e, and I could not venture to advise him to imitate my
conduct, as I thought, very probably, should I do so, that both of us
would fail in saving our lives by it. He, however, seeing the fate
which had befallen our companions by refusing to walk on willingly,
proceeded wherever his guards chose to lead him.

After passing through woods and large patches of cultivated ground, we
reached a village of considerable size, and were led to what I supposed
was the house of the principal chief, the father of the young man who
had captured us. It stood on a raised platform of stone, and was built
entirely of wood, with elliptical ends, the beams ornamented with
coloured cocoa-nut plait. The side walls were solid, with windows, the
frames of which were bound together to represent a kind of fluting, and
which had a very ornamented appearance. The interior was divided into
several compartments by screens of native cloth dyed with turmeric; and
as the children and several of the people were painted with the same
pigment, the whole had a very yellow appearance. The front and back of
the edifice were formed of long laths, bent like a bow, and thatched
with cocoa-nut leaves, something like the front of some bathing-machines
in England. Under the roof, supported by beams, was a floor of
lattice-work, which seemed to be the store-room of the house, as bundles
of cloth and articles of various sorts were piled up there; while on the
ground were scattered different utensils for cooking or eating from--
such as bowls of glazed crockery of native manufacture, and plenty of
well-made mats. On one of the walls were hung up some strings of whale
teeth--articles which pass for money among those people.

At one end of the chief hall, on a pile of mats, sat a stout old man,
with a huge turban and large beard and moustache, and wrapped in thick
folds of native cloth. Savage as he looked, there was a good deal of
dignity and intelligence about him. Keeping up the character I had
assumed, I instantly began to salaam, as I had seen the Moors do, and to
turn about on one leg, and then to leap and spring up, and clap my
hands, singing out "Whallop-ado-ahoo!--Erin-go-bragh!" at the top of my
voice, in a way to astonish the natives, if it did not gain their
respect. My heart all the time felt as if it would break with shame and
terror--with shame, at having to behave so, and with terror, lest I
should, after all, not succeed.

The old chief and