urney. Every moment he
turned good-humouredly to 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 farther 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 new-comer the same extravagant
expression 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, this all-attractive personage, having satisfied his hunger, and
inhaled a few whiffs from a pipe which was handed to him, launched out
into an harangue which completely enchained the attention of his auditors.

Little as I understood of the language, yet from his animated gestures and
the varying expression of his features--reflected as from so many mirrors
in the countenances around him--I could easily discover the nature of those
passions which he sought to arouse. From the frequent recurrenc