n rags when I was taken off
the island, but my friends, the midshipmen of the _Star_, had rigged me
out completely while I was on board, and supplied me with the luxury of
clean linen, which I had not enjoyed for a long time. I had so many
matters of interest to mention during my stay on the island, that I did
not describe how Tom and I had to wash our shirts, and to sit without
them while they were drying, and to mend our clothes and shoes with bits
of sail-cloth, and how we made hats of leaves; indeed, we looked very
much like two young Robinson Crusoes by the time we went on board the
_Star_. I was now comfortably dressed, but as I had no right to wear a
naval uniform, I was anxious to get a suit of plain clothes as soon as
possible. I should have said that we had given Captain Armstrong a full
description of the slaver which had visited our island, and of Captain
Hansleig, and he said that he should keep a sharp look-out for him, and
try to ascertain his haunts that he might catch him if he could.
Passing under the frowning batteries of the old fortifications, we
landed at a handsome wharf among a crowd of people of various tints,
from the white skin of the European to the ebon one of the sons of
Africa, and habited in every variety of Eastern costume--Englishmen in
white dresses wisely shading their heads under japanned umbrellas;
Parsees, Chinese, Caffres, and Chetties from the coast of Coromandel,
wearing prodigious ear-rings, and with most peculiar head-dresses; then
there were Malays, Malabars, and Moors, Buddhist priests in yellow
robes; Moodhars, Mohandirams, and other native chiefs, habited in richly
embroidered dresses with jewelled swords and pistols.

At first I thought that there were a number of women standing about, for
the people, I saw, had their hair drawn back off their foreheads and
fastened up in a bunch behind, with a large comb stuck in it, while they
wore what looked very like petticoats. Captain Armstrong laughed at a
remark made to him on the subject, and assured me that they were men,
and they were dressed in the usual style of the country, which had
probably existed for many hundred years. Their features are generally
delicate, and as many of them have no beards they have often a very
effeminate appearance. The women dress much in the same way, and wear a
loose white muslin jacket which covers the body, and they seem to
delight in loading themselves with jewels. The children, though