{"id":"01KG8AM4K2505XPF1NEAZNM7Y3","cid":"bafkreia3ayb2r6e2eklz6wecmbytsenelhqw6zl4az7mstncxtshbbjpcy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7296,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":7235,"text":"CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE\r\n\r\nTHE FEAST OF CALABASHES\r\n\r\n\r\nThe whole population of the valley seemed to be gathered within the\r\nprecincts of the grove. In the distance could be seen the long front of\r\nthe Ti, its immense piazza swarming with men, arrayed in every variety\r\nof fantastic costume, and all vociferating with animated gestures; while\r\nthe whole interval between it and the place where I stood was enlivened\r\nby groups of females fancifully decorated, dancing, capering, and\r\nuttering wild exclamations. As soon as they descried me they set up a\r\nshout of welcome; and a band of them came dancing towards me, chanting\r\nas they approached some wild recitative. The change in my garb seemed to\r\ntransport them with delight, and clustering about me on all sides, they\r\naccompanied me towards the Ti. When however we drew near it these joyous\r\nnymphs paused in their career, and parting on either side, permitted me\r\nto pass on to the now densely thronged building.\r\n\r\nSo soon as I mounted to the pi-pi I saw at a glance that the revels were\r\nfairly under way.\r\n\r\nWhat lavish plenty reigned around?--Warwick feasting his retainers with\r\nbeef and ale, was a niggard to the noble Mehevi!--All along the piazza\r\nof the Ti were arranged elaborately carved canoe-shaped vessels, some\r\ntwenty feet in length, tied with newly made poee-poee, and sheltered\r\nfrom the sun by the broad leaves of the banana. At intervals were heaps\r\nof green bread-fruit, raised in pyramidical stacks, resembling the\r\nregular piles of heavy shot to be seen in the yard of an arsenal.\r\nInserted into the interstices of the huge stones which formed the pi-pi\r\nwere large boughs of trees; hanging from the branches of which, and\r\nscreened from the sun by their foliage, were innumerable little packages\r\nwith leafy coverings, containing the meat of the numerous hogs which\r\nhad been slain, done up in this manner to make it more accessible to the\r\ncrowd. Leaning against the railing on the piazza were an immense\r\nnumber of long, heavy bamboos, plugged at the lower end, and with their\r\nprojecting muzzles stuffed with a wad of leaves. These were filled with\r\nwater from the stream, and each of them might hold from four to five\r\ngallons.\r\n\r\nThe banquet being thus spread, naught remained but for everyone to\r\nhelp himself at his pleasure. Accordingly not a moment passed but the\r\ntransplanted boughs I have mentioned were rifled by the throng of the\r\nfruit they certainly had never borne before. Calabashes of poee-poee\r\nwere continually being replenished from the extensive receptacle in\r\nwhich that article was stored, and multitudes of little fires were\r\nkindled about the Ti for the purpose of roasting the bread-fruit.\r\n\r\nWithin the building itself was presented a most extraordinary scene. The\r\nimmense lounge of mats lying between the parallel rows of the trunks of\r\ncocoanut trees, and extending the entire length of the house, at least\r\ntwo hundred feet, was covered by the reclining forms of a host of chiefs\r\nand warriors who were eating at a great rate, or soothing the cares of\r\nPolynesian life in the sedative fumes of tobacco. The smoke was inhaled\r\nfrom large pipes, the bowls of which, made out of small cocoanut shells,\r\nwere curiously carved in strange heathenish devices. These were passed\r\nfrom mouth to mouth by the recumbent smokers, each of whom, taking two\r\nor three prodigious whiffs, handed the pipe to his neighbour; sometimes\r\nfor that purpose stretching indolently across the body of some dozing\r\nindividual whose exertions at the dinner-table had already induced\r\nsleep.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1PBJ817EEJ8BWRW4R0","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4KDXPEPWQBXZ3R6SZRQ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.234Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.836Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}