19th of September.—No answer having yet come from
the Great Man, we begin to apprehend that they are going
to treat us in Chinese style, and exclude us from their country
altogether. We have tried in vain to discover whether the
King is a t this place, or a hundred, or as some maintain, a
thousand miles off; in the mean time, as we know the
island to be not more than sixty miles long, it is fair to
suppose tha t they wish to deceive us.
We conjecture that a large building on a rising ground,
three or four miles from us in an eastern direction, with
two flag-staffs near it, is the palace mentioned in the account
quoted by Pere Gaubil, Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses,
Tom. XXIH. The natives always refuse to give any • information
when asked about this building.
Whenever the natives come on board, if a t all well
dressed, they are asked into the cabin, where we treat
them with cherry brandy and Constantia. In the course
of conversation they contribute a number of new words,
and, in general, when they see what the object is, are very
willing to lend their assistance, and take much pains to teach
us the true pronunciation of their words. One man, however;
who was not so quick as they generally are, was in
the cabin to-day for some time; Mr. Clifford was getting
from him the Loo-choo words for sour, sweet, salt, &c.;
and in order to make him comprehend the questions, made
him taste different things that were sour, sweet, and so on ;
the poor fellow stood this very well, till some quassia was
given to him to get the word “ bitter;" he had no sooner
tasted it, than he ran off quite astonished a t the mannej in
which he had been entertained.
I t blew hard this morning, so tha t there was little intercourse
with the shore; but towards sunset it moderated,
and Ookooma, Jeema, and four other Chiefs, came on board,
bringing with them a present of a bullock, two hogs, goats,
and vegetables. The Chief whose name is Shayoon is
the most clever of them all; he is next in rank to Ookooma,
but he generally takes the lead in discussion; he has a
quick intelligent look, with more determination in his
manner than any of the others. They were very particular
on all these state occasions to observe the order of
precedence, and no one sat down till his superior was
seated. When any subject was discussed, one a t a time
rose to speak, but not in order of rank, and they never attempted
to interrupt one another.
The weather a t this moment looked so stormy, that I
went on board the Lyra to prepare for a gale ; by which I
lost a very interesting conference with the chiefs. I learnt