The Lyra sent to survey the Island of Loo-choo—Discovery of Port
Melville—Description of that Harbour, and the Villages on its
Banks—Lyra nearly wrecked—Interview with Natives at the South
Point—Return to Napakiang—Behaviour of the Natives at a Seaman's
Funeral—MÁdera's Character and Conduct—Sociable Habits of the
Natives—Dinner given to the Chiefs of the Island by Captain
Maxwell—MÁdera's Behaviour on this Occasion—Two Women seen—A Lady
of Rank visits the Boatswain's Wife—Captain Maxwell fractures his
Finger—Loo-choo Surgeon—Concern of the Natives—Visit of the
Prince—Discussion about the King of Loo-choo's Letter—MÁdera
appears in a new Character—Feast given by the Prince—List of
Supplies given to the Ships—Behaviour of the Prince on taking
Leave—Preparations for Departure—MÁdera's Distress—Last Interview
with the Chiefs—Brief Memorandums upon the Religion, Manners, and
Customs of Loo-choo—Advice to a Stranger visiting this Island.

As soon as the survey of Napakiang anchorage was completed, and a perfectly good understanding established with the natives, it was determined to make a survey of the whole island, and the Lyra was ordered upon this service. She were absent about a week, during which period the general chart of the island was constructed. It will be obvious to every one acquainted with the subject, that, in so short a time, a very exact survey of the coast of an island nearly sixty miles long could not have been made: yet, as the weather was in general fine, and other circumstances favourable, the chart will be found sufficiently correct for most practical purposes. As the chart and the nautical and hydrographical details are given in the Appendix, I propose at present to relate only such particulars of the cruise as seem likely to interest the general reader.

9th of October.—At daybreak we got under weigh and stood to sea through a passage discovered by the boats; it was so extremely narrow, that the least deviation from the course brought us close to the rocks. We were regulated in steering by two marks on the land, which lie in the same straight line with the centre of the passage; these it is necessary to keep always together: but not conceiving that such nicety was required while sailing out, the marks were allowed to separate, by which we found ourselves in a minute or two within a few yards of a coral reef, the ragged tops of which were distinctly seen two or three feet below the surface, whilst, at the same time, the leadsman on the opposite side sounded in nine fathoms. This early proof of the danger of navigating amongst coral, by teaching us the necessity of extreme caution, was of great importance to us in our future operations.

As the coast lying between Napakiang and the Sugar Loaf had already been examined, we proceeded at once round that island, which, from its having the same aspect on every bearing, and being quite different in shape from any land in this quarter, is an excellent land-mark for navigators. The natives call it Eegooshcoond, or castle[11]. The English name was given, I believe, by Captain Broughton.

Having rounded this peak and stood in for the north-west side of the Great Loo-choo, where there is a deep bight, a small island was observed close in shore, behind which it was thought there might be shelter for ships; the coast, however, being unknown to us, it was not thought safe to carry the brig very close in, and a boat was therefore dispatched with an officer to reconnoitre: he returned at eight o'clock to say that there was a harbour in the main land, the entrance to which lay on the inside of the small island mentioned before; but that the passages were narrow and winding, and that a more careful examination was necessary before the brig could venture in.

11th of October.—In the morning we again stood in, using the precaution of sending a boat a-head to sound the way; when we had nearly reached the entrance we anchored, and proceeded in three boats to examine the harbour discovered last night. As it was near noon when we passed the small island, we landed and observed the meridian altitude of the sun; after which we entered the harbour in the main island, by an intricate passage of about a quarter of a mile in length, and at one place not two hundred yards wide. Here we found ourselves in a circular bason upwards of half a mile across, with deep water, and completely sheltered from all winds. On its western shore we saw a large and beautiful village almost hid amongst trees, with a high wooded range behind it stretching to the south. The eastern shore was low and laid out in salt fields, with a few huts here and there. At first sight this bason did not appear to have any outlet except by the one we had examined; but on rowing to its upper or southern side, we found that it joined by a narrow channel with another harbour still larger, and if possible more beautiful than the first, for here the land was high on both sides, and richly wooded from top to bottom. Proceeding onwards through this bason, which had all the appearance of an inland lake, we came to another outlet, not above a hundred yards wide, formed by cliffs rising abruptly out of the water to the height of a hundred feet. Both sides being covered with trees, which almost met overhead, the space below was rendered cool and pleasant, and the water, thus sheltered from every wind, was as smooth as glass. We rowed along for some time by various windings through this fairy scene in total uncertainty of what was to come next, and at last, after advancing about three miles, it opened into an extensive lake several miles in length, studded with numerous small islands.

The depth of water in the lake varied from four to six fathoms; but in the narrow neck which connects it with the sea the depth is from ten to twenty fathoms, being deepest at the narrowest parts. Ships might ride in any part of this extraordinary harbour, in perfect safety during the most violent tempests: and the shores are so varied, that every purpose of re-equipment might be served. At some places natural wharfs are formed by the rocks, and eight and ten fathoms water close to them. Ships might lie alongside these places, or might heave down by them: there are also shallow spots on which ships might be careened. Many of the cliffs are hollowed into caves, which would answer for storehouses; and in the numerous lawns on both sides encampments might be formed of any number of people.

We rowed directly across, and landed at the southern side at the foot of a wooded range of hills, which forms the southern boundary of the lake. As no road was observed, it was resolved to go directly up the hill, and, in about an hour, after a good deal of scrambling amongst the bushes and long grass, we gained the top, where we found a neat pathway with a ditch on each side, and a hedge growing on the top of the mound, formed of the earth from the ditch; it resembled not a little an English lane. Without knowing where this might take us to, we followed it, in the hope of meeting some of the people, but in this we were disappointed. Yet this place must, at times, be frequented, as we observed a number of similar paths leading to the right and left.

The trees on this range of hills are low, and of no great beauty; the fir is the most common, but we did not know the names of the rest. After walking about a mile, our path took an abrupt turn down the brow of the hill, and appeared to lead to a large village at some distance. The view from this elevation was very satisfactory, as it enabled us to check our rough eye draught of the harbour and coast. The road down the hill was so steep that it was just possible to stand upon it, being inclined, as was conjectured on the spot, at an angle of 45º. At the foot of the hill there was a little cottage, consisting of two parts, made of wattled rattans, connected by a light open bamboo roof, so covered with a large leaved creeper as to afford a complete shelter from the sun. The cottage, which was thatched, was enveloped in creepers, encircled by the usual rattan fence at two or three yards distance. One of the wings was occupied by goats; the other, which was dark, seemed to belong to the people, who had deserted it on our approach. There being only a small hole in the wall to admit light and air, and to allow the smoke to escape, every thing inside was black and dirty. Two spears hung on one side, which, upon enquiry afterwards, we were told were for striking fish.

On coming to our boats, we found them surrounded by a party of the natives, smaller in stature than our friends at Napakiang, and shewing less curiosity: probably their surprise at our sudden appearance had not subsided sufficiently to allow of their indulging curiosity in detail. A large party of them watched attentively while a musket was loaded, and when pointed over their heads in the air, they seemed aware that something was going to happen, but from their not shrinking or removing out of the way, it seemed they knew not what. When it was fired, the whole party fell as if they had been shot, but rose instantly again, and looking to the right and left of each other, indulged in a timorous laugh. A cartridge was given to one man, with which he was nearly blowing himself up by placing it on his lighted pipe. The officer of the boat informed us that a gentleman had come to him and offered his horse to ride; he had dismounted for that purpose, but the horse was frightened, and would not suffer the officer to get upon him. We saw this person riding along when we were at the top of the hill; he called out to us repeatedly, probably to offer his horse, but we thought he wished to dissuade us from walking over the hill, and accordingly took no notice of him.

In the meantime Mr. Clifford, who had been unwell, and felt unequal to the labour of climbing the hill, proceeded in one of the boats towards a large village on the eastern side of the lake. He was met by a number of the inhabitants, whose dress and appearance were inferior to what we had been accustomed to see at Napakiang; on his asking them in Loo-choo for some water, they gave it cheerfully; but they shewed little curiosity, and the party which followed wherever he went, seemed to have no other object than to prevent disturbance. They made no objection to his going into the village, where he saw in one inclosure a complete farm-yard. The principal house was closed, but to the offices there was free access. In the stable were two handsome bay ponies; there was also a well stocked pig-sty, and a poultry-house. In another quarter stood a mill for husking corn, consisting of a grooved solid cylinder of wood, fitting neatly into a hollow cylinder, the sides of which were also grooved; near this lay a hand flour-mill and several baskets of cotton. In another part of the court was a granary erected on posts about six feet above the ground, having billets of fire-wood piled below it. At another place, under a tree in the village, he saw a blacksmith's anvil fixed in a block; the forge was of masonry, having an air hole, but the bellows was wanting.

In the centre of the village stood a building like a temple, surrounded by a stone wall. It was filled with elegant vases of different shapes and sizes, closed up and ranged in rows on the floor; the verandah encircling the building was also covered with vases. According to the account of the natives, the remains of the dead are deposited in these jars. Round the building bamboo poles were placed so as to lean against the thatched roof, having notches cut in them, to which bundles of flowers were hung, some fresh, others decayed, apparently funereal offerings; but their exact import Mr. Clifford was not able to learn. The elegant shape of the vases, and the tasteful way in which they were arranged, with the flowers hanging all round, gave to this cemetery an air of cheerfulness, which we are in the habit of thinking unsuitable to a depository of the dead.

This village, which is at the head of a bay, is sheltered from the north wind by a row of trees between it and the beach; behind it is sheltered by a range of hills. A broad road runs between it and the water; trees are planted among the houses, so as nearly to conceal them. In the middle of the village near the cemetery, in an open square, there is a cluster of granaries like the one described above; the walls are made of wattled rattan, and overhang the lower part.

Mr. Clifford tried in vain to see the Chief of the village; but either there was no such person, or he was out of the way: the inhabitants pointed out a man on horseback as a Chief, who passed on to another village; this was probably the same man who offered his horse to Mr. Hall, the officer of the boat. Mr. Clifford went to the top of the range behind the village, and afterwards into the valley on the other side, which he found highly cultivated.

From the heights we saw that the large space which was at first considered a lake, communicates with the sea to the north-eastward, as well as by the narrow passage through which we had come, but there was not time to allow of its being fully examined. As we returned by the narrow straits, we called at some of the small villages on the eastern side. At one of these, the people of the village, headed by a man who appeared to be superior to the rest, came towards the boat, and stopped for some minutes at the distance of fifty yards; after which, appearing to have gained confidence, they came on, with the old man in front, carrying a green bough in his hand. He would not come close, however, till invited by Mr. Clifford in Loo-choo to look at the boat; he then advanced and presented his bough, in return for which we broke a branch from a tree, and gave it to him with the same formality he had used towards us. Soon after this exchange was made, they left us, and went to examine the boat, to fishermen always an object of great interest.

On our entering the village we were met by a man who appeared to be the principal person of the place; he was very polite, shewed us through the village, and took us over his garden, where he had some sugar-cane growing; this we admired very much, upon which he ordered one of the finest of the canes to be taken up by the roots and presented to us; we immediately gave him a few buttons off our jackets, with which he was quite pleased. On its beginning to rain while we were in the garden, he invited us into his house, which, from the walls being of wattled cane, looked like a large basket. Rude pictures and carved wood-work figures were hanging on the walls, together with some inscriptions in Chinese characters.

On returning to the lower harbour of all, we went to the large village before spoken of, which is by far the most finished of any that we have seen on this island. The streets are regular and clean swept; each house has a neat cane wall, as well as a screen before the door; plantain and other trees are growing so thickly in the inside of the fence, that they completely shade the house. Near the beach were several large houses, in which a number of people were seated writing: on going up to them they gave us tea and cakes, and afterwards allowed us to go over the village without restraint; they were curious to know whether the brig was coming into the harbour or not, and if so, how many days we meant to stay; they expressed neither pleasure nor regret when we said that we were not coming in. In front of the village, and parallel with the beach, there is a splendid avenue thirty feet wide, formed by two rows of large trees, whose branches join overhead, and effectually screen the walk from the sun; here and there are placed wooden benches, and at some places stone seats are fixed near the trees: this space, which is about a quarter of a mile long, is probably used as a public walk.

A range of hills of a semicircular form embraces the village, and limits its extent: at most places it is steep, but at the point where the north end joins the harbour, there is an overhanging cliff about eighty feet high, the upper part of which extends considerably beyond the base; at eight or ten yards from the ground on this inclined face, a long horizontal gallery has been hewn out of the solid rock: it communicates with a number of small square excavations still deeper in the rock, for the reception of the vases containing the bones of the dead.

The trees and creepers on the edge of the precipice hung down so as to meet the tops of those which grew below, and thus a screen was formed which threw the gallery into deep shade: every thing here being perfectly still, the scene was very solemn and imposing. It took us somewhat by surprise, for nothing in its external appearance indicated the purpose to which the place was appropriated: happening to discover an opening amongst the trees and brushwood, and resolving to see what it led to, we entered by a narrow path winding through the grove. The liveliness of the scenery without, and the various amusements of the day, had put us all into high spirits, but the unexpected and sacred gloom of the scene in which we suddenly found ourselves had an instantaneous effect in repressing the mirth of the whole party.

This village is called Oonting, and is certainly the same that is alluded to by the chiefs, and which we formerly wrote down Winching and Oonching.

This excellent harbour, which we discovered, has been named Port
Melville, in honour of Lord Viscount Melville, First Lord of the
Admiralty.

It was quite dark when we reached the brig. As a heavy swell was rolling in, no time was lost in getting under weigh, but before we could succeed in running well off the reefs, the wind suddenly changed, and the weather, which before had been fine, became so dark and squally, that we almost lost sight of the shore. Our situation was now very critical, for we had just sufficient knowledge of the coast, to be sensible how extremely dangerous it was; and the wind, which blew directly on the shore, came in such violent gusts, that there was every reason to apprehend the loss of our topmasts; to reef the sails was impossible, as the delay which this operation must have caused would have been fatal. While things were in this state, it became necessary to tack, but owing to the heavy and irregular swell, the brig came round again against our will, and before the sails could be properly trimmed, she had gone stern foremost almost to the verge of the reef, on which the sea was breaking to a great height. Had this occurred a second time, nothing could have prevented our being wrecked. After beating about in this awkward predicament for two hours, the wind shifted a little, and enabled us to stretch off clear of all danger.

12th of October.—It blew so hard that we kept out at sea clear of the shore.

13th of October.—As the weather had become moderate, we stood in, and determined the position of five islands which lie to the northward of Port Melville.

14th of October.—During this day the whole of the east side of the great island was explored. The north and north-east sides are high, and destitute of cultivation; nearly in the middle, on this side, there is a deep indenture on the coast, and the wind being such as to admit of sailing out again, we ran in under low sail with the usual precautions; notwithstanding which we were very nearly on the reefs, for the water shoaled suddenly from twenty-four to eight fathoms; and although the brig was instantly tacked, the soundings as she came round were only five fathoms, and to leeward of us the ragged tops of a rock just level with the surface were discovered at the distance of only fifty yards. In exploring such places there ought to be a boat on each bow, as well as one a-head. The coast from this bay to the south point of the island has a belt of coral reefs at the distance of ten and fifteen miles from the shore, and therefore cannot be approached by a ship without great danger. The extreme south point is comparatively clear of coral; we therefore anchored off it at sunset, proposing to land next day to determine its position. We found the iron cables of great use when anchoring amongst coral reefs.

15th of October.—It blew hard last night, but in the forenoon it moderated sufficiently to allow of our landing. We ascertained the latitude of the extreme south point with precision, and made several other observations, all circumstances being favourable.

We had scarcely landed when the natives began to assemble in groups on the top of the cliffs, and in a short time they came down to us, most of them carrying long poles in their hands; we were sufficiently aware of their inoffensive character to have no apprehension of their intentions, otherwise their appearance would have been somewhat formidable. There was no person of rank among them; they were communicative and full of curiosity, which difference in manner from the inhabitants on the shores of Port Melville may have arisen from these people knowing something of us by reports from Napakiang, which is not above ten miles distant. It was to be expected that we should have become a topic of discourse at so short a distance, and probably what was said of us would be favourable, or at all events such as would excite curiosity rather than fear. Most of these people had fish spears tatooed on their arms in the form of a trident, with rude barbs. When drawn on the right arm it is called "OÓdeemaw;" when on the left, "ToÓga." This is the only instance we have met with of this practice. Our curiosity was farther excited by the appearance of these spears, from the circumstance of our never having seen any warlike weapon on this island; but the people invariably called them "EÉo stitchee" (fish spear). Several of the tallest of these people were measured, but none were above five feet six inches; they are, however, strong limbed and well proportioned. One of them wore a ring on his finger, which is the only instance we have met with of any ornament being worn at Loo-Choo. The ring finger is called in the Loo-choo language, "EÉbee gÁnnee," finger of the ring; and it seems a fair inference from this, that amongst some part of the community rings are habitually worn; probably by the women. The coast here is formed of cliffs, about seventy or eighty feet high, with numerous caverns hollowed out by the waves. The pools of water left by the tide were full of beautiful fish of a great variety of colours.

16th of October.—In the morning we weighed and stood to the westward, among the group of islands called AmakÍrrima by the natives. At one of these there seemed at first sight to be a harbour for ships; but on sending the boats to explore, it proved only safe for small vessels being filled in every part with coral. On our way across from the south point of the great island to the AmakÍrrimas, we passed near a coral reef exactly circular, and half a mile in diameter; it is just level with the water's edge at half ebb, so that in fine weather the sea does not break upon any part of it. As it is upwards of seven miles from any land, and lies directly in the passage towards Napakiang, it is exceedingly dangerous, and ought not to be approached in the night by a stranger.

At four o'clock we anchored in our old place in-shore of the Alceste. As we stood towards the anchorage we could see the coral from the mast-head so distinctly as to be able to trace the forms of all the reefs as we passed among them. This can rarely be done, although the water is always clear, because an unusual degree of smoothness in the surface is requisite to make the rocks visible; and the sun must also shine upon the water at a particular angle. A stranger cannot therefore calculate upon having the danger pointed out in this way; but when such circumstances do occur they may be taken advantage of to check the surveys of reefs made in boats.

We find things at Napakiang nearly as we left them; the best understanding seems to exist between Captain Maxwell and the chiefs. Every body is allowed to walk about and do as he likes. The frigate has been bountifully supplied with stock and vegetables; and the sick on shore are rapidly recovering under the kind care of the natives, who take a peculiar interest in their comfort.

A young man belonging to the Alceste had died during our absence. When the natives were informed of this circumstance, they requested permission to make the grave, and begged Captain Maxwell to point out a place for this purpose. Captain Maxwell said that no situation could be more appropriate than under the grove of trees near the temple, a spot already rendered sacred by many Loo-choo tombs.

Next day the body was carried to the grave with all the formalities usual on such occasions, Captain Maxwell, according to custom, walking last, with the officers and crew before him. The ready politeness of the natives was never more strikingly displayed than now; for perceiving that those who were of the highest rank walked in the rear, they considered that their station must of course be in front; and they accordingly placed themselves at the head of the procession, and preserved throughout the ceremony the most profound silence. They were all dressed in white robes, which we have reason to believe is their mourning.

On the next day the natives requested leave to raise a tomb over the grave; this was of course agreed to, and when it was completed, they performed their own funeral service over it, by sacrificing a large hog, and burning a quantity of spirits. Jeeroo officiated on this occasion, and when he had done, he carried the hog to the sick in the hospital.

The chiefs also gave directions for a small square stone to be smoothed and prepared for an epitaph; which being traced upon the stone by Mr. Taylor, the clergyman of the Alceste, was carved very neatly by the natives. The epitaph, after mentioning the name and age of the deceased, stated briefly, that he and his companions in his Britannic majesty's ships Alceste and Lyra, had been kindly treated by the inhabitants of this island. When the purport of the writing was interpreted to the chiefs, they appeared very much gratified at our acknowledging their attentions.

18th of October.—Our friends expressed much pleasure on meeting us again, particularly Jeeroo, who seems to take great interest in our concerns: he carried us up to the sailor's tomb, where we were joined by Ookooma, Jeema, and some of the others, who unaffectedly expressed their sorrow for this man's untimely fate. I found my people who had been landed previous to our sailing on the survey, much recovered, and very grateful for the kindness of the natives. Milk, eggs, meat, and vegetables, had been brought to them every day, and whenever they felt disposed to walk they were accompanied by one or two of the natives, who took their arms on coming to rough ground, and often helped them up the steep side of the hill behind the hospital, to a pleasant grassy spot on the summit, where the natives lighted pipes for them: in short, I suppose sailors were never so caressed before.

The chiefs were anxious to know what we had been doing during the week in which we had been absent. From an apprehension that they might be displeased at our having instituted a regular examination of the whole island, we said we had been looking at the harbour they had spoken of; they immediately mentioned the village of Oonting, and asked how we liked it. But they guessed that we had been round the island, from seeing that we returned by the south, though we had sailed to the north; they said repeatedly, that the island was very small, appearing to be anxious to depreciate it; our reply of course was, that it was very large and beautiful.

MÁdera has made great improvement in English, and his character is altogether more developed. He is quite at his ease in our company, and seems to take the most extraordinary interest in every thing belonging to us; but his ardent desire to inform himself on all subjects sometimes distresses him a good deal; he observes the facility with which we do some things, and his enterprising mind suggests to him the possibility of his imitating us; but when he is made sensible of the number of steps by which alone the knowledge he admires is to be attained, his despair is strongly marked. He sometimes asks us to read English aloud to him, to which he always listens with the deepest attention. One day, on shore, he saw me with a book in my hand: he begged me to sit down under a tree, and read: Jeeroo was the only chief present, but there were several of the peasants in attendance upon him; they all lay down on the grass, and listened with an attention and interest which are natural enough: every one expressed himself pleased and satisfied except MÁdera, whose anxiety was to read in the same manner himself. From the earnest way in which he inquired into every subject, we were sometimes inclined to think that he must have been directed by the government to inform himself on these topics; and certainly a fitter person could not have been selected; for he adapted himself so readily to all ranks, that he became at once a favourite, and every person took pleasure in obliging him.

Jeeroo is esteemed in another way; he is uniformly good humoured and obliging, and not without curiosity; but he is not clever, and has none of the fire and enthusiasm of MÁdera. We all think kindly of Jeeroo, and shake him cordially by the hand when we meet him; but MÁdera is admired and respected, as well as esteemed, and his society is courted for his own sake.

MÁdera is about twenty-eight years of age, of a slender figure, and very active; his upper teeth project in front over the lower ones, giving his face a remarkable, but not a disagreeable expression. He is always cheerful, and often lively and playful, but his good sense prevents his ever going beyond the line of strict propriety. When required by etiquette to be grave, no one is so immoveably serious as MÁdera, and when mirth rules the hour, he is the gayest of the gay: such indeed is his taste on these occasions, that he not only catches the outward tone of his company, but really appears to think and feel as they do. His enterprising spirit and versatility of talent have led him to engage in a number of pursuits; his success, however, is the most remarkable in his acquisition of English. About a month after our arrival, he was asked what had become of his companion Anya; he replied, "Anya, him mother sick, he go him mother house;" and when asked if he would return, he said, "Two, three day time, him mother no sick, he come ship." With all these endowments and attainments he is unaffectedly modest, and never seems aware of his being superior to the rest of his countrymen. We were a long time in doubt what was his real rank; for at first he kept himself back, so that he was well known to the midshipmen, before the officers were at all acquainted with him: he gradually came forward, and though he always wore the dress of the ordinary respectable natives, his manners evidently belonged, to a higher rank, but he never associated with the chiefs, and disclaimed having any pretensions to an equality with them. Notwithstanding all this, there were occasional circumstances, which, by shewing his authority, almost betrayed his secret. One morning a difficulty arose about some supplies which the chiefs had engaged to procure, but which they had neglected to send; as soon as MÁdera was told of the circumstance, he went to Captain Maxwell, and undertook to arrange it to his satisfaction, at the same time begging that if any difficulty occurred in future, he might be applied to. Whatever may be MÁdera's rank in his own society, it is highly curious to discover in a country so circumstanced, the same politeness, self-denial, and gracefulness of behaviour which the experience of civilized nations has pointed out as constituting the most pleasing and advantageous form of intercourse.

The great interest which MÁdera took in the English, and the curiosity he always expressed about our customs at home, suggested the idea of taking him with us to England, where he would have been an interesting specimen of a people so little known; and he also might have carried back knowledge of the greatest use to his country. When it was proposed to him, he paused for some minutes, and then, shaking his head, said, "I go Injeree,—father, mother, childs, wife, house, all cry! not go; no, no, all cry!"

In our absence a number of watch-houses had been erected on the heights round the anchorage; they are mere sheds of cane thatched over, in which three or four of the natives remain, day and night, in order to be ready to accompany any person who may happen to land, wherever it be. They have also erected a long shed, with a floor of split bamboo; in this place, which is on the top of the hill above the usual landing place, the chiefs generally assemble in the morning; they invite every one who passes to drink tea and smoke pipes, which is very convenient when the boats happen not to be ready to take us on board. Each of the chiefs is attended by a boy, generally his son, whose business it is to carry a little square box, in which there are several small drawers, divided into compartments, filled with rice, sliced eggs, small squares of smoked pork, cakes, and fish; and in one corner a small metal pot of sackee, besides cups and chopsticks. By having this always with them, they can dine when and where they choose. They frequently invite us to dine with them, and if we agree to the proposal, they generally ask any other of the chiefs whom they meet to be of the party and join dinners. The place selected for these pic-nics is commonly under the trees, in a cool spot, where a mat is spread on the grass; and every thing being laid out in great order, the party lies down in a circle, and seldom breaks up till the sackee pot is empty.

An artist of the island brought a drawing of the Alceste on board to-day for Captain Maxwell: it is about two feet by one and a half, and is altogether a most extraordinary production, in which perspective and proportion are curiously disregarded. The captain and officers are introduced in full uniform, and a number of the sailors on the rigging and masts. With all its extravagance, however, it has considerable merit; there is nothing slovenly about it, and there is enough of truth in it to shew that it was sketched on the spot.

A dispute has arisen between John the interpreter and the chiefs, who it seems had positively promised to get a horse for Captain Maxwell to ride; as they have not kept their word, John declares that he will have nothing to say to people who do not speak truth. They have again promised, however, that a horse will be got ready, and in the mean time, a fresh stock of beef and vegetables has been sent to both ships, which has pacified John a little. We have had much occasion to lament not having been accompanied by one of the gentlemen of the factory acquainted with the Chinese language, for although to have John is much better than to be without any interpreter, it is probable that he is not very delicate in his requests, and makes use of expressions and arguments unsuited to our character, and contrary to our wishes and instructions.

19th of October.—In the morning, before breakfast, Captain Maxwell was informed by one of the chiefs, that a horse was ready for him on the beach; he landed accordingly, and found a little pony saddled, and two of the chiefs mounted. They objected to his riding in the country, where the roads were uneven, so that for the present his ride was confined to the beach. The saddle is made of wood, and so uneven as to be very unpleasant: it is proposed to have one made of a blanket and mats in future. To the stirrup there is tied a box, large enough to receive the whole foot.

A dinner was given to-day by Captain Maxwell to the chiefs Ookooma, Shayoon, Issacha Sandoo, Jeema, and Issacha Hackeeboocoo; Jeeroo was also invited to it, but did not attend; being the junior, he had probably been left in charge of the beach and store-rooms. MÁdera also made one of the party, though not originally included in the invitation. As he had never laid any claim to an equality in rank with the chiefs, it had not been thought right to invite him along with them: but MÁdera, who probably knew that he would be very welcome, put himself in Captain Maxwell's way just before dinner, and was prevailed upon, after a little persuasion, to remain.

Dinner was served at five o'clock in as sumptuous a style as possible. Ookooma was placed on Captain Maxwell's right, and Shayoon on his left; I sat beside the former, and Mr. Clifford next the other; then the two chiefs next in rank, and beside them two of the officers of the ship: the first lieutenant, Mr. Hickman, sat at the foot of the table, with Hackeeboocoo on his right, and MÁdera on his left. They were all in great spirits, and ate and drank freely, and though they complained of the size of the glasses, and of the strength of the wine, tasted every thing from punch to champagne: the briskness of the last indeed surprised them not a little, and effectually muddled two of them for some time. Cheese was the only thing they all objected to, probably on account of its being made of milk, which they never taste. The interpreter not being present, the conversation was carried on through Mr. Clifford and MÁdera, and partly by signs. Whether intelligibly or not, every body was talking. MÁdera has dined often on board the ship, and is quite perfect in our customs. On this occasion he took great charge of the chiefs at his end of the table, speaking sometimes in one language and sometimes in the other. Observing Jeema eating ham without mustard, he called to Captain Maxwell's servant, and pointing to Jeema, said, "Tom, take mustard to him." When the desert was put on table, and the wine decanters ranged in a line, they exclaimed in astonishment, "Moo eeyroo noo sackee," six kinds or colours of wine; but the sweetmeats and prepared confectionary pleased them most.

After sitting about an hour and a half after dinner, and drinking with tolerable spirit, they rose to depart; but this they were not allowed to do, and they were informed that it was the English custom to sit a much longer time. They represented that the sun had set, and they would never be able to find their way on shore, but would all be drowned in attempting it. This alarming difficulty was easily overruled by a promise of the barge, and they sat down again. While the discussion was going on between Captain Maxwell and his guests, MÁdera kept his seat, and looked about him in his keen observant way, to discover, if he could, what was likely to be the issue of this adventure. Having observed that in general we were anxious to keep our company at table as long as we could, he naturally enough thought that we would not let this opportunity pass of entertaining the chiefs according to our fashion. He appeared to have settled this question with himself just as the chiefs resumed their seats, for rising half off his chair, and with a mixture of archness and simplicity, as if he had made an amusing discovery, cried out in English, "When all drunk then go ashore!" Though MÁdera, as will be seen, was not quite right in his guess, there was enough of truth in his remark to raise a hearty laugh among those who understood him; and as he joined in this laugh at his own joke, it was some time before he could explain what he had said to the chiefs, who, being in a merry humour themselves, took it in perfect good part, though their mirth was evidently dashed by a little apprehension of the fate which MÁdera had anticipated for them.

The health of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent was then given, all the company standing in the most respectful manner. This was followed by the health of the King of Loo-choo, which was drank with similar observances. On sitting down after the latter toast, the chiefs conferred a few minutes across the table, and then all rose to propose Captain Maxwell's health; their wishes being explained by MÁdera. When they sat down, Captain Maxwell proposed the health of Ookooma and the other chiefs, but as we in return stood up to drink to them, their modesty disclaimed this part of the compliment, and they rose likewise; nor was it till a good deal of persuasion had been used, that they consented to be seated while we were standing.

These four bumpers made the party very merry, and it now was intimated to them, that as all the usual formalities had been observed, they might drink just as much as they liked, or pass the bottle altogether; a permission of which few of them took advantage. They lighted their pipes, laughed, joked, and seemed so happy, that it was agreed on all hands, that conviviality is no where better understood than at Loo-choo. After a time, at our request, they played some games, of which we had heard them speak. The object of these games was drinking; a cup of wine being the invariable forfeit. That every thing might be in character during the games, some of their own little cups were put on table. One person holds the stalk of his tobacco-pipe between the palms of his hands, so that the pipe rolls round as he moves his hands, which he is to hold over his head, so as not to see them. After turning it round for a short time, he suddenly stops, and the person to whom the bowl is directed has to drink a cup of wine. Another is a Chinese game: one person holds his hand closed over his head, he then brings it quickly down before him with one or more fingers extended; the person he is playing with calls out the number of them, and if he guesses right, he has to drink the cup of wine. These and other games caused a good deal of noisy mirth, and at length it was proposed by them to go out, in order to look at the sailors who were dancing on deck. Before leaving the cabin, they shewed us a Loo-choo dance round the table: MÁdera placed himself at the head before Ookooma, while the others ranged themselves in a line behind him; he began by a song, the air of which was very pretty, and nearly at the same time commenced the dance, which consisted principally in throwing the body into a variety of postures, and twisting the hands about. Sometimes the hands were placed flat together, at others separate, but generally the former; the movements both of the body and hands were regular and of a waving description. The head was made to incline slowly from side to side, so as almost to touch the shoulders; the feet were moved with a slight shuffling motion, with an occasional long sweeping step to one side and then back again; but the perfection of the dance appeared to be in the proper use of the hands and body. The words of the dance song were "Sasa sangcoomah, sangcoomee ah! sangcoomee ah! kadee yooshee daw;" when they came to the last word they all joined in the chorus and clapped their hands. Although MÁdera was the leader both in the dance and song, he was occasionally joined in the latter by several of the others, the whole party repeating the last word several times over. In this way they went several times round the table. MÁdera had a graceful carriage, and his dancing, though fantastic, was really elegant; his singing too was in good taste. The others danced clumsily, though in perfect good time, and joined with some spirit in the chorus.

The ship was illuminated, and the sailors were dancing on the upper deck. The chiefs were much pleased with this scene, which was lively enough. After watching the dance of the sailors for a few minutes, MÁdera, who, to use a common phrase, "was up to every thing," ran among the sailors, and seizing one of them by the shoulders, put him out of the dance, took his place, and kept up the reel with the same spirit, and exactly in the same style and step as the sailors. The other dances were left off, and the whole ship's company assembling round MÁdera, cheered and clapped him till the dance was done. The chiefs joined in the applause, seeming no less surprised than ourselves at MÁdera's skill, for his imitation of the sailors' odd steps and gestures was as exact as if he had lived amongst seamen all his life. The officers then danced a country dance, after which the chiefs, unasked, and with a sort of intuitive politeness, which rendered every thing they did appropriate, instantly stepped forward and danced several times round the quarter-deck, to the infinite gratification of the sailors.

On returning to the cabin to tea, they were all in high spirits, and while amusing themselves with a sort of wrestling game, Ookooma, who had seen us placing ourselves in the boxer's sparring attitudes, threw himself suddenly into the boxer's position of defence, assuming at the same time a fierceness of look which we had never before seen in any of them. The gentleman to whom he addressed himself, thinking that Ookooma wished to spar, prepared to indulge him; but MÁdera's quick eye saw what was going on, and by a word or two made him instantly resume his wonted sedateness. We tried in vain to make MÁdera explain what were the magical words which he had used to Ookooma. He appeared anxious to turn our thoughts from the subject, by saying, "Loo-choo man no fight; Loo-choo man write—no fight, no good, no, no. Ingerish very good, yes, yes, yes; Loo-choo man no fight." Possibly he considered that Ookooma was taking too great a liberty; or, perhaps, he thought even the semblance of fighting unsuitable with the strict amity subsisting between us.

Before they went away, Captain Maxwell, who had remarked the satisfaction with which the chiefs received any attention shewn to their children, ordered a large cake to be brought him, which he divided into portions for the family of each. The chiefs were in a proper mood to feel this kindness, and they expressed themselves, as may be supposed, very warmly upon the occasion. When they put off for the shore they began singing, and never left off till they landed.

20th of October.—The forenoon was passed at the Observatory, and afterwards we walked in the country without being observed, for the chiefs had not yet recovered from the effects of last night's gaiety: but we had not gone a mile before Jeeroo overtook us. We were very anxious to gain the brow of a neighbouring hill, from which we imagined there would be a good view of the palace; but although Jeeroo was the most obliging creature in the world on every other occasion, he was resolute now in not letting us go far beyond our usual limits; we tried to overrule his objections by telling him that we should do no mischief, and would not go farther than the adjoining height. He would listen, however, to nothing; and as we still walked slowly on, he at last sent off a messenger for assistance, but before this reinforcement arrived we had turned back, to Jeeroo's great relief. Although the object proposed had not been accomplished, we got a better sight of the palace than we had yet obtained. It is so much enclosed by trees that parts only can be seen, but it is undoubtedly a very large building. On returning we met HackeeboÓcoo, the fat chief, coming puffing and blowing up the hill; he had set out to overtake us on being told by Jeeroo's messenger what we were proposing to do. He had drank a good deal of wine yesterday on board, and said he had been "weetee" (drunk), and that his head ached very much. After he joined us we passed near a village, where we met two women at the turning of a road: they did not see us till within a few yards, and their alarm was great; they threw down the baskets, which they were carrying on their heads, and fled into the wood. Our two companions were very uneasy at this rencontre, and would not listen to our reasoning upon the absurdity of their apprehensions, looking quite miserable till the subject, which seems to be an interdicted one, was changed. We went afterwards to the high ground behind the hospital, in order to fill up by eye the edges of the reefs in our charts, for which regular triangles could not be taken in the survey. While I was thus engaged, Mr. Clifford endeavoured to learn from Jeeroo whether or not the King lived in the large house spoken of before; Jeeroo as usual denied any knowledge of the King, and could not be prevailed upon to say what the house was, or who resided there; a peasant, however, who happened to be along with us was more communicative, and was giving all the information desired, when Jeeroo, observing what he was about, reprimanded him sharply. On coming down from the height we found all the chiefs seated in a long room erected on the outside of the garden gate: they were very merry on the subject of last night's adventure.

21st of October.—While Mrs. Loy was employed at the well to-day washing clothes, at a moment when every body else was out of the way, she was visited by a Loo-choo lady, accompanied by a numerous guard of men. She describes her as being about eighteen years of age, well dressed, fair in complexion, with small dark eyes, and not without beauty; her hair was of a glossy jet black, made up into a knot on one side of the head. She wore a girdle tied at the side, and had on sandals like the men. Mrs. Loy wished to touch her, but she shrunk back in alarm. Whether these details be quite correct or not, the circumstance of a lady of rank having visited Mrs. Loy is so far interesting as it denotes a considerable degree of curiosity on the lady's part, together with the power of gratifying it, which, in a country where the women are strictly secluded, perhaps would not be allowed.

22d of October.—Ookooma and Jeeroo came to the Observatory to-day, together with a number of the most respectable of the natives; they were desirous of seeing the reflected images of the sun in the artificial horizon through the telescope of the sextant. As this was placed on a stand there was no difficulty in satisfying their curiosity, for they had only to place their eye to the tube, the angle having been previously arranged. Many of them were amused by the changes of colour in the reflected images by means of the different shades; others were more struck with the apparent motion of the two suns, which is very perceptible when a high magnifying power is used; a few endeavoured to understand the meaning of what they saw, but with the exception of Jeeroo, I think they had no conception of its cause. Jeeroo appeared to have some notion of astronomy; his idea of eclipses was more accurate than could have been expected. From him Mr. Clifford got the names of the days and months, and the various points of information respecting Time, which will be found in the Vocabulary. Whenever we were actually taking observations, the natives invariably remained at a considerable distance. They had been told that the least motion disturbed the surface of the quicksilver, and prevented our taking observations. They had much patience, and sometimes sat quite still and silent for several hours, till invited to come forward to look at the instruments. When Ookooma and Jeeroo came to us, we observed that they were in great distress, and upon our asking the cause, the former explained that Captain Maxwell during his ride this morning had fallen down, or rather that his horse, which was too weak for his weight, had fallen with him, and that his finger was broken: "Tayin ma tawrittee, Tayin no eebee ootee" (the Tayin's horse fell, Tayin's finger broke). A Loo-choo doctor, he said, had gone on board, who would soon cure it.

On going to the Alceste we found that the Loo-choo surgeon had placed Captain Maxwell's broken finger in a thick paste made of eggs, flour, and some other substance which he brought along with him. He then wrapped the whole in the skin of a newly-killed fowl. This skin dried in a short time and held the paste firm, by which the broken finger was kept steady. The doctor went through a number of ceremonies, such as feeling the pulse, looking at the tongue, and so on. He had a box along with him, containing upwards of a hundred medicines.

Captain Maxwell mentioned, that while he was sitting in a shed after the accident, he was surprised to see a person enter the door crawling on all fours, and half dead with terror. This it appeared was the surgeon, who had been sent for by the chiefs. He was horror-struck at the accident, but soon recovered himself on observing Captain Maxwell's perfect tranquillity.

Captain Maxwell's gentleness and forbearance, and his uniform attention to the wishes of the natives, and the great personal kindness which he had shewn to so many of them, had very early won their confidence and esteem. As our intercourse became more intimate, these feelings naturally became stronger, and the concern which the natives felt upon this occasion was very general, and was expressed, not only by MÁdera and the chiefs, but by the lower orders, in a manner highly flattering to Captain Maxwell.

23d of October.—A deputation of the chiefs went on board the Alceste early this morning to say, that the Prince of the island, who was the next person in rank to the King, and heir to the throne, meant to come on board the frigate this afternoon, as well for the purpose of paying a visit of ceremony, as of enquiring into the state of Captain Maxwell's health after the accident.

At noon the four senior chiefs, dressed in their state robes and hatchee-matchees, came to announce the Prince's approach, and in about half an hour afterwards he was brought in a closed sedan-chair to the boat, through a concourse of people, to whom he seemed as much a show as to us. The state boat was a large flat-bottomed barge, covered with an awning of dark blue, with white stars on it, the whole having much the appearance of a hearse. It was preceded by two boats bearing flags with an inscription upon them, having in the bow an officer of justice carrying a lackered bamboo, and in the stern a man beating a gong. A vast number of boats were in attendance, some bearing presents, and others following out of mere curiosity. One of the Chiefs came on board with the Prince's card, which was of red paper forty-eight inches long, and eleven wide[12], and shortly afterwards the Prince's barge put off from the shore; upon which the rigging of both ships was manned, and a salute of seven guns fired; when he came on board he was received with a guard, and under a like salute. Captain Maxwell, who had been confined to the cabin ever since his accident, desired me to receive the Prince. No arrangement having been made with us respecting the ceremony of reception, I merely took off my hat and bowed: but all the chiefs fell on their knees the instant he came on the quarter-deck. I took his hand from one of the chiefs who had assisted him up the accommodation ladder, and led him to the cabin.

When seated beside Captain Maxwell, the Prince made several anxious enquiries about his finger, expressing much regret that so disagreeable an accident should have occurred at Loo-choo. He then called to his pipe-bearer, and having prepared a pipe, presented it to Captain Maxwell, who returned him this compliment, by giving him one of his own. The usual questions as to our ages and families, and various complimentary speeches, having passed, he said he had heard much of the wonders of the ship, and should like to see them himself: he rose upon this and went to the globes, which he examined with great care. He begged to be shewn Ingeree, Loo-choo, Quantoong (China); Niphon (Japan); Manilla, and Pekin. The chiefs would not sit down in his presence, and never spoke to him without kneeling. On his expressing a wish to look at the different parts of the ship, he was conducted all round the decks. He observed every thing with attention, but without betraying any great degree of curiosity: he had heard of the boatswain's wife, and asked to see her; the lady, in her best dress, was presented to him; he stood for about half a minute looking at her with a sort of pleased surprise, and then, as if suddenly recollecting that this was somewhat rude, he drew his fan from his breast, and with an air of the utmost politeness, held it towards her, and upon Mrs. Loy curtsying in acknowledgment, he sent it to her by MÁdera. He asked to see the fire-engine worked, and appeared much gratified by seeing the water thrown to so great a height. He had heard of the African negro, and begged that he might be sent for. When the black man was brought before him he looked exceedingly surprised, and probably was in doubt whether the colour was natural, as one of his people was sent to rub his face, as if to discover whether it was painted or not. The natives, who had flocked on board in crowds, fell on their knees whenever the Prince passed.

[Illustration: THE PRINCE of LOO-CHOO.]

On returning to the cabin, the Prince was invited to a collation prepared for him in the foremost cabin: for a long time he refused to sit down, nor could we conjecture what his objection was; at length, however, he complied, while the chiefs, who are neither allowed to sit down nor eat in his presence, retired to the after-cabin. He tasted every thing which was offered him, but seemed afraid of the wines, having probably heard of the proceedings on the evening of the 19th. In about half an hour he rose and went to the after-cabin; the chiefs and the people of his suite, to the number of fifteen, then sat down at the table he had left, and made ample amends for the temperance and moderation of his royal highness.

As soon as they rejoined the party in the after-cabin, business was entered upon by Captain Maxwell's returning thanks, in the name of the English government, for the liberal way in which we had been supplied with every kind of refreshment, and for the other assistance which had been given to us. The Prince replied, that the King of Loo-choo was anxious to do every thing in his power for the King of England's ships. Upon this Captain Maxwell observed, that he was very desirous of seeing his majesty, for the purpose of expressing in person his gratitude for the kindness we had received in this country. The Prince answered, that it was contrary to the laws and customs of Loo-choo, for any foreigner to see the king, unless sent by his own sovereign, and charged with complimentary presents. Coming from such high authority, this assurance was conclusive, and as nothing further could now be said on the subject, the hope of opening a communication with this court, which had been so anxiously desired, seemed now destroyed. The Prince, however, unexpectedly resumed the subject, by saying that a letter would be written to the King of England, if Captain Maxwell would undertake to deliver it; his answer was, that nothing could give him more satisfaction than being made the bearer of such a communication: that he had earnestly desired the honour of paying his respects to his majesty, but from the moment that he had heard that it was contrary to the customs of the country, he had ceased to think of it. As soon as it was interpreted that Captain Maxwell was willing to carry the letter alluded to, and that he no longer urged his desire to see the King, the Prince rose and pressed Captain Maxwell's hand and mine between his, while all the chiefs fell on their knees in a circle round us, shewing by the expression of their countenances, how great the anxiety had been from which they were relieved by Captain Maxwell's ready acquiescence with their wishes: the Prince in particular, who had hitherto looked full of anxiety, became all cheerfulness, and his manner assumed a totally different character.

The inference from this curious scene is, that the real object of the Prince's visit was to dissuade Captain Maxwell from urging his request to be allowed an interview with the King; and we conjectured that the circumstance of his accident was taken advantage of to pay a visit to the Alceste, where they naturally thought that the remonstrances of a man of such high rank as the Heir Apparent to the throne, would carry more weight than any which had yet been tried.

When the Prince again alluded to the letter, it appeared that it was to be written by the minister, and not by the King. This altered the case materially, and Captain Maxwell most respectfully informed the Prince, that such a letter as he described could not be received, as it would be an indignity to our sovereign to offer his majesty a letter written by another king's minister. The Prince at once seemed sensible of the propriety of what Captain Maxwell had said, and calling the chiefs round him, entered into a long discussion with them: at the close of which, he declared himself incompetent to decide upon so important an occasion, but said that he would consult with the King, whose pleasure would be communicated in a few days. Captain Maxwell expressed his willingness to abide by his majesty's decision as far as was consistent with the respect due to his own sovereign. The Prince seemed entirely satisfied with this answer, and said something to the chiefs, upon which they again fell on their knees before Captain Maxwell, notwithstanding all his efforts to prevent them. Nothing more of any consequence passed.

In the early part of the interview the present was brought in, or at least such parts of it as were capable of being thus displayed. The whole consisted of two bullocks, three hogs, three goats, and a quantity of vegetables and fruit; besides fifteen webs of the cloth of the island, thirty fans, and twelve pipes. The Prince said he had sent a present to me, which I found to consist of half the above mentioned things. He shortly afterwards rose to take leave. The rigging was manned on his going away, and similar honours were paid him as were shewn when he came on board.

The Prince of Loo-choo, whose name is Shang Pung Fwee, and title Pochin Tay Foo, belongs to the highest of the nine orders of chiefs on the islands, the distinction of which rank is a hatchee-matchee of a pink ground, with perpendicular rows of black, yellow, blue, white, and green spots. He was clothed in a robe of light blue silk, lined with silk a shade lighter, over which he wore a girdle richly embossed with flowers of gold and different coloured silks: in other respects his dress was like that of the chiefs. He is about fifty years old, his beard is full and white, and his figure well proportioned. In manners he is genteel and sedate, but occasionally a little awkward, which his retired habits sufficiently account for. Towards the close of his visit, when his reserve had in some degree worn off, we observed him smile for an instant, now and then, with a shrewd expression in his eyes, as if he was observing what was passing more narrowly than we at first suspected. It was thought, too, that in making inquiries about different things on board, he shewed more discrimination than most of those who had preceded him; but on the whole, there was nothing very interesting in him besides his rank. While he was looking over the books and other things in the cabin, a picture of his majesty King George the Third was shewn to him. As the interpreter was not present, we could not immediately explain who it was intended to represent, till it occurred to us to join our hands and bow to it in the Loo-choo manner: the Prince instantly saw what was meant, and turning towards the picture, made a low and respectful obeisance.

His suite consisted of several chiefs whom we had not seen before, and six or seven personal attendants, two of whom stood behind to fan him and light his pipe. It is curious that these men, who from their dress and manner were certainly servants, derived a sort of rank from being about the Prince's person; for when the chiefs sat down to table after he had left it, they all stood by as if expecting to be invited to sit down also; but Mr. Clifford, to whom Captain Maxwell had given the party in charge, having observed how particular they were with respect to the distinctions of rank, did not think of asking them to be seated, till Jeema requested him to do so; still suspecting some mistake, he applied to MÁdera, who said it was perfectly correct, and they were accordingly asked to sit down with the rest.

We had never been able to obtain from the natives any clear account of former visitors, and as the Prince was thought a likely person to be in possession of the desired information, questions were asked him upon this subject. He said that a vessel had been here about twenty years ago, and that she went away immediately without holding any communication with the court. This must have been the schooner in which Captain Broughton visited Napakiang in July, 1797, after he had been wrecked in his majesty's ship Providence, on the island of Typinsan[13]. He said that he knew of no other stranger who had visited Loo-choo. On being interrogated as to the knowledge of other countries, he declared that they knew nothing of the English or French, or any nation indeed but the Chinese, Corean, and Japanese. Something was said about Manilla, and from its not being very remote, it is possible that some communication may have existed between that place and Loo-choo. Their accounts, however, were vague and unsatisfactory, and it is not impossible that we ourselves may have first suggested the name, and afterwards ascribed the use of it to them[14].

Nothing, however, that occurred to-day, attracted more notice than MÁdera's assumption of his long concealed rank. He came for the first time dressed in the robes and hatchee-matchee of a chief, and not only took precedence of all our old friends, but during the discussion in the cabin with the Prince, maintained a decided superiority over them all. While all the rest were embarrassed in the Prince's presence, and crouching on their knees every time they spoke, MÁdera, though always respectful, was quite at his ease; and we could not help fancying that he addressed the Prince as if accustomed to his society. It was no less remarkable, that the Prince referred much oftener to him than to any of the rest, and listened to what he said with greater attention. Whether MÁdera owed such distinction to his actual rank, which may have placed him about the court, or to the ascendancy of his talents, or to the accidental circumstance of his having had better opportunities of knowing us than any other of the natives, we could never discover. He admitted, when interrogated, that he had often seen the Prince before, while the other chiefs confessed their ignorance even of his person, before to-day.

As soon as the Prince was placed in his chair and carried away, MÁdera came on board, and entered with great good humour into all the jokes which were made upon his new character. He declined telling why he had kept his rank so long out of sight, but it was sufficiently obvious that his main object was to establish an intimacy with all the different classes on board the ships, and in this he completely succeeded; for he had gradually advanced in his acquaintance, first with the sailors, then the midshipmen, next with the officers, and last of all with the captains. By this means he gained the confidence and good will of each class as he went along; and by rising in consequence every day, instead of putting forward all his claims at once, acquired not only substantial importance with us, but gained a much more intimate knowledge of our character and customs than he could have hoped to do in any other way.

24th of October.—Mr. Clifford went along with me to-day for the purpose of sketching the bridge, which, though not above three hundred yards from the landing place, the chiefs have always objected to our examining. We took Jeeroo with us without telling him our object, which he no sooner discovered than he became quite alarmed, and sent off for MÁdera, who came to us immediately, and upon learning that nothing further was proposed than a mere examination of the bridge, he said that we might go on; having first made us promise solemnly not to go any further. While MÁdera was binding us down in this way, I expressed some little impatience at his doubting our simple declaration of nothing more being intended than what we avowed; but his duty I suppose was imperative, and he would not leave us till the matter was arranged in his own way. As soon as he was satisfied on this point he said something to Jeeroo and left us; but turning back again, he came up to Mr. Clifford, and whispered, "captain no sulky?" meaning, we supposed, to express his apprehension that I had been angry at the stipulations so positively required by him. Mr. Clifford, having assured him that I was not sulky with him, detained him to ask him what it was he feared? what he had seen in us to excite such dread of our going near the town? He replied, "Loochoo woman see Ingeree man, Loochoo woman cry!" He then returned; and Jeeroo, who remained in a boat close to the bridge while I was employed measuring it and drawing it stone by stone, was greatly interested by Mr. Clifford's account of the great age of our venerable Sovereign, and the number of his family, which excited his astonishment and admiration. He conversed freely while the subject was the King of England, but the moment the slightest turn in the discourse was made towards the King of Loo-choo he drew up, and became impenetrable. "He did not know," he said, "how old he was, nor how many children he had;" in short he seemed scarcely to admit that he had ever heard any thing about him.

From MÁdera, however, who had no concealments, we learnt afterwards that the King has only one wife, but has twelve concubines; he is an old man, and has seven children. It is curious that none of the chiefs will inform Captain Maxwell whether or not the Prince who visited the ships yesterday has any children; it is hardly possible that they can be ignorant of the fact; but either they are kept strangely in the dark as to what passes in the palace, or they carry their reserve on royal topics to a singular length.

From the bridge we went to the top of the hill above the well, where Jeeroo sung several songs. On the way up we stopped at one of the large horse-shoe tombs mentioned before, which resembles in all respects the tombs of China. On this similarity being pointed out to Jeeroo, he became anxious to explain that it was a Loo-choo tomb, and not exclusively Chinese; meaning probably that Loo-choo persons were contained in it. He informed us that these tombs did not contain a single person only, or a single generation, but were used as cemeteries from age to age. The bodies, according to his account, are put into coffins, and allowed to lie untouched for seven years, by which time the flesh is entirely decayed; the bones are then collected, and being put into cases are preserved by the families of the deceased with great care.

25th of October.—This being the anniversary of His Majesty's accession to the throne, the ships were dressed in colours, and a royal salute fired. Upon the natives this produced a great effect; they had never seen any other flags than the single ensigns hoisted on Sundays, and this display of several hundred flags was well calculated to surprise and delight them. They were informed some days before that there would be some ceremonies in honour of our King, and great numbers of people had assembled on the shore in consequence. This morning had also been fixed upon for returning the Prince's visit; accordingly we left the Alceste at one o'clock, forming a procession of four boats, with flags in each. Captain Maxwell took twelve of his officers and young gentlemen, and six accompanied me from the Lyra, all being dressed in full uniform. We entered the harbour, and landed at the same part of the causeway as before, where the chiefs were in attendance, as on the occasion of our visit on the 23d ult.

The Prince advanced a few yards on the outside of the gate, and having taken Captain Maxwell's hand, conducted him to the temple, where an ingenious device was adopted to preserve the etiquette, requiring that none of inferior rank shall sit down in the Prince's company. The temple was divided into three rooms by ranges of columns, which were deemed a sufficient separation; and, at the same time, no person in the other rooms could feel himself slighted by the exclusion, since the division by the pillars was merely nominal. The feast was sumptuous, consisting of twelve regular courses, besides tea and sackee. There were many new dishes, principally of meat, dressed in various ways in large bowls. We saw what seemed to be wheaten bread for the first time to-day. It being necessary to make some return for the presents brought on board by the Prince two days ago, Captain Maxwell now gave him several pieces of scarlet and blue superfine cloth, and samples of every species of cloths, from the finest damask to the coarsest sail canvas; also a set of cut crystal decanters and glasses, and three dozen of wine of ten different sorts, with several books, and a number of smaller articles. It was also stated to the Prince, that a cow and calf had been left on shore in order to be offered to the King as a small mark of our sense of the kindness which we had experienced. The Prince expressed much satisfaction at this gift, as the calf had become a great favourite with the natives. My present consisted of half the quantity of wine given by Captain Maxwell, a mirror taken from a dressing-stand, samples of English stationary, Cary's map of England, an atlas, and a small brass sextant; which latter present had been suggested by the wonder which it had invariably excited at the observatory. Mr. John Maxwell, to whom the Prince had sent a present of cloth and pipes after he landed yesterday, gave him a spy-glass and a map of London; the map was coloured, and round the edges were the palaces, Greenwich Hospital, and other public buildings, all of which he examined with great attention. After he had looked over most of the things, and was satisfied with the explanations, he rose and said that a great deal too much had been given, to which it was replied, that a great deal too little had been given, and that they were not offered as being, in any respect, an equivalent for the supplies sent on board, but merely to shew our sense of the kindness and attention with which we had been received[15]. During the time that we sat at table to-day, the interpreter was hardly ever called in, as MÁdera and Mr. Clifford contrived between them to explain every thing, if not as clearly as could have been wished, yet in a more satisfactory manner than could have been done through the medium of John the Chinaman, of whose fidelity we were nowise certain, and whose taste and delicacy in conveying our sentiments we had great reason to doubt.

The Prince, after a time, rose and proposed the King of England's health, which was accordingly drank in a cup of sackee. In return we gave the King of Loo-choo. As the surgeon had desired Captain Maxwell to drink no wine, there was very little drank at the Prince's table; but at the others every art was used to circulate the sackee pot. Indeed, little persuasion was required, for the sackee, though not strong, was very good. Ookooma presided at the table occupied by the officers, and Jeero at that where the midshipmen sat.

Ookooma having remarked on board, that whenever the King's health was drank, whether his Majesty of England, or of Loo-choo, the cups were always freely emptied, took advantage of this loyalty of sentiment, and gave "The King of Injeree's health" three or four times over, to which, of course, the officers were obliged to reply, by giving "The King of Loo-choo" as often. He carried this rather farther than is customary with us on similar occasions, for observing that the company were rather backward in eating a bowl of sweet rice-meal porridge, he stood up with his bowl in his hand, and calling out "King of Injeree health!" swallowed the whole of it, and invited the rest to follow his example.

The Prince seemed to enjoy the mirth of the other tables very much; he was himself more cheerful and disengaged than when we first saw him, though he appears to be naturally a silent man. Ookooma, by overacting his part, got, we thought, a little tipsy, and came several times into the state chamber, talking louder than was proper, but of this the Prince took no notice. When Ookooma came near my chair, I whispered to him, "Ya weetee," (you are drunk;) he turned round, and affecting to be angry, called out, "Weetee nang," (I am not drunk) in a voice and manner which were in direct contradiction to his assertion: his subsequent behaviour, however, was so correct and sedate when the feast broke up, and all were again upon duty, that he was probably merely pretending to be tipsy, in order to suit what was considered to be the humour of the company.

On rising to depart, the Prince led Captain Maxwell by the hand, not only through the gate, but about twenty yards along the causeway; here he stopped and took leave. Captain Maxwell availed himself of this opportunity to repeat, for the last time, his thanks in the name of his government, for the numerous attentions and marks of kindness which we had received. He requested that what he had said might be communicated to the King, and assured the Prince, in the most earnest and respectful manner, that all the circumstances of our reception and entertainment should be stated to our own government. The Prince bowed to this in a manner which seemed to express his satisfaction at what was promised. Captain Maxwell next observed, that besides the high public benefits of which he had just been speaking, he felt individually greatly honoured and obliged by the particular attention which had been shewn to himself, and to the captain of the little ship, and hoped that the Prince would accept from himself a small mark of his respect and gratitude. As soon as this was interpreted to the Prince, Captain Maxwell took from his neck a small thermometer, set in silver, and presented it to the Prince, who leaned his head forward, and requested that it might be hung round his neck.

This may be supposed a curious place to hang a thermometer, but we had learned during our intercourse with the chiefs, that some management of this kind was necessary whenever it was intended to offer them presents; for their extreme delicacy made them unwilling to accept any thing of value, lest it might appear in the light of remuneration for their hospitality. Whenever any thing merely ornamental, or of little value, was offered, and particularly if worn about the person, no objection was made to receiving it. It thus became the practice, as being the most convenient method, to tie the proposed gift by a ribbon round the neck; and after a time, every one had rings, seals, watch-keys, or bank tokens with holes drilled in them, prepared for these occasions. The thermometer which was given to the Prince had particularly attracted his notice when he was on board.

After Captain Maxwell had given his present, the Prince turned to me, and I put over his neck a cornelian ornament, suspended by a ribbon, in the same manner as the thermometer.

He was greatly delighted with these compliments, and immediately resuming Captain Maxwell's hand, led him along the whole length of the causeway to the boat, and then stepped upon the top of the parapet to see us row away.

As soon as we had put off, every one in the boats stood up and gave three cheers; to which the Prince bowed several times, with his hands closed and raised to his breast. He remained on the parapet, and continued waving his fan to us as we rowed down the harbour, as long as we could see him. As the boats rowed in procession out of the harbour, all the chiefs ran along to the end of the causeway, where they continued, along with a vast crowd of natives, waving their handkerchiefs and fans till we were a great way from the shore. On each side of this group of chiefs a gong was beat incessantly. On every side, the rocks, the trees, houses, and boats, in short, every spot was crowded with people, waving their hands, and cheering us as we went along. This brilliant scene had less of novelty in it, to be sure, than what we had witnessed at the same place on the twenty-third of last month, but it was still more pleasing, for we had now become acquainted with many of the individuals forming this assemblage, and could feel assured that their expressions of kindness and respect were sincere. On the first occasion, too, the natives being ignorant of our intentions, were very generally alarmed at our appearance; and accordingly, though there was much curiosity shewn, a profound silence and stillness prevailed over the whole crowd, very different from the friendly shouts and signs with which they greeted us as we passed among them to-day.

Precautions had been taken to prevent the ladies from indulging their curiosity as they had done on the first visit, not a female being seen any where.

26th of October.—Last night both the Alceste and Lyra were illuminated. At nine o'clock a feu de joie was fired, and a number of fire-works let off from the yard-arms. A great concourse of the natives, who had been apprised of our intentions, assembled on the shore, and were very highly delighted with this brilliant exhibition.

[Illustration: SCENE after the PRINCE of LOO CHOO'S FEAST.]

The sick, as well as the remaining stores belonging to the Alceste, were removed on board this morning, and every preparation made for sea. While employed in completing the series of observations at the observatory, MÁdera joined us, having in his hand the sextant which I had given to the Prince yesterday. It seemed that he had been ordered to make himself acquainted with the use of it; and a more hopeless enterprise could not have been proposed to any man. But MÁdera was not a man to be thrown into despair by difficulty; on the contrary, he persevered in observing with this sextant, and the more the difficulty was made apparent, the more keenly he laboured to overcome it. The progress which he made in a few hours in the mere practical operation of taking angles and altitudes was not surprising, because there is in fact not much difficulty in it; but he was nowise satisfied with this proficiency, and seemed anxious to apply his knowledge to some useful purpose.

With a sextant on a stand, I made him take the distance between the sun and moon, four or five times; on every occasion he was wonderfully near the truth. We endeavoured to confine him to one object, merely to ascertain the time of apparent noon; and I think we succeeded in explaining to him how this was to be done. He expressed repeatedly his regret at our approaching departure, in which sentiment he was joined by Jeeroo and the rest of the chiefs, who were quite out of spirits. Jeeroo, poor fellow, had prepared a handsome dinner for us under a tree near the observatory. He made us drink what he called "wackarÍttee," or the parting cup, several times over. We had a number of visitors at the observatory, who saw the instruments packed up and sent off with looks of real regret. They all said they were sorry we were going away. One man gave Mr. Clifford, as a farewell gift, a curious drawing of the Alceste dressed in flags, and executed, he said, by his son. The children, too, were all much affected by our preparations, and the wonted hilarity of the lower orders was quite gone.

Having taken our final leave of the shore, we went to the Alceste, where we found the chiefs in conference with Captain Maxwell, who made each of the chiefs a present of a cut wine glass, which he knew they had long desired to possess. To Ookooma he gave a finely cut tumbler, in a red morocco case. This was much beyond his expectations, and perhaps his wishes, for he appeared to observe the wine glasses of the others with somewhat of a disappointed look. Captain Maxwell perceiving in a moment that Ookooma had set his heart upon a wine glass, opened the case, and placed one inside the tumbler, to Ookooma's great satisfaction; and soon afterwards the whole party went on shore, saying, before they left the ship, that in the morning the Bodzes would come on board in order to perform some sacrifice. As they never came, it is probable that the interpreter misunderstood them, particularly as Isaacha Sandoo said to Mr. Clifford, "Acha hoonee nittee Doochoo mang hoonee oocooyoong." "To-morrow the ships will go, and all the Loo-choo people will pray for them, or wish them well;" which was probably what was meant when the interpreter reported that the Bodzes were to come on board.

While we were at dinner, MÁdera came into the Alceste's cabin for the purpose of asking some questions about the sextant. He had not been aware of our being at dinner, and looked shocked at having intruded; and when invited to sit down, politely, but firmly declined. From the cabin he went to the gun room, to see his friend Mr. Hoppner, the junior lieutenant of the Alceste, with whom he had formed a great friendship. Mr. Hoppner gave him a picture of the Alceste and some other presents; upon which MÁdera, who was much affected, said, "To-morrow ship go sea; I go my father house, two day distance: when I see my father, I show him your present, and I tell him, me, Henry Hoppner all same (as) brother," and burst into tears!

Sunday, 27th of October.—At daybreak we unmoored, and the natives, on seeing us take up one of our anchors, thought we were going to get under weigh immediately, and give them the slip, which was not at all intended. This alarm, however, brought the chiefs off in a great hurry; not in a body in their usual formal way, but one by one, in separate canoes. Old Jeema called on board the Lyra on his way to the frigate; he was a good deal agitated, and the tears came into his eyes when I put a ring on his finger. He gave me in return his knife.

The other chiefs called alongside on their way to the frigate, but went on when I told them that I was just going to the Alceste myself. In the mean time MÁdera came on board, with the sextant in his hand; he was in such distress that he scarcely knew what he was about. In this distracted state he sat down to breakfast with us, during which he continued lighting his pipe and smoking as fast as he could; drinking and eating whatever was placed before him. After he had a little recovered himself, he asked what books it would be necessary to read to enable him to make use of the sextant; I gave him a nautical almanack, and told him that he must understand that in the first instance: he opened it, and looking at the figures, held up his hands in despair, and was at last forced to confess that it was a hopeless business. He therefore put the sextant up and bade us farewell. Before he left the Lyra he gave Mr. Clifford his pipe, tobacco pouch, and a crystal ornament; saying, as he held out the last, "You go Ingeree, you give this to your childs."

Mr. Clifford gave him a few presents in return, and expressed his anxiety to be considered his friend. MÁdera, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, placed his hand several times upon his heart, and cried, "Eedooshee, edooshee!" My friend, my friend!

To me he gave a fan and a picture of an old man looking up at the sun, drawn, he said, by himself: he probably meant in his picture some allusion to my usual occupation at the observatory. After he had put off in his boat, he called out, "Ingeree noo choo sibittee yootoosha," I shall ever remember the English people. When he went to the Alceste, one of the chiefs remarked that he had neither his hatchee-matchee on nor his robes, and told him that it was not respectful to wait upon Captain Maxwell for the last time, in his ordinary dress; particularly as all the others were in full array. MÁdera, who, poor fellow, had been too much concerned about other matters to think of dress, was shocked at this apparent want of politeness, and went immediately to apologize to Captain Maxwell, who took him by the hand, and gave him a present, telling him, at the same time, that he was always too happy to see him, to notice what dress he had on.

On going into the cabin, I found the chiefs seated in a row, all very disconsolate, and apparently trying to conceal emotions different, in all probability, from any which they had ever before experienced. Captain Maxwell had made them his parting present, and I therefore gave to each chief some trifle, receiving from them in return, their knives, pipes, pouches, and fans. In the mean time the anchor was hove up, and every thing being ready for making sail, the chiefs rose to take leave. Ookooma wished to say something, but was too much affected to speak, and before they reached their boats they were all in tears.

MÁdera cried bitterly as he shook hands with his numerous friends, who were loading him with presents.

The chiefs, as well as the people in the numerous canoes which had assembled round the ships, stood up, and continued waving their fans and handkerchiefs till we were beyond the reefs, and could see them no longer.

* * * * *

Almost every thing respecting the manners and customs of Loo-choo, with which we have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted, has been laid before the reader in the foregoing narrative. It is proposed to insert here a few particulars which in the hurry of the moment were noted down without date. They might easily have been embodied with the narrative, but it has been considered of less consequence to sacrifice arrangement, than to interfere in any way with the integrity of the Journal, in which nothing has been inserted out of the exact order in which it is known to have happened.

The religion of Loo-choo appears to be that of Fo, said to be introduced by the bodzes one thousand years ago[16]. We found great difficulty in discovering any thing precise on this subject from the natives; but from all that we could gather, religion does not appear to be made a matter of general instruction as in Europe, being left, as in China, to the priests. This we infer from the careless way in which the subject was at all times treated by the natives, and the ignorance which they professed of the forms and ceremonies used in the temples. The bodzes are not respected or esteemed in society; they are prevented from marrying, and are not allowed to eat meat: few people associate with them, and even the children turn them into ridicule. On the occasion of the Loo-choo funeral service over the grave of the seaman, the bodzes stood behind, and were not called upon to officiate, the service being entirely performed by Jeeroo.

In the large temple we saw three gilt idols and various pictures; but with the exception of the funeral service just alluded to, we never met with any thing in the least degree resembling a religious ceremony. The bodzes kept the temple clean swept, and took care of the walks and hedges, and this appeared to be their only employment. It is fair to suppose, however, that the occupation of the temple by us may have caused a temporary cessation of their religious observances.

They have large tombs or cemeteries for their dead, being mostly of the Chinese form, viz. that of a horse-shoe. They are formed of stones and mortar, and are covered with a coat of cheenam, (shell lime), which is always kept nicely whitewashed and clean swept: some are more highly finished than others; their size varies from twenty to thirty feet in length, by twelve to fourteen broad. The coffin, when closed, is placed in the vault under the tomb, and is not touched for six or seven years, by which time the flesh is found to have separated and wasted away; the bones are then collected, and put into jars ranged in rows on the inside of the vault. Burning is never used at any stage of the proceedings, nor under any circumstances. In the course of time, when these vaults become crowded, the vases are removed to houses appropriated to their reception above ground: such must have been the building described by Mr. Clifford in the village near Port Melville. The lower orders, who cannot afford these expensive tombs, take advantage of hollow places in the rocks, which by a little assistance are made secure vaults. In the cliffs behind the village of Oonting, the galleries cut for the reception of the vases must have been the work of men possessed of power and authority. Not being fully aware what the Chinese customs are with respect to the dead, in ordinary cases, it is impossible for us to say how nearly they resemble those of Loo-choo, but there are certainly some points of resemblance.

From Mr. Clifford's notes on the Loo-choo inscriptions, I have extracted the following particulars.

"A number of carved stones, called by the natives Kawroo, were found at many places, particularly in the groves on the hill. The Kawroo is two feet long, by one wide, and one high; it is excavated a little on the upper part, on which an offering of rice is placed. On the sides of this stone are carved a variety of characters, denoting the rank of the person who makes the offering, as well as the object of his petition, together with the date.

"Two of these inscriptions, copied at the time, have since been translated by a gentleman acquainted with the Chinese characters. The first gives an account of a man about to sail for China, in the reign of Kien Lung, the late monarch of that country; this person implores the divine aid in protecting him during his voyage. The other is dated in the twenty-first year of the reign of Kia-King, the present emperor of China, answering to the year 1816, in which we visited Loo-choo. This is an invocation to the deity for success in a literary pursuit.

"Two narrow strips of paper, with characters inscribed on them, which by consent of the natives were taken from a pillar in the temple, and which have since been translated, prove to be invocations, one to the supreme deity, and the other to the evil spirit. The first is on a slip of paper, two feet long, by two inches wide, and contains a supplication for pardon. The latter invocation begins by seven rows of the character symbolical of the Devil. In the upper line there are seven, and in the last one, so that a triangular page is formed of twenty-eight characters, each signifying the Devil; and the prayer itself is written in a narrow perpendicular line underneath; the whole inscription resembling in form a kite with a long tail attached to it."

Polygamy is not allowed in Loo-choo as in China, and the king, it appears, is the only person permitted by law to have concubines; they invariably spoke with horror of the Chinese practice, which allows a plurality of wives, and were much gratified on learning that the English customs in this respect were similar to those of Loo-choo. The women are not treated so well as we were led to expect from the mildness of character in the men, and their liberality of thinking in general. The upper classes of women are confined a good deal to their houses, and the lower orders perform much of the hard work of husbandry. We saw them at a distance, in great numbers, carrying loads on their heads. MÁdera says that the women are not treated with much indulgence, being even restricted from using fans; and that when they are met out of doors by the men, they take no notice of one another, whatever may be the degree of relationship or intimacy subsisting between them. The perseverance with which they kept the women from our sight is curious, and leads us to conjecture that the general practice of the island is to seclude the women at all times. In this respect they differ from the Japanese, who are said to allow wives to every stranger. This degree of seclusion does not prevail in China, as we had opportunities of observing at several places never before visited by Europeans. The Chinese account quoted in the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, vol. 23, states that the young men and women marry on this island by choice, and not, as in China, by a contract made without any personal knowledge of each other. We took every opportunity of interrogating them on this subject, but as the question was always evaded, we fear that their practice in this respect is not so praiseworthy as that account would make it appear.

Of their literature we could get but few satisfactory accounts; they say that they have few books in their own language, the greater number on the island being Chinese. The young men of rank are sometimes sent to China to be educated. Jeeroo had been there when a boy. None but the upper classes understand the spoken Chinese, and the peasantry are in general ignorant both of the spoken and written Chinese language.

They appear to have no money, and from all we could see or hear, they are even ignorant of its use. Those, however, who have visited China cannot be so ill informed, and yet none of them set any value upon Spanish dollars, or upon any gold coins that we had. Though we were incessantly trying to make out from MÁdera and the others, what their medium of exchange was, we could never learn any thing distinct upon the subject, nor could they be made to comprehend our questions about money; a difficulty, it may be observed, which we should expect to meet with among people whose only mode of purchase was by barter. The only circumstance which came to our knowledge bearing at all upon this question, was during the time when the garden was under preparation for the reception of the Alceste's stores; it was then remarked that each of the labourers employed had a little piece of paper stuck in his hair, with a single character written on it; this naturally excited our curiosity, but the inquiries we were enabled to make at that early stage of our knowledge of the language, led to nothing conclusive. Afterwards, when our means in this respect were more ample, we could not recall the circumstance to the recollection of the chiefs. As these papers were called by the people wearing them, "hoonÁtee," and as "hoÓnee" means ship, Mr. Clifford has conjectured that they may have been written passes to enable them to enter the gate on the ship's business.

We saw no arms of any kind, and the natives always declared that they had none. Their behaviour on seeing a musket fired certainly implied an ignorance of fire-arms. In a cottage at the north end of the island, we saw a spear which had the appearance of a warlike weapon, but we had every reason to believe that this was used for the sole purpose of catching fish, having seen others not very dissimilar actually employed in this way. They looked at our swords and cutlasses, and at the Malay creeses and spears, with equal surprise, being apparently as little acquainted with the one as with the other. The chiefs carried little case knives in the folds of their robes, or in the girdle, and the lower orders had a larger knife, but these were always of some immediate practical utility, and were not worn for defence nor as ornaments. They denied having any knowledge of war either by experience or by tradition.

We never saw any punishment inflicted at Loo-choo: a tap with the fan, or an angry look, was the severest chastisement ever resorted to, as far as we could discover. In giving orders, the chiefs were mild though firm, and the people always obeyed with cheerfulness. There seemed to be great respect and confidence on the one hand, and much consideration and kind feeling on the other. In this particular, more than in any other that fell under our notice, Loo-choo differs from China, for in the latter country we saw none of this generous and friendly understanding between the upper and lower classes.

One day when we were drinking tea and smoking pipes with the chiefs, on the top of the hill, a boy began to exhibit feats of tumbling before us; in a short time all eyes were turned towards him, and his modesty caused him to desist. We offered him buttons and various things, but he would not resume his tumbling: we then asked Jeema to interfere; he did so, and told the youngster to go on; but he kept his seat, and Jeema became angry, or rather pretended to be so, yet the tumbler sat obstinately still. "Well," said Jeema to us, "what is to be done? It was for his own amusement that he began, and probably for his amusement he will do so again." The boy, when left alone, in a short time resumed his tumbling. I mention this to shew Jeema's good sense in not forcing the boy to do that as a task, which he had begun as an amusement, and which he had discernment enough to know would be unpleasant for us to witness in any other way. By this treatment of their children, mutual cordiality and freedom of intercourse are encouraged. It was probably owing to this mode of education that the children became at once familiar with us. One day while I was employed sketching the village and trees near the bridge, a boy stopped near me, and without saying any thing, endeavoured to attract my notice by performing various gambols before me. I took no notice of him for some time, but at last looked up and smiled; upon which the boy cried out in perfectly good English, "How do you do? Very well, I thank you;" and ran off, quite delighted at having displayed his proficiency in English.

The chiefs were generally accompanied by one or two of their sons, who took their places near them, and were always put forward when there was any thing curious to be seen. In this way they were encouraged to make themselves acquainted with every thing, and yet nothing could be more respectful or affectionate than they always were. Great pains were taken to form the manners of the children, and we never observed an instance of rudeness in any one of them, though they were as full of life and spirits as the wildest English school-boys. John the Chinaman afforded them much amusement: he was a great coxcomb, and therefore fair game for the boys; they used to surround him and pretend to pull his long tail; but they never actually pulled it, but merely teazed him a little, and then ran away. These little traits seem worthy of notice, as they belong to a style of education quite different from what we had seen in China and some other eastern countries, where the children are made to look like men in miniature.

During our intercourse with these people, there did not occur one instance of theft. They were all permitted to come on board indiscriminately; to go into the cabins, store-rooms, and wherever they liked, unattended. At the temple the Alceste's stores of every kind were lying about, as well as the carpenter's and armourer's tools; and in the observatory, the instruments, books, and pencils were merely placed under cover; yet there was not a single article taken away, though many hundreds of people were daily admitted, and allowed to examine whatever they pleased. This degree of honesty is a feature which distinguishes the people of Loo-choo from the Chinese, as well as from the inhabitants of the islands in the South Sea and of the Malay Archipelago; among whom even fear, as was ascertained by Captain Cook and other voyagers, is altogether insufficient to prevent theft. At Loo-choo the people are considerably civilised; but they have few wants, and they appear to be perfectly contented. Honesty is perhaps the natural consequence of such a state of society.

We saw no musical instruments of any kind; they were, however, aware of their use. The natives almost all sing, and we heard several very sweet airs, principally plaintive: they had many jovial drinking songs, one of which we wrote down from their singing; it was inscribed on a drinking cup, and is as follows:

"Ty´wack koo, tawshoo, shee kackoofing,
"Chaw ung, itchee shaw, shooha neebooroo;
"Ting shee, you byee, chee taroo shoo ninnee
"Nooboo cadsee meesee carra shaw jeeroo
"Shing coodee sackee oochee noo shing."

The Chinese characters on the drinking-cup were thus translated in China, "Tywack hoo[17], inspired by a jar of wine, writes an hundred pages of odes or verses without end. At the market town of Chaw-ung[18] he entered a wine shop to sleep. The Emperor summoned him to appear; in his haste to obey the summons, he forgot to put on his neckcloth, and rushing into the royal presence, exclaimed, 'I am the wine-loving immortal.'"

The Loo-choo dress has been so frequently mentioned, that a brief notice, in recapitulation, will suffice in this place. Their loose robe was generally made of cotton, and of a great variety of colours. The robe of a grown up person was never flowered or printed over with figures, being generally of a uniform colour, though instances occurred of striped cloths being worn by the chiefs. This robe opened in front, but the edges overlapped, and were concealed by the folds, so as to render it difficult to say whether or not the robe was continued all round: the sleeves were about three feet wide: round the middle was bound a belt or girdle about four or five inches wide, always of a different colour from the dress, and in general richly ornamented with wrought silk and gold flowers. The folds of the robe overhang the belt, but not so much as to hide it: the whole of the dress folds easily, and has a graceful and picturesque appearance. The garments worn by the children were often gaudily printed with flowers. In rainy or cold weather, a sort of great coat was worn by the chiefs only, of thick blue cloth, buttoning in front over the robe, and tighter both in body and sleeves than the other. This cloth resembled the coarse cloth used in China; and it looked like woollen manufacture, and may possibly have been originally brought from England. The sandals worn by all ranks were exactly the same; they were formed of straw wrought into a firm mat to fit the sole of the foot, smooth towards the foot, and ragged underneath: a stiff smooth band of straw, about as thick as one's little finger, passes from that part of the sandal immediately under the ancle and over the lower part of the instep, so as to join the sandal at the opposite side; this is connected with the foremost part of the sandal by a short small straw cord which comes between the great toe and the next one. The upper classes wore stockings of white cotton, not unlike our half stockings, except that they button at the outside, and have a place like the finger of a glove for the great toe.

[Illustration: GENTLEMAN of LOO CHOO in his CLOAK.]

Their hair is of a jet black, and is kept glossy by juice expressed from a leaf. There is no variety in the fashion of dressing it; it is pulled tight up all round, and is formed at top into a compact knot, so as to conceal the crown of the head, which is shaved; through the knot are thrust two metal pins, one of which has a square point and flowered head consisting of six leaves or divisions: the other pin has one end sharp, and the other shaped like a scoop: the length of these pins is from four to six inches. We did not see the Prince's, as he remained covered during all the time of his visit; but the Chief of high rank, who visited the Alceste on the 23d of September, had the flowered end of one pin studded with precious stones. The higher orders wear, on state occasions, what they called a "hatchee-matchee," which is a kind of turban, apparently made by winding a broad band round a cylinder, in such a way, that a small segment of each fold is shewn at every turn, in front above, and behind below; this is effected by giving a slight diagonal direction to each fold. The lower orders occasionally tie a coloured cloth or handkerchief round the head; this they call "sadjee:" next the body they wear a thin cotton dress. The men wear no ornaments through their flesh, nor are they tattooed: we saw, indeed, some fishermen who had fish spears marked on their arms, but this does not prevail generally. An etching of these marks is given by Mr. Clifford in the second part of the Vocabulary.

The cattle on this island, which are of a small black breed, are used exclusively for agricultural purposes. Hogs, goats, and poultry, with rice and a great variety of vegetables, form the food of the inhabitants: milk is never used. We saw no geese, so that those left by Captain Broughton most probably did not thrive. They have no sheep nor asses. Their horses are of a small slight make, and the natives are very fond of riding. We saw no carts or wheeled carriages of any kind, horses being used to carry loads; for this purpose the roads are numerous, and kept in excellent order, being from six to ten feet wide.

Their mode of dressing the ground is neat, and resembles the Chinese, particularly in manuring and irrigating it. This is most attended to where the sugar-cane is cultivated: they have, besides, tobacco, wheat, rice, Indian corn, millet, sweet potatoes, brinjals, and many other vegetables. The fields, which are nicely squared, have convenient walks on the raised banks running round each. Along the sides of the hills, and round the villages, the bamboo and rattan grow to a considerable size. The pine is the most conspicuous tree on the island, growing to a great height and size, which we infer from seeing canoes built with planks several feet wide; the trees, however, near the temple at Napakiang were not above ninety feet high, and from three to four in girt. The banyan-tree of India was seen at several places; the finest one overhung the small temple at Napakiang, which circumstance led to the enquiry whether, as in India, this tree is held sacred, but we could gain no information on this subject.

In a little plot of ground in the temple garden, Mr. Phillips, purser of the Alceste, sowed mustard-seed, peas, and a variety of other seeds, the natives taking his directions for their culture. Our total ignorance of botany prevented our making any observations on this subject while at Loo-choo; but to supply this deficiency, we collected specimens of every plant at the place. These were preserved between sheets of brown paper, and given afterwards to Mr. Abel, the naturalist of the embassy, in order to be arranged; but they were subsequently lost, along with the whole of that gentleman's collection.

Of their manufactures it is difficult to speak with certainty. By their own account the silks which they wear are Chinese, but the cotton cloths are made on this and the neighbouring islands; the printed patterns of these are not without elegance. We saw no weaving looms, but as we were only in a few houses, this is not surprising: the webs are thirty-six feet long, and fourteen inches broad. Tobacco-pipes and fans are made at Loo-choo; as well as the sepulchral vases, of which there is a manufactory at Napakiang, from whence they are exported to Oonting, and other parts of the island. Some of the pouches of the chiefs were made of cloth, which they say comes from China; it is exactly like our broad cloth. We tried in vain to learn what goods they send to China in exchange for silks: perhaps sulphur forms a part, which these islands are said to produce, as well as tin. From the number of vessels constantly sailing out and in, it appears that they must have some trade, but our enquiries on this and many other topics, though sedulously pursued, led to nothing satisfactory, owing probably rather to our ignorance of the language, than to any wish on their part to withhold information; because, on topics which had no reference to the royal family or the women, they in general spoke freely.

We had frequent opportunities of seeing their method of making salt, and an account of it may, perhaps, be interesting. Near the sea, large level fields are rolled or beat so as to have a hard surface. Over this is strewn a sort of sandy black earth, forming a coat about a quarter of an inch thick. Rakes and other implements are used to make it of a uniform thickness, but it is not pressed down. During the heat of the day, men are employed to bring water in tubs from the sea, which is sprinkled over these fields by means of a short scoop. The heat of the sun, in a short time, evaporates the water, and the salt is left in the sand, which is scraped up and put into raised receivers of masonry about six feet by four, and five deep. When the receiver is full of the sand, sea water is poured on the top, and this, in its way down, carries with it the salt left by evaporation. When it runs out below at a small hole, it is a very strong brine; this is reduced to salt by being boiled in vessels about three feet wide and one deep. The cakes resulting from this operation are an inch and a half in thickness.

Of the population of this island we know nothing satisfactory: the natives invariably pleaded ignorance themselves; and as we had no precise data, our estimates were made at random, and as they never agreed with each other, they are not worthy of notice. From the south point of this island, to five or six miles north of Napakiang, an extent of sixteen or eighteen miles, the country is highly cultivated, and is almost entirely covered with villages. All round Port Melville too there are populous villages, but the north, north-east and eastern places are thinly peopled, and not cultivated to any extent. We saw nothing like poverty or distress of any kind: every person that we met seemed contented and happy. We saw no deformed people, nor any who bore indications of disease, except a few who were marked with the small-pox.

The style of living of those with whom we associated is generous and free; their custom of carrying about their dinner in boxes, and making little pic-nic parties, is peculiarly striking, and they appeared fully sensible of the advantage of bringing people together in this way, and expressed much satisfaction at the ready way in which we fell into a custom from which all formality was dismissed. They shewed, moreover, a good deal of discernment, and could adapt themselves to the character of the particular persons they happened to be in company with, in a manner very remarkable; but this was evidently the result not of cunning, but of correct feelings, and of a polite habit of thinking.

Of their manners, little need be added here to what every page of the narrative will show. It ought to be particularly noticed, however, that they are an exceedingly timorous people, and naturally suspicious of foreigners. A stranger visiting Loo-choo ought therefore to keep these features of their character constantly in mind. By imitating Captain Maxwell's wise plan of treating the natives with gentleness and kindness, and shewing every consideration for their peculiarities, he will stand the best chance of gaining their good-will and confidence. But if he should betray any impatience, or be at all harsh in treating with them, he may rest assured that he will lose much time, and in all probability fail at last in his attempts to establish an unreserved and friendly intercourse.

As Loo-choo, however, lies quite out of the track of trading ships, and does not appear to produce any thing of value itself, and as the inhabitants seem indifferent about foreign commodities, and if they wished to possess them are without money to make purchases, it is not probable that this island will be soon revisited.

[Illustration: BRIDGE AT NAPAKIANG.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 11: We first discovered the meaning of this word by hearing one of the natives apply it to the castle on the chess board: he used the same term when drawings of towers and castles were shewn to him.]

[Footnote 12: The literal translation of the card is "Loo-choo nation, extender of laws, Great Person (called Ko), Heang, bows his head and worships," (the common visiting expression among the Chinese.) It ought to be remarked, that the Prince's name is placed on one corner of the card, which is the most respectful mode that can be used, according to Chinese usage.]

[Footnote 13: See Broughton's Voyage, Book II. Chap. 2. for a very interesting account of the natives of Typinsan, who appear to resemble the people of the Great Loo-choo Island. In Book II. Chap. 3. Captain Broughton gives an account of his visit to Napachan. He was received by the inhabitants with great kindness; they supplied his wants, but objected to his landing, and sent back to the schooner some of the officers who had been sent on shore to examine the town. We found Captain Broughton's account of the people quite accurate.]

[Footnote 14: At Manilla we found that the Great Loo-choo Island was known only by name. There appeared to be no intercourse between the two places.]

[Footnote 15: LIST OF SUPPLIES RECEIVED AT LOO-CHOO BY H.M. SHIPS.

"Alceste. " Lyra. "
Bullocks " 19 " 8 "
Pigs " 23 " 10 "
Goats " 15 " 7 "
Fowls " *216 " 102 "*Not including
Fish " 29 " 12 "extra supplies
Eggs " 920 " 455 "to the officers.
Bags of sweet potatoes " *59 " 27 "*Not including
Squashes " 34 " 14 "ditto.
Jars of Samchoo, each containing about " " "
fifteen gallons " 6 " 3 "
Baskets of oranges " 9 " 4 "
Bundles of gingerbread " 8 " 3 "
—————-Onions " 16 " 8 "
—————-Radishes " 30 " 12 "
—————-Celery " 12 " 5 "
—————-Garlick " 8 " 4 "
—————-Candles " 7 " 3 "
—————-Wood " 16 " 8 "
Pumpkins " 60 " 30 "
Baskets of vermicelli " 7 " 3 "
Boxes of sugar " 2 " 1 "
Rolls of printed linen " 14 " 7 "
Bundles of paper " 6 " 3 "
]

[Footnote 16: See Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, vol. 23.]

[Footnote 17: A man celebrated in the Tung dynasty for his convivial disposition: he is known in China by the name of Jai-pe.]

[Footnote 18: The town of Chang-ngan in China, near the Great Wall.]