Chief upon deck, rather than give him the trouble of going
down to the cabin, which, indeed, we had reason to fear
would prove too small for the party. Chairs were accordingly
placed upon the deck; but the Chief made signs that
he conld not sit on a chair, nor would he consent for a
time to use his mat, which was brought on board by one of
his attendants. He seemed embarrassed and displeased,
which we could not a t the moment account for, though it
has since occurred to us that he objected to the publicity
of the conference. At length, however, he sat down on
his mat, and began talking with great gravity and composure,
without appearing in the smallest degree sensible
that we did not understand a single word that he said. We
of course could not think of interrupting him, and allowed
him to talk on a t his leisure; but when his discourse was
concluded, he paused for our reply, which we made with
equal gravity in English; upon this he betrayed great impatience
a t his harangue having been lost upon us, and
supposing that we could, a t all events, read, he called to
his secretary, and began to dictate a letter. The secretary
sat down before him with all due formality, and having
rubbed his cake of ink upon a stone, drawn forth his pen,
and arranged a long roll of paper upon his knee, began
the writing, which was at length completed, partly from the