When seated beside Captain Maxwell, the Prince made several anxious enquiries about his finger, expressing much regret that so disagreeable an accident should have occurred at Loo-choo. He then called to his pipe-bearer, and having prepared a pipe, presented it to Captain Maxwell, who returned him this compliment, by giving him one of his own.
The usual questions as to our ages and families, and various complimentary speeches, having pa.s.sed, he said he had heard much of the wonders of the ship, and should like to see them himself: he rose upon this and went to the globes, which he examined with great care. He begged to be shewn Ingeree, Loo-choo, Quantoong (China); Niphon (j.a.pan); Manilla, and Pekin. The chiefs would not sit down in his presence, and never spoke to him without kneeling. On his expressing a wish to look at the different parts of the ship, he was conducted all round the decks.
He observed every thing with attention, but without betraying any great degree of curiosity: he had heard of the boatswain"s wife, and asked to see her; the lady, in her best dress, was presented to him; he stood for about half a minute looking at her with a sort of pleased surprise, and then, as if suddenly recollecting that this was somewhat rude, he drew his fan from his breast, and with an air of the utmost politeness, held it towards her, and upon Mrs. Loy curtsying in acknowledgment, he sent it to her by Madera. He asked to see the fire-engine worked, and appeared much gratified by seeing the water thrown to so great a height. He had heard of the African negro, and begged that he might be sent for. When the black man was brought before him he looked exceedingly surprised, and probably was in doubt whether the colour was natural, as one of his people was sent to rub his face, as if to discover whether it was painted or not. The natives, who had flocked on board in crowds, fell on their knees whenever the Prince pa.s.sed.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PRINCE of LOO-CHOO.]
On returning to the cabin, the Prince was invited to a collation prepared for him in the foremost cabin: for a long time he refused to sit down, nor could we conjecture what his objection was; at length, however, he complied, while the chiefs, who are neither allowed to sit down nor eat in his presence, retired to the after-cabin. He tasted every thing which was offered him, but seemed afraid of the wines, having probably heard of the proceedings on the evening of the 19th. In about half an hour he rose and went to the after-cabin; the chiefs and the people of his suite, to the number of fifteen, then sat down at the table he had left, and made ample amends for the temperance and moderation of his royal highness.
As soon as they rejoined the party in the after-cabin, business was entered upon by Captain Maxwell"s returning thanks, in the name of the English government, for the liberal way in which we had been supplied with every kind of refreshment, and for the other a.s.sistance which had been given to us. The Prince replied, that the King of Loo-choo was anxious to do every thing in his power for the King of England"s ships.
Upon this Captain Maxwell observed, that he was very desirous of seeing his majesty, for the purpose of expressing in person his grat.i.tude for the kindness we had received in this country. The Prince answered, that it was contrary to the laws and customs of Loo-choo, for any foreigner to see the king, unless sent by his own sovereign, and charged with complimentary presents. Coming from such high authority, this a.s.surance was conclusive, and as nothing further could now be said on the subject, the hope of opening a communication with this court, which had been so anxiously desired, seemed now destroyed. The Prince, however, unexpectedly resumed the subject, by saying that a letter would be written to the King of England, if Captain Maxwell would undertake to deliver it; his answer was, that nothing could give him more satisfaction than being made the bearer of such a communication: that he had earnestly desired the honour of paying his respects to his majesty, but from the moment that he had heard that it was contrary to the customs of the country, he had ceased to think of it. As soon as it was interpreted that Captain Maxwell was willing to carry the letter alluded to, and that he no longer urged his desire to see the King, the Prince rose and pressed Captain Maxwell"s hand and mine between his, while all the chiefs fell on their knees in a circle round us, shewing by the expression of their countenances, how great the anxiety had been from which they were relieved by Captain Maxwell"s ready acquiescence with their wishes: the Prince in particular, who had hitherto looked full of anxiety, became all cheerfulness, and his manner a.s.sumed a totally different character.
The inference from this curious scene is, that the real object of the Prince"s visit was to dissuade Captain Maxwell from urging his request to be allowed an interview with the King; and we conjectured that the circ.u.mstance of his accident was taken advantage of to pay a visit to the Alceste, where they naturally thought that the remonstrances of a man of such high rank as the Heir Apparent to the throne, would carry more weight than any which had yet been tried.
When the Prince again alluded to the letter, it appeared that it was to be written by the minister, and not by the King. This altered the case materially, and Captain Maxwell most respectfully informed the Prince, that such a letter as he described could not be received, as it would be an indignity to our sovereign to offer his majesty a letter written by another king"s minister. The Prince at once seemed sensible of the propriety of what Captain Maxwell had said, and calling the chiefs round him, entered into a long discussion with them: at the close of which, he declared himself incompetent to decide upon so important an occasion, but said that he would consult with the King, whose pleasure would be communicated in a few days. Captain Maxwell expressed his willingness to abide by his majesty"s decision as far as was consistent with the respect due to his own sovereign. The Prince seemed entirely satisfied with this answer, and said something to the chiefs, upon which they again fell on their knees before Captain Maxwell, notwithstanding all his efforts to prevent them. Nothing more of any consequence pa.s.sed.
In the early part of the interview the present was brought in, or at least such parts of it as were capable of being thus displayed. The whole consisted of two bullocks, three hogs, three goats, and a quant.i.ty of vegetables and fruit; besides fifteen webs of the cloth of the island, thirty fans, and twelve pipes. The Prince said he had sent a present to me, which I found to consist of half the above mentioned things. He shortly afterwards rose to take leave. The rigging was manned on his going away, and similar honours were paid him as were shewn when he came on board.
The Prince of Loo-choo, whose name is Shang Pung Fwee, and t.i.tle Pochin Tay Foo, belongs to the highest of the nine orders of chiefs on the islands, the distinction of which rank is a hatchee-matchee of a pink ground, with perpendicular rows of black, yellow, blue, white, and green spots. He was clothed in a robe of light blue silk, lined with silk a shade lighter, over which he wore a girdle richly embossed with flowers of gold and different coloured silks: in other respects his dress was like that of the chiefs. He is about fifty years old, his beard is full and white, and his figure well proportioned. In manners he is genteel and sedate, but occasionally a little awkward, which his retired habits sufficiently account for. Towards the close of his visit, when his reserve had in some degree worn off, we observed him smile for an instant, now and then, with a shrewd expression in his eyes, as if he was observing what was pa.s.sing more narrowly than we at first suspected.
It was thought, too, that in making inquiries about different things on board, he shewed more discrimination than most of those who had preceded him; but on the whole, there was nothing very interesting in him besides his rank. While he was looking over the books and other things in the cabin, a picture of his majesty King George the Third was shewn to him.
As the interpreter was not present, we could not immediately explain who it was intended to represent, till it occurred to us to join our hands and bow to it in the Loo-choo manner: the Prince instantly saw what was meant, and turning towards the picture, made a low and respectful obeisance.
His suite consisted of several chiefs whom we had not seen before, and six or seven personal attendants, two of whom stood behind to fan him and light his pipe. It is curious that these men, who from their dress and manner were certainly servants, derived a sort of rank from being about the Prince"s person; for when the chiefs sat down to table after he had left it, they all stood by as if expecting to be invited to sit down also; but Mr. Clifford, to whom Captain Maxwell had given the party in charge, having observed how particular they were with respect to the distinctions of rank, did not think of asking them to be seated, till Jeema requested him to do so; still suspecting some mistake, he applied to Madera, who said it was perfectly correct, and they were accordingly asked to sit down with the rest.
We had never been able to obtain from the natives any clear account of former visitors, and as the Prince was thought a likely person to be in possession of the desired information, questions were asked him upon this subject. He said that a vessel had been here about twenty years ago, and that she went away immediately without holding any communication with the court. This must have been the schooner in which Captain Broughton visited Napakiang in July, 1797, after he had been wrecked in his majesty"s ship Providence, on the island of Typinsan[13].
He said that he knew of no other stranger who had visited Loo-choo. On being interrogated as to the knowledge of other countries, he declared that they knew nothing of the English or French, or any nation indeed but the Chinese, Corean, and j.a.panese. Something was said about Manilla, and from its not being very remote, it is possible that some communication may have existed between that place and Loo-choo. Their accounts, however, were vague and unsatisfactory, and it is not impossible that we ourselves may have first suggested the name, and afterwards ascribed the use of it to them[14].
Nothing, however, that occurred to-day, attracted more notice than Madera"s a.s.sumption of his long concealed rank. He came for the first time dressed in the robes and hatchee-matchee of a chief, and not only took precedence of all our old friends, but during the discussion in the cabin with the Prince, maintained a decided superiority over them all.
While all the rest were embarra.s.sed in the Prince"s presence, and crouching on their knees every time they spoke, Madera, though always respectful, was quite at his ease; and we could not help fancying that he addressed the Prince as if accustomed to his society. It was no less remarkable, that the Prince referred much oftener to him than to any of the rest, and listened to what he said with greater attention. Whether Madera owed such distinction to his actual rank, which may have placed him about the court, or to the ascendancy of his talents, or to the accidental circ.u.mstance of his having had better opportunities of knowing us than any other of the natives, we could never discover. He admitted, when interrogated, that he had often seen the Prince before, while the other chiefs confessed their ignorance even of his person, before to-day.
As soon as the Prince was placed in his chair and carried away, Madera came on board, and entered with great good humour into all the jokes which were made upon his new character. He declined telling why he had kept his rank so long out of sight, but it was sufficiently obvious that his main object was to establish an intimacy with all the different cla.s.ses on board the ships, and in this he completely succeeded; for he had gradually advanced in his acquaintance, first with the sailors, then the midshipmen, next with the officers, and last of all with the captains. By this means he gained the confidence and good will of each cla.s.s as he went along; and by rising in consequence every day, instead of putting forward all his claims at once, acquired not only substantial importance with us, but gained a much more intimate knowledge of our character and customs than he could have hoped to do in any other way.
24th of October.--Mr. Clifford went along with me to-day for the purpose of sketching the bridge, which, though not above three hundred yards from the landing place, the chiefs have always objected to our examining. We took Jeeroo with us without telling him our object, which he no sooner discovered than he became quite alarmed, and sent off for Madera, who came to us immediately, and upon learning that nothing further was proposed than a mere examination of the bridge, he said that we might go on; having first made us promise solemnly not to go any further. While Madera was binding us down in this way, I expressed some little impatience at his doubting our simple declaration of nothing more being intended than what we avowed; but his duty I suppose was imperative, and he would not leave us till the matter was arranged in his own way. As soon as he was satisfied on this point he said something to Jeeroo and left us; but turning back again, he came up to Mr.
Clifford, and whispered, "captain no sulky?" meaning, we supposed, to express his apprehension that I had been angry at the stipulations so positively required by him. Mr. Clifford, having a.s.sured him that I was not sulky with him, detained him to ask him what it was he feared? what he had seen in us to excite such dread of our going near the town? He replied, "Loochoo woman see Ingeree man, Loochoo woman cry!" He then returned; and Jeeroo, who remained in a boat close to the bridge while I was employed measuring it and drawing it stone by stone, was greatly interested by Mr. Clifford"s account of the great age of our venerable Sovereign, and the number of his family, which excited his astonishment and admiration. He conversed freely while the subject was the King of England, but the moment the slightest turn in the discourse was made towards the King of Loo-choo he drew up, and became impenetrable. "He did not know," he said, "how old he was, nor how many children he had;"
in short he seemed scarcely to admit that he had ever heard any thing about him.
From Madera, however, who had no concealments, we learnt afterwards that the King has only one wife, but has twelve concubines; he is an old man, and has seven children. It is curious that none of the chiefs will inform Captain Maxwell whether or not the Prince who visited the ships yesterday has any children; it is hardly possible that they can be ignorant of the fact; but either they are kept strangely in the dark as to what pa.s.ses in the palace, or they carry their reserve on royal topics to a singular length.
From the bridge we went to the top of the hill above the well, where Jeeroo sung several songs. On the way up we stopped at one of the large horse-shoe tombs mentioned before, which resembles in all respects the tombs of China. On this similarity being pointed out to Jeeroo, he became anxious to explain that it was a Loo-choo tomb, and not exclusively Chinese; meaning probably that Loo-choo persons were contained in it. He informed us that these tombs did not contain a single person only, or a single generation, but were used as cemeteries from age to age. The bodies, according to his account, are put into coffins, and allowed to lie untouched for seven years, by which time the flesh is entirely decayed; the bones are then collected, and being put into cases are preserved by the families of the deceased with great care.
25th of October.--This being the anniversary of His Majesty"s accession to the throne, the ships were dressed in colours, and a royal salute fired. Upon the natives this produced a great effect; they had never seen any other flags than the single ensigns hoisted on Sundays, and this display of several hundred flags was well calculated to surprise and delight them. They were informed some days before that there would be some ceremonies in honour of our King, and great numbers of people had a.s.sembled on the sh.o.r.e in consequence. This morning had also been fixed upon for returning the Prince"s visit; accordingly we left the Alceste at one o"clock, forming a procession of four boats, with flags in each. Captain Maxwell took twelve of his officers and young gentlemen, and six accompanied me from the Lyra, all being dressed in full uniform. We entered the harbour, and landed at the same part of the causeway as before, where the chiefs were in attendance, as on the occasion of our visit on the 23d ult.
The Prince advanced a few yards on the outside of the gate, and having taken Captain Maxwell"s hand, conducted him to the temple, where an ingenious device was adopted to preserve the etiquette, requiring that none of inferior rank shall sit down in the Prince"s company. The temple was divided into three rooms by ranges of columns, which were deemed a sufficient separation; and, at the same time, no person in the other rooms could feel himself slighted by the exclusion, since the division by the pillars was merely nominal. The feast was sumptuous, consisting of twelve regular courses, besides tea and sackee. There were many new dishes, princ.i.p.ally of meat, dressed in various ways in large bowls. We saw what seemed to be wheaten bread for the first time to-day. It being necessary to make some return for the presents brought on board by the Prince two days ago, Captain Maxwell now gave him several pieces of scarlet and blue superfine cloth, and samples of every species of cloths, from the finest damask to the coa.r.s.est sail canvas; also a set of cut crystal decanters and gla.s.ses, and three dozen of wine of ten different sorts, with several books, and a number of smaller articles.
It was also stated to the Prince, that a cow and calf had been left on sh.o.r.e in order to be offered to the King as a small mark of our sense of the kindness which we had experienced. The Prince expressed much satisfaction at this gift, as the calf had become a great favourite with the natives. My present consisted of half the quant.i.ty of wine given by Captain Maxwell, a mirror taken from a dressing-stand, samples of English stationary, Cary"s map of England, an atlas, and a small bra.s.s s.e.xtant; which latter present had been suggested by the wonder which it had invariably excited at the observatory. Mr. John Maxwell, to whom the Prince had sent a present of cloth and pipes after he landed yesterday, gave him a spy-gla.s.s and a map of London; the map was coloured, and round the edges were the palaces, Greenwich Hospital, and other public buildings, all of which he examined with great attention. After he had looked over most of the things, and was satisfied with the explanations, he rose and said that a great deal too much had been given, to which it was replied, that a great deal too little had been given, and that they were not offered as being, in any respect, an equivalent for the supplies sent on board, but merely to shew our sense of the kindness and attention with which we had been received[15]. During the time that we sat at table to-day, the interpreter was hardly ever called in, as Madera and Mr. Clifford contrived between them to explain every thing, if not as clearly as could have been wished, yet in a more satisfactory manner than could have been done through the medium of John the Chinaman, of whose fidelity we were nowise certain, and whose taste and delicacy in conveying our sentiments we had great reason to doubt.
The Prince, after a time, rose and proposed the King of England"s health, which was accordingly drank in a cup of sackee. In return we gave the King of Loo-choo. As the surgeon had desired Captain Maxwell to drink no wine, there was very little drank at the Prince"s table; but at the others every art was used to circulate the sackee pot. Indeed, little persuasion was required, for the sackee, though not strong, was very good. Ookooma presided at the table occupied by the officers, and Jeero at that where the midshipmen sat.
Ookooma having remarked on board, that whenever the King"s health was drank, whether his Majesty of England, or of Loo-choo, the cups were always freely emptied, took advantage of this loyalty of sentiment, and gave "The King of Injeree"s health" three or four times over, to which, of course, the officers were obliged to reply, by giving "The King of Loo-choo" as often. He carried this rather farther than is customary with us on similar occasions, for observing that the company were rather backward in eating a bowl of sweet rice-meal porridge, he stood up with his bowl in his hand, and calling out "King of Injeree health!"
swallowed the whole of it, and invited the rest to follow his example.
The Prince seemed to enjoy the mirth of the other tables very much; he was himself more cheerful and disengaged than when we first saw him, though he appears to be naturally a silent man. Ookooma, by overacting his part, got, we thought, a little tipsy, and came several times into the state chamber, talking louder than was proper, but of this the Prince took no notice. When Ookooma came near my chair, I whispered to him, "Ya weetee," (you are drunk;) he turned round, and affecting to be angry, called out, "Weetee nang," (I am not drunk) in a voice and manner which were in direct contradiction to his a.s.sertion: his subsequent behaviour, however, was so correct and sedate when the feast broke up, and all were again upon duty, that he was probably merely pretending to be tipsy, in order to suit what was considered to be the humour of the company.
On rising to depart, the Prince led Captain Maxwell by the hand, not only through the gate, but about twenty yards along the causeway; here he stopped and took leave. Captain Maxwell availed himself of this opportunity to repeat, for the last time, his thanks in the name of his government, for the numerous attentions and marks of kindness which we had received. He requested that what he had said might be communicated to the King, and a.s.sured the Prince, in the most earnest and respectful manner, that all the circ.u.mstances of our reception and entertainment should be stated to our own government. The Prince bowed to this in a manner which seemed to express his satisfaction at what was promised.
Captain Maxwell next observed, that besides the high public benefits of which he had just been speaking, he felt individually greatly honoured and obliged by the particular attention which had been shewn to himself, and to the captain of the little ship, and hoped that the Prince would accept from himself a small mark of his respect and grat.i.tude. As soon as this was interpreted to the Prince, Captain Maxwell took from his neck a small thermometer, set in silver, and presented it to the Prince, who leaned his head forward, and requested that it might be hung round his neck.
This may be supposed a curious place to hang a thermometer, but we had learned during our intercourse with the chiefs, that some management of this kind was necessary whenever it was intended to offer them presents; for their extreme delicacy made them unwilling to accept any thing of value, lest it might appear in the light of remuneration for their hospitality. Whenever any thing merely ornamental, or of little value, was offered, and particularly if worn about the person, no objection was made to receiving it. It thus became the practice, as being the most convenient method, to tie the proposed gift by a ribbon round the neck; and after a time, every one had rings, seals, watch-keys, or bank tokens with holes drilled in them, prepared for these occasions. The thermometer which was given to the Prince had particularly attracted his notice when he was on board.
After Captain Maxwell had given his present, the Prince turned to me, and I put over his neck a cornelian ornament, suspended by a ribbon, in the same manner as the thermometer.
He was greatly delighted with these compliments, and immediately resuming Captain Maxwell"s hand, led him along the whole length of the causeway to the boat, and then stepped upon the top of the parapet to see us row away.
As soon as we had put off, every one in the boats stood up and gave three cheers; to which the Prince bowed several times, with his hands closed and raised to his breast. He remained on the parapet, and continued waving his fan to us as we rowed down the harbour, as long as we could see him. As the boats rowed in procession out of the harbour, all the chiefs ran along to the end of the causeway, where they continued, along with a vast crowd of natives, waving their handkerchiefs and fans till we were a great way from the sh.o.r.e. On each side of this group of chiefs a gong was beat incessantly. On every side, the rocks, the trees, houses, and boats, in short, every spot was crowded with people, waving their hands, and cheering us as we went along. This brilliant scene had less of novelty in it, to be sure, than what we had witnessed at the same place on the twenty-third of last month, but it was still more pleasing, for we had now become acquainted with many of the individuals forming this a.s.semblage, and could feel a.s.sured that their expressions of kindness and respect were sincere. On the first occasion, too, the natives being ignorant of our intentions, were very generally alarmed at our appearance; and accordingly, though there was much curiosity shewn, a profound silence and stillness prevailed over the whole crowd, very different from the friendly shouts and signs with which they greeted us as we pa.s.sed among them to-day.
Precautions had been taken to prevent the ladies from indulging their curiosity as they had done on the first visit, not a female being seen any where.
26th of October.--Last night both the Alceste and Lyra were illuminated.
At nine o"clock a _feu de joie_ was fired, and a number of fire-works let off from the yard-arms. A great concourse of the natives, who had been apprised of our intentions, a.s.sembled on the sh.o.r.e, and were very highly delighted with this brilliant exhibition.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SCENE after the PRINCE of LOO CHOO"S FEAST.]
The sick, as well as the remaining stores belonging to the Alceste, were removed on board this morning, and every preparation made for sea. While employed in completing the series of observations at the observatory, Madera joined us, having in his hand the s.e.xtant which I had given to the Prince yesterday. It seemed that he had been ordered to make himself acquainted with the use of it; and a more hopeless enterprise could not have been proposed to any man. But Madera was not a man to be thrown into despair by difficulty; on the contrary, he persevered in observing with this s.e.xtant, and the more the difficulty was made apparent, the more keenly he laboured to overcome it. The progress which he made in a few hours in the mere practical operation of taking angles and alt.i.tudes was not surprising, because there is in fact not much difficulty in it; but he was nowise satisfied with this proficiency, and seemed anxious to apply his knowledge to some useful purpose.
With a s.e.xtant on a stand, I made him take the distance between the sun and moon, four or five times; on every occasion he was wonderfully near the truth. We endeavoured to confine him to one object, merely to ascertain the time of apparent noon; and I think we succeeded in explaining to him how this was to be done. He expressed repeatedly his regret at our approaching departure, in which sentiment he was joined by Jeeroo and the rest of the chiefs, who were quite out of spirits.
Jeeroo, poor fellow, had prepared a handsome dinner for us under a tree near the observatory. He made us drink what he called "wackarittee," or the parting cup, several times over. We had a number of visitors at the observatory, who saw the instruments packed up and sent off with looks of real regret. They all said they were sorry we were going away. One man gave Mr. Clifford, as a farewell gift, a curious drawing of the Alceste dressed in flags, and executed, he said, by his son. The children, too, were all much affected by our preparations, and the wonted hilarity of the lower orders was quite gone.
Having taken our final leave of the sh.o.r.e, we went to the Alceste, where we found the chiefs in conference with Captain Maxwell, who made each of the chiefs a present of a cut wine gla.s.s, which he knew they had long desired to possess. To Ookooma he gave a finely cut tumbler, in a red morocco case. This was much beyond his expectations, and perhaps his wishes, for he appeared to observe the wine gla.s.ses of the others with somewhat of a disappointed look. Captain Maxwell perceiving in a moment that Ookooma had set his heart upon a wine gla.s.s, opened the case, and placed one inside the tumbler, to Ookooma"s great satisfaction; and soon afterwards the whole party went on sh.o.r.e, saying, before they left the ship, that in the morning the Bodzes would come on board in order to perform some sacrifice. As they never came, it is probable that the interpreter misunderstood them, particularly as Isaacha Sandoo said to Mr. Clifford, "Acha hoonee nittee Doochoo mang hoonee oocooyoong."
"To-morrow the ships will go, and all the Loo-choo people will pray for them, or wish them well;" which was probably what was meant when the interpreter reported that the Bodzes were to come on board.
While we were at dinner, Madera came into the Alceste"s cabin for the purpose of asking some questions about the s.e.xtant. He had not been aware of our being at dinner, and looked shocked at having intruded; and when invited to sit down, politely, but firmly declined. From the cabin he went to the gun room, to see his friend Mr. Hoppner, the junior lieutenant of the Alceste, with whom he had formed a great friendship.
Mr. Hoppner gave him a picture of the Alceste and some other presents; upon which Madera, who was much affected, said, "To-morrow ship go sea; I go my father house, two day distance: when I see my father, I show him your present, and I tell him, me, Henry Hoppner all same (as) brother,"
and burst into tears!
Sunday, 27th of October.--At daybreak we unmoored, and the natives, on seeing us take up one of our anchors, thought we were going to get under weigh immediately, and give them the slip, which was not at all intended. This alarm, however, brought the chiefs off in a great hurry; not in a body in their usual formal way, but one by one, in separate canoes. Old Jeema called on board the Lyra on his way to the frigate; he was a good deal agitated, and the tears came into his eyes when I put a ring on his finger. He gave me in return his knife.
The other chiefs called alongside on their way to the frigate, but went on when I told them that I was just going to the Alceste myself. In the mean time Madera came on board, with the s.e.xtant in his hand; he was in such distress that he scarcely knew what he was about. In this distracted state he sat down to breakfast with us, during which he continued lighting his pipe and smoking as fast as he could; drinking and eating whatever was placed before him. After he had a little recovered himself, he asked what books it would be necessary to read to enable him to make use of the s.e.xtant; I gave him a nautical almanack, and told him that he must understand that in the first instance: he opened it, and looking at the figures, held up his hands in despair, and was at last forced to confess that it was a hopeless business. He therefore put the s.e.xtant up and bade us farewell. Before he left the Lyra he gave Mr. Clifford his pipe, tobacco pouch, and a crystal ornament; saying, as he held out the last, "You go Ingeree, you give this to your childs."
Mr. Clifford gave him a few presents in return, and expressed his anxiety to be considered his friend. Madera, with the tears streaming down his cheeks, placed his hand several times upon his heart, and cried, "Eed.o.o.s.hee, ed.o.o.s.hee!" My friend, my friend!
To me he gave a fan and a picture of an old man looking up at the sun, drawn, he said, by himself: he probably meant in his picture some allusion to my usual occupation at the observatory. After he had put off in his boat, he called out, "Ingeree noo choo sibittee yootoosha," I shall ever remember the English people. When he went to the Alceste, one of the chiefs remarked that he had neither his hatchee-matchee on nor his robes, and told him that it was not respectful to wait upon Captain Maxwell for the last time, in his ordinary dress; particularly as all the others were in full array. Madera, who, poor fellow, had been too much concerned about other matters to think of dress, was shocked at this apparent want of politeness, and went immediately to apologize to Captain Maxwell, who took him by the hand, and gave him a present, telling him, at the same time, that he was always too happy to see him, to notice what dress he had on.
On going into the cabin, I found the chiefs seated in a row, all very disconsolate, and apparently trying to conceal emotions different, in all probability, from any which they had ever before experienced.
Captain Maxwell had made them his parting present, and I therefore gave to each chief some trifle, receiving from them in return, their knives, pipes, pouches, and fans. In the mean time the anchor was hove up, and every thing being ready for making sail, the chiefs rose to take leave.
Ookooma wished to say something, but was too much affected to speak, and before they reached their boats they were all in tears.
Madera cried bitterly as he shook hands with his numerous friends, who were loading him with presents.
The chiefs, as well as the people in the numerous canoes which had a.s.sembled round the ships, stood up, and continued waving their fans and handkerchiefs till we were beyond the reefs, and could see them no longer.
Almost every thing respecting the manners and customs of Loo-choo, with which we have had an opportunity of becoming acquainted, has been laid before the reader in the foregoing narrative. It is proposed to insert here a few particulars which in the hurry of the moment were noted down without date. They might easily have been embodied with the narrative, but it has been considered of less consequence to sacrifice arrangement, than to interfere in any way with the integrity of the Journal, in which nothing has been inserted out of the exact order in which it is known to have happened.