- end_line
- 3279
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T20:48:09.927Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3224
- text
- the foremost of the Tapparians, one Nimni; who, conducting us to his
abode, with much deference introduced us to a portly old Begum, and
three slender damsels; his wife and daughters.
Soon, refreshments appeared:—green and yellow compounds, and divers
enigmatical dainties; besides vegetable liqueurs of a strange and
alarming flavor served in fragile little leaves, folded into cups, and
very troublesome to handle.
Excessively thirsty, Babbalanja made bold to inquire for water; which
called forth a burst of horror from the old Begum, and minor shrieks
from her daughters; who declared, that the beverage to which remote
reference had been made, was far too widely diffused in Mardi, to be at
all esteemed in Pimminee.
“But though we seldom imbibe it,” said the old Begum, ceremoniously
adjusting her necklace of cowrie-shells, “we occasionally employ it for
medicinal purposes.”
“Ah, indeed?” said Babbalanja.
“But oh! believe me; even then, we imbibe not the ordinary fluid of the
springs and streams; but that which in afternoon showers softly drains
from our palm-trees into the little hollow or miniature reservoir
beneath its compacted roots.”
A goblet of this beverage was now handed Babbalanja; but having a
curious, gummy flavor, it proved any thing but palatable.
Presently, in came a company of young men, relatives of Nimni. They
were slender as sky-sail-poles; standing in a row, resembled a
picket-fence; and were surmounted by enormous heads of hair, combed out
all round, variously dyed, and evened by being singed with a lighted
wisp of straw. Like milliners’ parcels, they were very neatly done up;
wearing redolent robes.
“How like the woodlands they smell,” whispered Yoomy. “Ay, marvelously
like sap,” said Mohi.
One part of their garniture consisted of numerous tasseled cords, like
those of an aigulette, depending from the neck, and attached here and
there about the person. A separate one, at a distance, united their
ankles. These served to measure and graduate their movements; keeping
their gestures, paces, and attitudes, within the prescribed standard of
Tapparian gentility. When they went abroad, they were preceded by
certain footmen; who placed before them small, carved boards, whereon
their masters stepped; thus avoiding contact with the earth. The simple
device of a shoe, as a fixture for the foot, was unknown in Pimminee.
Being told, that Taji was lately from the sun, they manifested not the
slightest surprise; one of them incidentally observing, however, that
the eclipses there, must be a sad bore to endure.
- title
- Chunk 2