along and wear the hat to o ; and being of a very inquisitive
disposition, he chose the degrading alternative of being
uncovered, and his researches proceeded without interruption.
Nothing escaped the old man’s observation;
whatever was shut or tied up, he requested to have opened ;
and in this way he rummaged the midshipmen’s chests, and
the sailors’ bags, all along the lower deck. He looked into
the holds, took the lid off the boilers, and turned every
thin<>■ topsy-turvy. Seeing a cutlass tied to the deck,
overhead, he took it down, and on drawing it fiom the
scabbard, its lustre, and the keenness of its edge, surprised
and delighted him so much, that I asked him to accept it.
At first he seemed willing enough, but after holding a consultation
with the Courtier for five minutes, he reluctantly
put it back again. As he went along, he took samples of
every thing that he could easily put into his sleeve, which
served him instead of a sack; so that when he came upon
deck, he was pretty well loaded, and looked about with the
satisfaction of a school-boy, on having visited a show for the
first time in his life.
Whilst we were below, one of the natives had been busily
employed in taking the dimensions of the ship with a string,
and another person was engaged under him, taking an
account of the guns, shot, and rigging, all which details he
wrote down ; but not being able to ascertain, himself, the
exact number of people on board, he had recourse to
me for the information ; this I communicated by opening
eight times the fingers of both hands. The only part of
the ship to which he had not free access was the cabin
under the poop, and from which he felt much annoyed at
being excluded : but when told that a gentleman was shaving
there, he shewed himself quite satisfied with the explanation,
and waited patiently until the door was opened to him.
The old gentleman and his followers appearing anxious
to see a shot fired, an eighteen pound carronade was loaded
before them, and discharged with the muzzle so much
depressed, that the shot struck the water close to us, and
then rose and fell eight or ten times, to the great entertainment
and surprise of thè whole party. In the mean time,
Captain Maxwell had come on board, and breakfast being
ready, we prevailed upon the Chief to sit down with us.
He ate heartily of our hashes, and of every thing else that
was put before him, using a knife, fork, and spoon, which
he now saw, probably, for the first time in his life, not only
without awkwardness, but to such good purpose, tha t he
declined exchanging them for Chinese chop-sticks, which
were provided for him. In fact, he was so determined to
adopt our customs in every respect, that when the tea was
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