quite at his ease. Every thing about him, in short, indicated
good-breeding, and a familiarity with good society
and we could not help remarking his decided superiority ih
appearance over the other chiefs.
When the pumps were ready, he was escorted to the main
deck, where he sat for some time in great admiration of the
machinery; and seeing the labour required to work it, he
seemed really affected at our situation, which he naturally-
thought must be very bad, from the immense quantity of
water thrown out by the pumps. The ship being upright, the
water did not run off freely from the deck, and in a short time
it flowed round the chair in which the old man was seated.
Three or four of the sailors seeing him somewhat uneasy at
this inundation, took him up chair and all, and placed him
on a dry spot. The old gentleman was surprisèd, not displeased,
and very graciously replied to the low bows which
the sailors made him. On returning to the cabin, they were
all entertained as usual with sweet wine, cherry brandy,
and pipes. The old man filled pipes for us, and as soon as
this part of the ceremonial had been gone through, a formal
request was made for permission to land the Àlceste’s Casks
and stores, in order to stop thé leak and make other repairs.
This produced a long discussion amongst the chiefs, in
which the old man joined but little ; he spoke, however, now
and then, and whatever he said, appeared to be to the
purpose. Whenever the chiefs spoke, they.rose and addressed
themselves to him in a most respectful manner. At
length, having agreed about an answer, they communicated
to Captain Maxwell that there was no good place here for
the purposes he wanted, and that as our present anchorage
was unsafe, they recommended our going round to the
harbour alluded to on a former occasion. At this place,
which they call Winching or Oonching, he said we might
put on shore whatever we chose. On our asking if in Winching
the water was deep enough to admit a large ship, a
long discussion arose, during which they appeared to be
considering the merits of the harbour. They seemed apprehensive
of giving it too high a character, and tha t on our
reaching it we should be disappointed. The old man at
length suggested sending the “ little ship” to see whether it
would answer. To this Captain Maxwell agreed, only
requesting that a person might accompany us, in order to
save time in the search. Simple as this appears, they took a
long time to consider it, and ended by saying that no reply
could be given till the next day.
While the subject of this harbour was under discussion,
the old man drew on a sheet of paper, a chart of the island,
and pointed out the place where the harbour lay. I t proved
N