{"id":"01KG8AM4K24SC1RC49PH7QW8H5","cid":"bafkreifxh7ybioecs36n567gvyencfncw45abl3qxrantnse3n6wy6c57y","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7458,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":7398,"text":"that I could comprehend from what he said was, that the leaping figures\r\nbefore me were bereaved widows, whose partners had been slain in battle\r\nmany moons previously; and who, at every festival, gave public evidence\r\nin this manner of their calamities. It was evident that Kory-Kory\r\nconsidered this an all-sufficient reason for so indecorous a custom; but\r\nI must say that it did not satisfy me as to its propriety.\r\n\r\nLeaving these afflicted females, we passed on to the Hoolah Hoolah\r\nground. Within the spacious quadrangle, the whole population of the\r\nvalley seemed to be assembled, and the sight presented was truly\r\nremarkable. Beneath the sheds of bamboo which opened towards the\r\ninterior of the square reclined the principal chiefs and warriors, while\r\na miscellaneous throng lay at their ease under the enormous trees which\r\nspread a majestic canopy overhead. Upon the terraces of the gigantic\r\naltars, at each end, were deposited green bread-fruit in baskets of\r\ncocoanut leaves, large rolls of tappa, bunches of ripe bananas, clusters\r\nof mammee-apples, the golden-hued fruit of the artu-tree, and baked\r\nhogs, laid out in large wooden trenchers, fancifully decorated with\r\nfreshly plucked leaves, whilst a variety of rude implements of war were\r\npiled in confused heaps before the ranks of hideous idols. Fruits of\r\nvarious kinds were likewise suspended in leafen baskets, from the tops\r\nof poles planted uprightly, and at regular intervals, along the lower\r\nterraces of both altars. At their base were arranged two parallel rows\r\nof cumbersome drums, standing at least fifteen feet in height, and\r\nformed from the hollow trunks of large trees. Their heads were covered\r\nwith shark skins, and their barrels were elaborately carved with various\r\nquaint figures and devices. At regular intervals they were bound round\r\nby a species of sinnate of various colours, and strips of native cloth\r\nflattened upon them here and there. Behind these instruments were built\r\nslight platforms, upon which stood a number of young men who, beating\r\nviolently with the palms of their hands upon the drum-heads, produced\r\nthose outrageous sounds which had awakened me in the morning. Every few\r\nminutes these musical performers hopped down from their elevation into\r\nthe crowd below, and their places were immediately supplied by fresh\r\nrecruits. Thus an incessant din was kept up that might have startled\r\nPandemonium.\r\n\r\nPrecisely in the middle of the quadrangle were placed perpendicularly\r\nin the ground, a hundred or more slender, fresh-cut poles, stripped of\r\ntheir bark, and decorated at the end with a floating pennon of white\r\ntappa; the whole being fenced about with a little picket of canes. For\r\nwhat purpose these angular ornaments were intended I in vain endeavoured\r\nto discover.\r\n\r\nAnother most striking feature of the performance was exhibited by a\r\nscore of old men, who sat cross-legged in the little pulpits, which\r\nencircled the trunks of the immense trees growing in the middle of the\r\nenclosure. These venerable gentlemen, who I presume were the priests,\r\nkept up an uninterrupted monotonous chant, which was partly drowned in\r\nthe roar of drums. In the right hand they held a finely woven grass fan,\r\nwith a heavy black wooden handle curiously chased: these fans they kept\r\nin continual motion.\r\n\r\nBut no attention whatever seemed to be paid to the drummers or to the\r\nold priests; the individuals who composed the vast crowd present being\r\nentirely taken up in chanting and laughing with one another, smoking,\r\ndrinking ‘arva’, and eating. For all the observation it attracted,\r\nor the good it achieved, the whole savage orchestra might with great\r\nadvantage to its own members and the company in general, have ceased the\r\nprodigious uproar they were making.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1PBJ817EEJ8BWRW4R0","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4K2GDVB8MQHD4RD8GWX","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4KDSR0V1195X9SC3878","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.234Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:40.282Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}