e natives which had startled me during
the scene at the Ti. They glanced their eyes suspiciously from Marnoo to
me, as if distrusting the nature of an intercourse carried on, as it was,
in a language they could not understand, and they seemed to harbour the
belief that already we had concerted measures calculated to elude their
vigilance.

The lively countenances of these people are wonderfully indicative of the
emotions of the soul, and the imperfections of their oral language are
more than compensated for by the nervous eloquence of their looks and
gestures. I could plainly trace, in every varying expression of their
faces, all those passions which had been thus unexpectedly aroused in
their bosoms.

It required no reflection to convince me, from what was going on, that the
injunction of Marnoo was not to be rashly slighted; and accordingly, great
as was the effort to suppress my feelings, I accosted Mehevi in a
good-humoured tone, with a view of dissipating any ill impression he might
have received. But the ireful, angry chief was not so easily mollified. He
rejected my advances with that peculiarly stern expression I have before
described, and took care by the whole of his behaviour towards me to show
the displeasure and resentment which he felt.

Marnoo, at the other extremity of the house, apparently desirous of making
a diversion in my favour, exerted himself to amuse with his pleasantries
the crowd about him; but his lively attempts were not so successful as
they had previously been, and, foiled in his efforts, he rose gravely to
depart. No one expressed any regret at this movement, so seizing his roll
of tappa, and grasping his spear, he advanced to the front of the pi-pi,
and waving his hand in adieu to the now silent throng, cast upon me a
glance of mingled pity and reproach, and flung himself into the path which
led from the house. I watched his receding figure until it was lost in the
obscurity of the grove, and then gave myself up to the most desponding
reflections.

CHAPTER XVIII

Reflection after Marnoo's departure--Battle of the pop-guns--Strange
conceit of Marheyo--Process of making tappa.

The knowledge I had now obtained as to the intention of the savages deeply
affected me.

Marnoo, I perceived, was a man who, by reason of his superior
acquirements, and the knowledge he possessed of the events which were
taking place in the differe