{"id":"01KG8AM7Y9PTAF6GB91D95EBC4","cid":"bafkreigwhyvpnva7ehp6vcdshffkhdevl2eyvjojmnkw2dormnxyesr6aa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4419,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 4","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":4353,"text":"was completely open, and from one end to the other ran a narrow\r\nverandah, fenced in on the edge of the pi-pi with a picket of canes.\r\nIts interior presented the appearance of an immense lounging place, the\r\nentire floor being strewn with successive layers of mats, lying between\r\nparallel trunks of cocoanut trees, selected for the purpose from the\r\nstraightest and most symmetrical the vale afforded.\r\n\r\nTo this building, denominated in the language of the natives the ‘Ti’,\r\nMehevi now conducted us. Thus far we had been accompanied by a troop of\r\nthe natives of both sexes; but as soon as we approached its vicinity,\r\nthe females gradually separated themselves from the crowd, and standing\r\naloof, permitted us to pass on. The merciless prohibitions of the\r\ntaboo extended likewise to this edifice, and were enforced by the\r\nsame dreadful penalty that secured the Hoolah-Hoolah ground from the\r\nimaginary pollution of a woman’s presence.\r\n\r\nOn entering the house, I was surprised to see six muskets ranged against\r\nthe bamboo on one side, from the barrels of which depended as many small\r\ncanvas pouches, partly filled with powder.\r\n\r\nDisposed about these muskets, like the cutlasses that decorate the\r\nbulkhead of a man-of-war’s cabin, were a great variety of rude spears\r\nand paddles, javelins, and war-clubs. This then, said I to Toby, must be\r\nthe armoury of the tribe.\r\n\r\nAs we advanced further along the building, we were struck with the\r\naspect of four or five hideous old wretches, on whose decrepit forms\r\ntime and tattooing seemed to have obliterated every trace of humanity.\r\nOwing to the continued operation of this latter process, which only\r\nterminates among the warriors of the island after all the figures\r\nstretched upon their limbs in youth have been blended together--an\r\neffect, however, produced only in cases of extreme longevity--the bodies\r\nof these men were of a uniform dull green colour--the hue which the\r\ntattooing gradually assumes as the individual advances in age. Their\r\nskin had a frightful scaly appearance, which, united with its singular\r\ncolour, made their limbs not a little resemble dusty specimens of\r\nverde-antique. Their flesh, in parts, hung upon them in huge folds, like\r\nthe overlapping plaits on the flank of a rhinoceros. Their heads were\r\ncompletely bald, whilst their faces were puckered into a thousand\r\nwrinkles, and they presented no vestige of a beard. But the most\r\nremarkable peculiarity about them was the appearance of their feet;\r\nthe toes, like the radiating lines of the mariner’s compass, pointed\r\nto every quarter of the horizon. This was doubtless attributable to\r\nthe fact, that during nearly a hundred years of existence the said toes\r\nnever had been subjected to any artificial confinement, and in their\r\nold age, being averse to close neighbourhood, bid one another keep open\r\norder.\r\n\r\nThese repulsive-looking creatures appeared to have lost the use of their\r\nlower limbs altogether; sitting upon the floor cross-legged in a state\r\nof torpor. They never heeded us in the least, scarcely looking conscious\r\nof our presence, while Mehevi seated us upon the mats, and Kory-Kory\r\ngave utterance to some unintelligible gibberish.\r\n\r\nIn a few moments a boy entered with a wooden trencher of poee-poee; and\r\nin regaling myself with its contents I was obliged again to submit to\r\nthe officious intervention of my indefatigable servitor. Various other\r\ndishes followed, the chief manifesting the most hospitable importunity\r\nin pressing us to partake, and to remove all bashfulness on our part,\r\nset us no despicable example in his own person.\r\n\r\nThe repast concluded, a pipe was lighted, which passed from mouth to\r\nmouth, and yielding to its soporific influence, the quiet of the place,\r\nand the deepening shadows of approaching night, my companion and I sank\r\ninto a kind of drowsy repose, while the chief and Kory-Kory seemed to be\r\nslumbering beside us.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 4"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJQ78EX3KNDMBF2ER8JQ1","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7Y9ACVETNGK4CYVGHCH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM7Y9ZKAK9RZQCSWMV47D","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:30.665Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:36.661Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}