{"id":"01KG8AM6P7N377J1KZH51V4WWQ","cid":"bafkreic23irf77vkhb2lctzpwzjawsysvp247lguieuuag52xsqb5b4o54","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":3580,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 6","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":3515,"text":"compromised the matter with him at the word ‘Tommo’; and by that name\r\nI went during the entire period of my stay in the valley. The same\r\nproceeding was gone through with Toby, whose mellifluous appellation was\r\nmore easily caught.\r\n\r\nAn exchange of names is equivalent to a ratification of good will and\r\namity among these simple people; and as we were aware of this fact, we\r\nwere delighted that it had taken place on the present occasion.\r\n\r\nReclining upon our mats, we now held a kind of levee, giving audience\r\nto successive troops of the natives, who introduced themselves to us by\r\npronouncing their respective names, and retired in high good humour on\r\nreceiving ours in return. During this ceremony the greatest merriment\r\nprevailed nearly every announcement on the part of the islanders being\r\nfollowed by a fresh sally of gaiety, which induced me to believe that\r\nsome of them at least were innocently diverting the company at our\r\nexpense, by bestowing upon themselves a string of absurd titles, of the\r\nhumour of which we were of course entirely ignorant.\r\n\r\nAll this occupied about an hour, when the throng having a little\r\ndiminished, I turned to Mehevi and gave him to understand that we were\r\nin need of food and sleep. Immediately the attentive chief addressed a\r\nfew words to one of the crowd, who disappeared, and returned in a few\r\nmoments with a calabash of ‘poee-poee’, and two or three young cocoanuts\r\nstripped of their husks, and with their shells partly broken. We both\r\nof us forthwith placed one of these natural goblets to our lips, and\r\ndrained it in a moment of the refreshing draught it contained. The\r\npoee-poee was then placed before us, and even famished as I was, I\r\npaused to consider in what manner to convey it to my mouth.\r\n\r\nThis staple article of food among the Marquese islanders is manufactured\r\nfrom the produce of the bread-fruit tree. It somewhat resembles in\r\nits plastic nature our bookbinders’ paste, is of a yellow colour, and\r\nsomewhat tart to the taste.\r\n\r\nSuch was the dish, the merits of which I was now eager to discuss. I\r\neyed it wistfully for a moment, and then, unable any longer to stand on\r\nceremony, plunged my hand into the yielding mass, and to the boisterous\r\nmirth of the natives drew it forth laden with the poee-poee, which\r\nadhered in lengthy strings to every finger. So stubborn was its\r\nconsistency, that in conveying my heavily-weighted hand to my mouth, the\r\nconnecting links almost raised the calabash from the mats on which it\r\nhad been placed. This display of awkwardness--in which, by-the-bye, Toby\r\nkept me company--convulsed the bystanders with uncontrollable laughter.\r\n\r\nAs soon as their merriment had somewhat subsided, Mehevi, motioning us\r\nto be attentive, dipped the forefinger of his right hand in the dish,\r\nand giving it a rapid and scientific twirl, drew it out coated smoothly\r\nwith the preparation. With a second peculiar flourish he prevented the\r\npoee-poee from dropping to the ground as he raised it to his mouth, into\r\nwhich the finger was inserted and drawn forth perfectly free from any\r\nadhesive matter.\r\n\r\nThis performance was evidently intended for our instruction; so I\r\nagain essayed the feat on the principles inculcated, but with very ill\r\nsuccess.\r\n\r\nA starving man, however, little heeds conventional proprieties,\r\nespecially on a South-Sea Island, and accordingly Toby and I partook of\r\nthe dish after our own clumsy fashion, beplastering our faces all over\r\nwith the glutinous compound, and daubing our hands nearly to the\r\nwrist. This kind of food is by no means disagreeable to the palate of a\r\nEuropean, though at first the mode of eating it may be. For my own\r\npart, after the lapse of a few days I became accustomed to its singular\r\nflavour, and grew remarkably fond of it.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 6"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ78VYYNFBKPK3F8V40N","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6P79137H363D7ZZ8BXW","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM6P7E2QZ543NF3F913MM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.383Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:35.854Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}