ur months. In the evening, Mr Banks went to pay his respects to the
king, at his palace, in the middle of a rice field, and though his
majesty was busily employed in dressing his own supper, he received the
stranger very graciously.

The next day, the natives came down to the trading place, with fowls,
fish, monkies, small deer, and some vegetables, but no turtle; for they
said that we had bought them all the day before. The next day, however,
more turtle appeared at market, and some were brought down every day
afterwards, during our stay, though the whole, together, was not equal
to the quantity that we bought the day after our arrival.

On the 11th, Mr Banks having learnt from the servant whom he had hired
at Batavia, that the Indians of this island had a town upon the shore,
at some distance to the westward, determined to see it. With this view
he set out in the morning, accompanied by the second lieutenant; and as
he had some reason to think that his visit would not be agreeable to the
inhabitants, he told the people whom he met, as he was advancing along
the shore, that he was in search of plants, which indeed was also true.
In about two hours they arrived at a place where there were four or five
houses, and meeting with an old man, they ventured to make some
enquiries concerning the town. He said that it was far distant; but they
were not to be discouraged in their enterprize, and he, seeing them
proceed in their journey, joined company and went on with them. He
attempted several times to lead them out of the way, but without
success; and at length they came within sight of the houses. The old man
then entered cordially into their party, and conducted them into the
town. The name of it is Samadang; it consists of about four hundred
houses, and is divided by a river of brackish water into two parts, one
of which is called the old town, and the other the new. As soon as they
entered the old town, they met several Indians whom they had seen at the
trading-place, and one of them undertook to carry them over to the new
town, at the rate of two-pence a-head. When the bargain was made, two
very small canoes were produced, in which they embarked; the canoes
being placed along-side of each other, and held together, a precaution
which was absolutely necessary to prevent their oversetting, the
navigation was at length safely performed, though not without some
difficulty; and when they landed in the new town, the people recei