d even elegant effect. A slight girdle of
white tappa, scarcely two inches in width, but hanging before and behind
in spreading tassels, composed the entire costume of the stranger.

He advanced surrounded by the islanders, carrying under one arm a small
roll of native cloth, and grasping in his other hand a long and richly
decorated spear. His manner was that of a traveller conscious that he is
approaching a comfortable stage in his journey. Every moment he turned
good-humouredly on the throng around him, and gave some dashing sort of
reply to their incessant queries, which appeared to convulse them with
uncontrollable mirth.

Struck by his demeanour, and the peculiarity of his appearance, so
unlike that of the shaven-crowned and face-tattooed natives in general,
I involuntarily rose as he entered the house, and proffered him a seat
on the mats beside me. But without deigning to notice the civility, or
even the more incontrovertible fact of my existence, the stranger passed
on, utterly regardless of me, and flung himself upon the further end
of the long couch that traversed the sole apartment of Marheyo's
habitation.

Had the belle of the season, in the pride of her beauty and power, been
cut in a place of public resort by some supercilious exquisite, she
could not have felt greater indignation than I did at this unexpected
slight.

I was thrown into utter astonishment. The conduct of the savages had
prepared me to anticipate from every newcomer the same extravagant
expressions of curiosity and regard. The singularity of his conduct,
however, only roused my desire to discover who this remarkable personage
might be, who now engrossed the attention of every one.

Tinor placed before him a calabash of poee-poee, from which the stranger
regaled himself, alternating every mouthful with some rapid exclamation,
which was eagerly caught up and echoed by the crowd that completely
filled the house. When I observed the striking devotion of the natives
to him, and their temporary withdrawal of all attention from myself, I
felt not a little piqued. The glory of Tommo is departed, thought I, and
the sooner he removes from the valley the better. These were my feelings
at the moment, and they were prompted by that glorious principle
inherent in all heroic natures--the strong-rooted determination to have
the biggest share of the pudding or to go without any of it.

Marnoo, that all-attractive personage, having satisfied his hunge