{"id":"01KG8AKXZPE02SAZNW6WFQXMWG","cid":"bafkreicxxawzalojq2ry5tpy5ryixowt3u6alawgihui7t5ickuwd332ou","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11157,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":11086,"text":"CHAPTER LXXXI.\r\nWE VISIT THE COURT\r\n\r\n\r\nIt was about the middle of the second month of the Hegira, and\r\ntherefore some five weeks after our arrival in Partoowye, that we at\r\nlast obtained admittance to the residence of the queen.\r\n\r\nIt happened thus. There was a Marquesan in the train of Pomaree who\r\nofficiated as nurse to her children. According to the Tahitian custom,\r\nthe royal youngsters are carried about until it requires no small\r\ndegree of strength to stand up under them. But Marbonna was just the\r\nman for this—large and muscular, well made as a statue, and with an arm\r\nlike a degenerate Tahitian’s thigh.\r\n\r\nEmbarking at his native island as a sailor on board of a French whaler,\r\nhe afterward ran away from the ship at Tahiti; where, being seen and\r\nadmired by Pomaree, he had been prevailed upon to enlist in her\r\nservice.\r\n\r\nOften, when visiting the grounds, we saw him walking about in the\r\nshade, carrying two handsome boys, who encircled his neck with their\r\narms. Marbonna’s face, tattooed as it was in the ornate style of his\r\ntribe, was as good as a picture-book to these young Pomarees. They\r\ndelighted to trace with their fingers the outlines of the strange\r\nshapes there delineated.\r\n\r\nThe first time my eyes lighted upon the Marquesan, I knew his country\r\nin a moment; and hailing him in his own language, he turned round,\r\nsurprised that a person so speaking should be a stranger. He proved to\r\nbe a native of Tior, a glen of Nukuheva. I had visited the place more\r\nthan once; and so, on the island of Imeeo, we met like old friends.\r\n\r\nIn my frequent conversations with him over the bamboo picket, I found\r\nthis islander a philosopher of nature—a wild heathen, moralizing upon\r\nthe vices and follies of the Christian court of Tahiti—a savage,\r\nscorning the degeneracy of the people among whom fortune had thrown\r\nhim.\r\n\r\nI was amazed at the national feelings of the man. No European, when\r\nabroad, could speak of his country with more pride than Marbonna. He\r\nassured me, again and again, that so soon as he had obtained sufficient\r\nmoney to purchase twenty muskets, and as many bags of powder, he was\r\ngoing to return to a place with which Imeeo was not worthy to be\r\ncompared.\r\n\r\nIt was Marbonna who, after one or two unsuccessful attempts, at last\r\nbrought about our admission into the queen’s grounds. Through a\r\nconsiderable crowd he conducted us along the pier to where an old man\r\nwas sitting, to whom he introduced us as a couple of “karhowrees” of\r\nhis acquaintance, anxious to see the sights of the palace. The\r\nvenerable chamberlain stared at us, and shook his head: the doctor,\r\nthinking he wanted a fee, placed a plug of tobacco in his hand. This\r\nwas ingratiating, and we were permitted to pass on. Upon the point of\r\nentering one of the houses, Marbonna’s name was shouted in half-a-dozen\r\ndifferent directions, and he was obliged to withdraw.\r\n\r\nThus left at the very threshold to shift for ourselves, my companion’s\r\nassurance stood us in good stead. He stalked right in, and I followed.\r\nThe place was full of women, who, instead of exhibiting the surprise we\r\nexpected, accosted us as cordially as if we had called to take our\r\nSouchong with them by express invitation. In the first place, nothing\r\nwould do but we must each devour a calabash of “poee,” and several\r\nroasted bananas. Pipes were then lighted, and a brisk conversation\r\nensued.\r\n\r\nThese ladies of the court, if not very polished, were surprisingly free\r\nand easy in their manners; quite as much so as King Charles’s beauties.\r\nThere was one of them—an arch little miss, who could converse with us\r\npretty fluently—to whom we strove to make ourselves particularly\r\nagreeable, with the view of engaging her services as cicerone.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNK0ES5TMVQH29S8R6JF","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXZS9T95M78H4RKP1Q53","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:20.470Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:33.155Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}