through\r\nthe grove flows a stream; and the principal avenue crosses it, over an\r\nelastic bridge of cocoa-nut trunks, laid together side by side. The\r\navenue is broad, and serpentine; well shaded from one end to the other,\r\nand as pretty a place for a morning promenade as any lounger could\r\nwish. The houses, constructed without the slightest regard to the road,\r\npeep into view from among the trees on either side: some looking you\r\nright in the face as you pass, and others, without any manners, turning\r\ntheir backs. Occasionally you observe a rural retreat, inclosed by a\r\npicket of bamboos, or with a solitary pane of glass massively framed in\r\nthe broadside of the dwelling, or with a rude, strange-looking door,\r\nswinging upon dislocated wooden hinges. Otherwise, the dwellings are\r\nbuilt in the original style of the natives; and never mind how mean and\r\nfilthy some of them may appear within, they all look picturesque enough\r\nwithout.\r\n\r\nAs we sauntered along the people we met saluted us pleasantly, and\r\ninvited us into their houses; and in this way we made a good many brief\r\nmorning calls. But the hour could not have been the fashionable one in\r\nPartoowye, since the ladies were invariably in dishabille. But they\r\nalways gave us a cordial reception, and were particularly polite to the\r\ndoctor; caressing him, and amorously hanging about his neck;\r\nwonderfully taken up, in short, with a gay handkerchief he wore there.\r\nArfretee had that morning bestowed it upon the pious youth.\r\n\r\nWith some exceptions, the general appearance of the natives of\r\nPartoowye was far better than that of the inhabitants of Papeetee: a\r\ncircumstance only to be imputed to their restricted intercourse with\r\nforeigners.\r\n\r\nStrolling on, we turned a sweep of the road, when the doctor gave a\r\nstart; and no wonder. Right before us, in the grove, was a block of\r\nhouses: regular square frames, boarded over, furnished with windows and\r\ndoorways, and two stories high. We ran up and found them fast going to\r\ndecay: very dingy, and here and there covered with moss; no sashes, no\r\ndoors; and on one side, the entire block had settled down nearly a\r\nfoot. On going into the basement we looked clean up through the\r\nunbearded timbers to the roof; where rays of light, glimmering through\r\nmany a chink, illuminated the cobwebs which swung all round.\r\n\r\nThe whole interior was dark and close. Burrowing among some old mats in\r\none corner, like a parcel of gipsies in a ruin, were a few vagabond\r\nnatives. They had their dwelling here.\r\n\r\nCurious to know who on earth could have been thus trying to improve the\r\nvalue of real estate in Partoowye, we made inquiries; and learned that\r\nsome years previous the block had been thrown up by a veritable Yankee\r\n(one might have known that), a house-carpenter by trade, and a bold,\r\nenterprising fellow by nature.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNHZR4WX524RGQ4NXZZD","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXATE2NCPV9MQHTEYAZV","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.797Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.503Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}