r
where he perceived it to differ from his own. Very early in the day, for
instance, he ceased eating with his knife. It was plain he was
determined in all things to wring profit from our visit, and chiefly
upon etiquette. The quality of his white visitors puzzled and concerned
him; he would bring up name after name, and ask if its bearer were a
"big chiep," or even a "chiep" at all--which, as some were my excellent
good friends, and none were actually born in the purple, became at times
embarrassing. He was struck to learn that our classes were
distinguishable by their speech, and that certain words (for instance)
were tapu on the quarter-deck of a man-of-war; and he begged in
consequence that we should watch and correct him on the point. We were
able to assure him that he was beyond correction. His vocabulary is apt
and ample to an extraordinary degree. God knows where he collected it,
but by some instinct or some accident he has avoided all profane or
gross expressions. "Obliged," "stabbed," "gnaw," "lodge," "power,"
"company," "slender," "smooth," and "wonderful," are a few of the
unexpected words that enrich his dialect. Perhaps what pleased him most
was to hear about saluting the quarter-deck of a man-of-war. In his
gratitude for this hint he became fulsome. "Schooner cap'n no tell me,"
he cried; "I think no tavvy! You tavvy too much; tavvy 'teama', tavvy
man-a-wa'. I think you tavvy everything." Yet he gravelled me often
enough with his perpetual questions; and the false Mr. Barlow stood
frequently exposed before the royal Sandford. I remember once in
particular. We were showing the magic-lantern; a slide of Windsor Castle
was put in, and I told him there was the "outch" of Victoreea. "How many
pathom he high?" he asked, and I was dumb before him. It was the
builder, the indefatigable architect of palaces, that spoke; collector
though he was, he did not collect useless information; and all his
questions had a purpose. After etiquette, government, law, the police,
money, and medicine were his chief interests--things vitally important
to himself as a king and the father of his people. It was my part not
only to supply new information, but to correct the old. "My patha he
tell me," or "White man he tell me," would be his constant beginning;
"You think he lie?" Sometimes I thought he did. Tembinok' once brought
me a difficulty of this kind, which I was long of comprehending. A
schooner captain had told him of Captain