ience, and as what he has often occasion to recommend to others,
takes the liberty of prescribing a tooth-powder, equal in comfort,
efficacy, and safety, to any sold in the shops under such pompous and
imposing titles. It consists of equal parts of lump-sugar, (the finer
the better) Spanish or French chalk, (which is in fact lime) rose-pink,
(for the purpose of colouring, and also as an absorbent) and oris-root,
(remarkable for its pleasant smell, and to be had in the perfumers' or
druggists' shops, ready powdered) all in very fine powder, and properly
mixed together. A box of this never-to-be-excelled dentifrice, may cost
two-pence, or so, for which, however, or for something else not a whit
better, if as good, they who choose may give half-a-crown. When the
teeth are already tolerably clean, and not encrusted with what is called
tartar, a soft brush is always to be preferred, as risking the enamel
less. Hard brushes and gritty powders ruin more teeth than all the sugar
and lime in the world. Charcoal is undoubtedly a good substitute for a
_tooth-powder_; but it is to be objected to as leaving black furrows in
the gums, which even much washing fails to remove in any reasonable
time. This is a good deal obviated when it forms but a part of the
article used. It may be mixed with the powder recommended.--E.]

If the people here are at any time without this odious mouthful, they
are smoking. This operation they perform by rolling up a small quantity
of tobacco, and putting it into one end of a tube about six inches long,
and as thick as a goose-quill, which they make of a palm leaf. As the
quantity of tobacco in these pipes is very small, the effect of it is
increased, especially among the women, by swallowing the smoke.

When the natives of this island were first formed into civil society, is
not certainly known, but at present it is divided into five
principalities or nigrees: _Laai_, _Seba_, _Regeeua_, _Timo_, and
_Massara_, each of which is governed by its respective raja or king. The
raja of Seba, the principality in which we were ashore, seemed to have
great authority, without much external parade or show, or much
appearance of personal respect. He was about five-and-thirty years of
age, and the fattest man we saw upon the whole island; he appeared to
be of a dull phlegmatic disposition, and to be directed almost
implicitly by the old man who, upon my presenting him with a sword, had
procured us a fair market, in spi