his Caliban had ventured, in
direct violation of an imperial mandate, to kill a fowl for his dinner.

"Rebellion," said the enraged emperor, "is the son of witchcraft, and I
am determined to make an example of the offender."

I became the mediator between these two belligerents. I represented to
his imperial majesty that, as far as the matter of example went, the
severity would lose its effect; for his children were as yet too young
to be corrupted; and, moreover, as his majesty was so well versed in
Scripture, he must know that it was his duty to forgive. "Besides," I
said, "her majesty the queen has a strong arm, and can always assist in
repelling or chastising any future act of aggression or disobedience."
I suspect that the moral code of his majesty was not unlike my own: it
yielded to the necessities of the time. He must have found it
particularly inconvenient not to be on speaking terms with his prime
minister and arch-chancellor, whom he had banished to the opposite side
of the island on pain of death. The sentence was originally for six
months; but on my intercession the delinquent was pardoned and restored
to favour. I felt much self-complacency when I reflected on this
successful instance of my mediatorial power, which had perhaps smothered
a civil war in its birth.

The emperor informed me that an American whaler was lying at the east
side of the island, filling with the oil of the walrus, or sea-horse;
that she had been there at anchor six weeks, and was nearly full. I
asked to be shown to the spot where the --- was wrecked; he took me to
her sad remains. She lay broken in pieces on the rocks; and not far
from her was a mound of earth, on which was placed a painted piece of
board by way of a tombstone. The fate of the vessel, together with the
number of sufferers, were marked in rude but concise characters; I do
not exactly remember the words, but in substance it stated, that
underneath lay the remains of one hundred as fine fellows as ever walked
a plank, and that they had died like British seamen, doing their duty to
the last. This was a melancholy sight, especially to a sailor, who knew
not how soon the same fate awaited him.

We rafted off several casks of water during that day, and on the
following we completed our water, and then ran to the east end of the
island to anchor near and wait for our consort, the whaler, the captain
of which had come in his boat to visit us: I conversed with him,