{"id":"01KG8AM7VH7J2GJGN1FD6A8DFC","cid":"bafkreic7zqq6cuinxmbcyh4a3dpsapjm4ywldi5hhs7zgfrkqel3cldhcy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":9490,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":9425,"text":"what imprecations I showered upon that Karky. Doubtless he had plotted a\r\nconspiracy against me and my countenance, and would never rest until his\r\ndiabolical purpose was accomplished. Several times I met him in various\r\nparts of the valley, and, invariably, whenever he descried me, he came\r\nrunning after me with his mallet and chisel, flourishing them about my\r\nface as if he longed to begin. What an object he would have made of me!\r\n\r\nWhen the king first expressed his wish to me, I made known to him my\r\nutter abhorrence of the measure, and worked myself into such a state of\r\nexcitement, that he absolutely stared at me in amazement. It evidently\r\nsurpassed his majesty’s comprehension how any sober-minded and\r\nsensible individual could entertain the least possible objection to so\r\nbeautifying an operation.\r\n\r\nSoon afterwards he repeated his suggestion, and meeting with a little\r\nrepulse, showed some symptoms of displeasure at my obduracy. On his a\r\nthird time renewing his request, I plainly perceived that something must\r\nbe done, or my visage was ruined for ever; I therefore screwed up my\r\ncourage to the sticking point, and declared my willingness to have both\r\narms tattooed from just above the wrist to the shoulder. His majesty was\r\ngreatly pleased at the proposition, and I was congratulating myself with\r\nhaving thus compromised the matter, when he intimated that as a thing of\r\ncourse my face was first to undergo the operation. I was fairly driven\r\nto despair; nothing but the utter ruin of my ‘face divine’, as the\r\npoets call it, would, I perceived, satisfy the inexorable Mehevi and his\r\nchiefs, or rather, that infernal Karky, for he was at the bottom of it\r\nall.\r\n\r\nThe only consolation afforded me was a choice of patterns: I was at\r\nperfect liberty to have my face spanned by three horizontal bars, after\r\nthe fashion of my serving-man’s; or to have as many oblique stripes\r\nslanting across it; or if, like a true courtier, I chose to model my\r\nstyle on that of royalty, I might wear a sort of freemason badge upon\r\nmy countenance in the shape of a mystic triangle. However, I would have\r\nnone of these, though the king most earnestly impressed upon my mind\r\nthat my choice was wholly unrestricted. At last, seeing my unconquerable\r\nrepugnance, he ceased to importune me.\r\n\r\nBut not so some other of the savages. Hardly a day passed but I was\r\nsubjected to their annoying requests, until at last my existence\r\nbecame a burden to me; the pleasures I had previously enjoyed no longer\r\nafforded me delight, and all my former desire to escape from the valley\r\nnow revived with additional force.\r\n\r\nA fact which I soon afterwards learned augmented my apprehension. The\r\nwhole system of tattooing was, I found, connected with their religion;\r\nand it was evident, therefore, that they were resolved to make a convert\r\nof me.\r\n\r\nIn the decoration of the chiefs it seems to be necessary to exercise the\r\nmost elaborate pencilling; while some of the inferior natives looked\r\nas if they had been daubed over indiscriminately with a house-painter’s\r\nbrush. I remember one fellow who prided himself hugely upon a great\r\noblong patch, placed high upon his back, and who always reminded me of\r\na man with a blister of Spanish flies, stuck between his shoulders.\r\nAnother whom I frequently met had the hollow of his eyes tattooed in two\r\nregular squares and his visual organs being remarkably brilliant, they\r\ngleamed forth from out this setting like a couple of diamonds inserted\r\nin ebony.\r\n\r\nAlthough convinced that tattooing was a religious observance, still the\r\nnature of the connection between it and the superstitious idolatry of\r\nthe people was a point upon which I could never obtain any information.\r\nLike the still more important system of the ‘Taboo’, it always appeared\r\ninexplicable to me.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJRVDMZY05FRQ5JENW1SE","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7A3WJK91BR3DFPGSBVP","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7VCAYDYEWN6VK53R2XC","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.577Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:42.811Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}