endeavoured to make
us comprehend the full extent of the kindly feelings by which he was
actuated. The almost insuperable difficulty in communicating to one
another our ideas affected the chief with no little mortification. He
evinced a great desire to be enlightened with regard to the customs and
peculiarities of the far-off country we had left behind us, and to which
under the name of Maneeka he frequently alluded.

But that which more than any other subject engaged his attention was
the late proceedings of the 'Frannee' as he called the French, in the
neighbouring bay of Nukuheva. This seemed a never-ending theme with him,
and one concerning which he was never weary of interrogating us. All the
information we succeeded in imparting to him on this subject was little
more than that we had seen six men-of-war lying in the hostile bay at
the time we had left it. When he received this intelligence, Mehevi, by
the aid of his fingers, went through a long numerical calculation, as if
estimating the number of Frenchmen the squadron might contain.

It was just after employing his faculties in this way that he happened
to notice the swelling in my limb. He immediately examined it with the
utmost attention, and after doing so, despatched a boy who happened to
be standing by with some message.

After the lapse of a few moments the stripling re-entered the house with
an aged islander, who might have been taken for old Hippocrates himself.
His head was as bald as the polished surface of a cocoanut shell, which
article it precisely resembled in smoothness and colour, while a long
silvery beard swept almost to his girdle of bark. Encircling his temples
was a bandeau of the twisted leaves of the Omoo tree, pressed closely
over the brows to shield his feeble vision from the glare of the sun.
His tottering steps were supported by a long slim staff, resembling the
wand with which a theatrical magician appears on the stage, and in
one hand he carried a freshly plaited fan of the green leaflets of the
cocoanut tree. A flowing robe of tappa, knotted over the shoulder, hung
loosely round his stooping form, and heightened the venerableness of his
aspect.

Mehevi, saluting this old gentleman, motioned him to a seat between us,
and then uncovering my limb, desired him to examine it. The leech
gazed intently from me to Toby, and then proceeded to business. After
diligently observing the ailing member, he commenced manipulating it;
and on the