{"id":"01KG8AM4K2BMDE7AV5DAA9VJFA","cid":"bafkreihwhbobnm55trohw3bswejblglspgmzydxthaghdtjpka2buamhgu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":7067,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":6998,"text":"are in every part of the valley a great many of these massive stone\r\nfoundations which have no houses upon them. This is vastly convenient,\r\nfor whenever an enterprising islander chooses to emigrate a few hundred\r\nyards from the place where he was born, all he has to do in order to\r\nestablish himself in some new locality, is to select one of the many\r\nunappropriated pi-pis, and without further ceremony pitch his bamboo\r\ntent upon it.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nCHAPTER TWENTY-TWO\r\n\r\nPREPARATIONS FOR A GRAND FESTIVAL IN THE VALLEY--STRANGE DOINGS IN\r\nTHE TABOO GROVES--MONUMENT OF CALABASHES--GALA COSTUME OF THE TYPEE\r\nDAMSELS--DEPARTURE FOR THE FESTIVAL\r\n\r\n\r\nFrom the time that my lameness had decreased I had made a daily practice\r\nof visiting Mehevi at the Ti, who invariably gave me a most cordial\r\nreception. I was always accompanied in these excursions by Fayaway\r\nand the ever-present Kory-Kory. The former, as soon as we reached the\r\nvicinity of the Ti--which was rigorously tabooed to the whole female\r\nsex--withdrew to a neighbouring hut, as if her feminine delicacy\r\n‘restricted’ her from approaching a habitation which might be regarded\r\nas a sort of Bachelor’s Hall.\r\n\r\nAnd in good truth it might well have been so considered. Although it\r\nwas the permanent residence of several distinguished chiefs, and of\r\nthe noble Mehevi in particular, it was still at certain seasons the\r\nfavourite haunt of all the jolly, talkative, and elderly savages of\r\nthe vale, who resorted thither in the same way that similar characters\r\nfrequent a tavern in civilized countries. There they would remain hour\r\nafter hour, chatting, smoking, eating poee-poee, or busily engaged in\r\nsleeping for the good of their constitutions.\r\n\r\nThis building appeared to be the head-quarters of the valley, where all\r\nflying rumours concentrated; and to have seen it filled with a crowd\r\nof the natives, all males, conversing in animated clusters, while\r\nmultitudes were continually coming and going, one would have thought it\r\na kind of savage Exchange, where the rise and fall of Polynesian Stock\r\nwas discussed.\r\n\r\nMehevi acted as supreme lord over the place, spending the greater\r\nportion of his time there: and often when, at particular hours of the\r\nday, it was deserted by nearly every one else except the verd-antique\r\nlooking centenarians, who were fixtures in the building, the chief\r\nhimself was sure to be found enjoying his ‘otium cum dignitate’--upon\r\nthe luxurious mats which covered the floor. Whenever I made my\r\nappearance he invariably rose, and like a gentleman doing the honours of\r\nhis mansion, invited me to repose myself wherever I pleased, and calling\r\nout ‘tamaree!’ (boy), a little fellow would appear, and then retiring\r\nfor an instant, return with some savoury mess, from which the chief\r\nwould press me to regale myself. To tell the truth, Mehevi was indebted\r\nto the excellence of his viands for the honour of my repeated visits--a\r\nmatter which cannot appear singular, when it is borne in mind that\r\nbachelors, all the world over, are famous for serving up unexceptionable\r\nrepasts.\r\n\r\nOne day, on drawing near to the Ti, I observed that extensive\r\npreparations were going forward, plainly betokening some approaching\r\nfestival. Some of the symptoms reminded me of the stir produced among\r\nthe scullions of a large hotel, where a grand jubilee dinner is about to\r\nbe given. The natives were hurrying about hither and thither, engaged in\r\nvarious duties, some lugging off to the stream enormous hollow\r\nbamboos, for the purpose of filling them with water; others chasing\r\nfurious-looking hogs through the bushes, in their endeavours to capture\r\nthem; and numbers employed in kneading great mountains of poee-poee\r\nheaped up in huge wooden vessels.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1KKRF4W20PAGWA82S1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM40M4C0D25962NQGDKR3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM4K2K5296GBG2CHS11YB","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.234Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:39.694Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}