every demonstration of joy. I was sent
for by one of the chiefs, who asked many questions, and as a mark of
his friendship for me, when I was about to return, presented me with a
kind of food called _cha-kak-a_. My present consisted of a piece about
two feet long and six inches in diameter. It is made of a kind of
fruit common among these Islands, and called by the inhabitants,
_bup_. The fruit is scraped very fine, and then laid in the sun until
perfectly dry. Some of the leaves of the tree bearing the fruit, are
then wrapped round a piece of wood, which is the _mould or former_,
and when securely tied with strings, the former is withdrawn, and into
this cylinder of leaves is put the _bup_, which is of a sweet and
pleasant taste.

At the urgent request of the natives, I now adopted their dress.
Having but one pair of trowsers and a shirt left, I laid them by for
bad weather, and put on the costume of a Mulgrave Islander. This
dress, if it may be so called, consists in a broad belt fastened round
the waist, from which is suspended two broad tassels. The belt is made
from the leaves of the _bup tree_, and very ingeniously braided, to
which is attached the tassels, which are made of a coarser material,
being the bark of a small vine, in their language called _aht-aht_.
When the dress is worn, one of the tassels hangs before and the other
behind. The sun, as I expected, burned my skin very much; which the
natives could not account for, as nothing of the kind ever happened
among themselves.

One day there was seen approaching a number of canoes, which we found
were loaded with fish for the chiefs, and to my great joy, Hussey was
one of the passengers. My master accompanied me to see him; and we
anticipated at least a mental feast in each other's society. But of
this enjoyment we were deprived by the natives, who were always uneasy
when we were conversing together.

I learned, however, from Hussey, that the natives had been kind to
him; but before we had an opportunity to communicate to each other our
hopes and fears, he was hurried away. Having now gained considerable
knowledge of their language, I learned that they were afraid that if
we were permitted to hold converse, we should be the means of
provoking the _Supreme God_, _Anit_, to do them some injury.

The bread fruit beginning to ripen, we were all employed in gathering
it; and I will endeavour to give the reader an idea of the process of
preserving it. After th