the town, every dry stick in the vicinity having been consumed by
the inhabitants.
When I had finished my sketch, Mattlvi, pleased at the thought
that the magnitude of his town would now be made known in the
country of the white-men, inquired very particularly if I had drawn
every house; yet though my answer was contrary to his wishes, he
remained well satisfied by being told that I had drawn as many as
my paper could contain, and that I intended making a sketch of the
other part of the town, from the opposite hills.
We all then descended the hill together. In our way I sought
for flowers, but could discover nothing new ; every vegetable was so
completely dried up, that scarcely a specimen could be procured.
Some of the natives seeing me gather a plant, very good-naturedly
made search for more of the same kind, and brought them to m e;
but nothing was found worth preserving.
The path by which we returned, brought us to Serrakutu's
mootsi, the first dwelling to which we came, and situated at a little distance
from the foot of the hill. I walked in to examine a beautiful
tree of a new species of acacia, called by the inhabitants, Moshu *,
and to gather some of its singularly twisted or curved pods, which
just at this season were hanging in abundance.
Serrakutu, who was sitting in one corner of the enclosure, and
whom I did not at first observe, called out to me with a loud voice,
Heeela! H eela!\ and seemed much gratified by my paying him a
* Acacia Litdkunensis, B. Catal. Geogr. 2205. Arbor 40-pedalis, (vide tabulam
sextam) comis partialibus depresso-patentibus. (In plantulâ hortensi bienni ; Folia sub-
pubescentia, bipinnata 4—6-jnga, foliolis interstitio invicem separatis, angustè oblongis,
9—1 S-jugis. Spina stipulates geminæ breves recurvæ.) Legumiua bivalvia tortuosa.
f H éla ! (Hâylah) is a common exclamation among the Bachapins, and is used when
calling to a person at a distance. The. first syllable is usually protracted to a length proportioned
to the distance of the person called. If he be only a few yards off, H éla! is
supposed to be sufficient ; if at a much greater distance, H êela ! if still farther, Heeela
a n d even H i —I êla ! : and when it is considered that both the tone and the strength
of the voice are heightened and increased in the same proportion, it w ill, readily be conceived
that this is hot à word of mean importance, nor much less resounding than the
âaXiorw«. It is, however, in'its more moderate1 form, employed in.common
conversation or debate, as the means of calling the attention of the company or the assembly,
to the person who is speaking.
visit. He was then wearing Gert’s hat, which he had borrowed for
the day; and perhaps he mistook the smile, which his incongruous
dress occasioned in me, for joy at meeting with him at home. He
asked me to show him the sketch, and this obliged me to enter into
the same explanation of my object in drawing it, as I had given to his
nephew Mattlvi. He was in the same manner as the Chief; surrounded
by a party of his friends: their employment appeared to
be a mixture of work and conversation.
As he had, a day or two before, invited me to see his house, I
now requested him to show it : on which he immediately rose, and;
followed by his friends or attendants, conducted me to the house of
his younger wife; while Mattlvi and his party proceeded homeward.
She exhibited her paintings in a manner which evinced that
she was well satisfied with her own performance. They were, the
figures of several animals, rudely drawn, with a paint of white earth,
against the front-wall of the house. Among these I distinguished
two lizards; but the rest might have enabled a fanciful person to see
in them, any animal he pleased, or that he wished to see. They
were, however, intended to represent some of the common animals
of the country.
He then took me to the house at which he more usually resided ;
which was that of his elder wife Marmklonami, a good-looking woman
apparently about thirty-five years of age, whom he introduced to me.
Makui (Makooer), his daughter by Marriklonami, was also introduced :
she was probably about eighteen. Neither of them, nor several others
who were present, had ever before, as they told me, seen a white-
man. They looked at me with the most curious attention; and to
make a greater display before the crowd, for the front-court was filled
with people, Serrakutu requested me to unfold my umbrella and
allow his wife to stand with me under the shade of it
While, to the surprise of all, we were thus exhibiting ourselves,
I felt now and then some person behind me cautiously feeling my
hair, which being rather unfashionably long, admitted of their doing
this, as they supposed, without being perceived.
Serrakutu so much admired the air of importance which the