s resigned
himself without resistance to be the milch-cow of the passing trader.
His efforts have been even heroic. Like Nakaeia of Makin, he has owned
schooners. More fortunate than Nakaeia, he has found captains. Ships of
his have sailed as far as to the colonies. He has trafficked direct, in
his own bottoms, with New Zealand. And even so, even there, the
world-enveloping dishonesty of the white man prevented him; his profit
melted, his ship returned in debt, the money for the insurance was
embezzled, and when the _Coronet_ came to be lost, he was astonished to
find he had lost all. At this he dropped his weapons; owned he might as
hopefully wrestle with the winds of heaven; and like an experienced
sheep, submitted his fleece thenceforward to the shearers. He is the
last man in the world to waste anger on the incurable; accepts it with
cynical composure; asks no more in those he deals with than a certain
decency of moderation; drives as good a bargain as he can; and when he
considers he is more than usually swindled, writes it in his memory
against the merchant's name. He once ran over to me a list of captains
and supercargoes with whom he had done business, classing them under
three heads: "He cheat a litty"--"He cheat plenty"--and "I think he
cheat too much." For the first two classes he expressed perfect
toleration; sometimes, but not always, for the third. I was present when
a certain merchant was turned about his business, and was the means
(having a considerable influence ever since the bag) of patching up the
dispute. Even on the day of our arrival there was like to have been a
hitch with Captain Reid: the ground of which is perhaps worth recital.
Among goods exported specially for Tembinok' there is a beverage known
(and labelled) as Hennessy's brandy. It is neither Hennessy, nor even
brandy; it is about the colour of sherry, but is not sherry; tastes of
kirsch, and yet neither is it kirsch. The king, at least, has grown used
to this amazing brand, and rather prides himself upon the taste; and any
substitution is a double offence, being at once to cheat him and to cast
a doubt upon his palate. A similar weakness is to be observed in all
connoisseurs. Now, the last case sold by the _Equator_ was found to
contain a different and I would fondly fancy a superior distillation;
and the conversation opened very black for Captain Reid. But Tembinok'
is a moderate man. He was reminded and admitted that all men were liabl