a young man very handsomely dressed in crimson
silk, who held in his hands an English finger-glass. We were very much
at a loss to know what his office might be, and also what might be the
office of the finger-glass; but our curiosity was soon gratified; the
sultan beckoned the youth to approach, and as the latter presented the
finger-glass, his highness blew his nose in it.

Indeed, the misappropriation of English utensils in this part of the
world is very absurd, although it is not surprising that an article
coming into their hands, the use of which they have no idea of, should
be appropriated to that use which they consider it best adapted to. On
the occasion of a dinner given to us by the sultan of Bruni, the whole
party were seized with a fit of very indecorous and immoderate laughter,
by finding the centre dish, which was a curry, served up in a capacious
vessel, which in Europe is only to be found under a bed. The curry,
nevertheless, was excellent; and what matter did it make? "What's in a
name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet."--But to return.

We remained eight days at Sooloo, during which time there was much
altercation and excitement. At last the sultan of Sooloo agreed to send
a prahu with us to pilot us up the river, to the town where the crew of
the Premier were in durance.

During the time that we were at Sooloo, we had evidence sufficient of
the vindictive feeling held by the rabble against Europeans, and at the
same time the various ways they resorted to, to give us an idea of their
superiority. They drew our attention to some old cannon mounted on
rotten gun-carriages; they pointed out the strength of their fort, the
sharpness of their krisses and spears; and we could not but smile at the
false estimate of their and our capabilities. They expressed curiosity
to see our swords, which are always made of finely tempered steel,
although not sharp edged, as they are required more for thrusting and
parrying. Of our mode of self-defence they are ignorant, as they
invariably cut with their krisses; their first attention was, therefore,
drawn to the edge of the sword; passing the thumb along it, and finding
it blunt, they expressed the greatest contempt for the weapon. It was
useless to show them the thrust and parry movements, or to prove the
well-tempered steel by bending the blade till the hilt and point were
almost meeting. A sharp iron hoop in their ideas was preferable to all
the best Eng