ess Chickchick. The ship wanted some repairs, and as we hove her
down here, I had plenty of time to become acquainted with the people.
Everything in that island was made of coral. In the first place it was
coral itself, then the reefs which surrounded it were coral, and the
rocks were coral, and the sand was composed of bits of coral. The
palace of the king was built of coral, and so were the houses of the
people, only his was red, which is scarce, and theirs of plebeian white.
It had a very pretty effect, I can assure you. The chairs and tables
would, I doubt not, have been made of coral, only they did not use them;
in fact, their notion of furnishing a house is very different to ours.
A few mats, and baskets, and pipkins are all they require. Their
garments are somewhat scanty too, but the weather is all the year round
so warm that it would be absurd for them to dress up as we do. The
king's dress on grand occasions was a crown of gay-coloured feathers,
and a sort of Scotch kilt of the same material, with a cloak over his
shoulder. The queen also wore a petticoat, and so did little
Chickchick, but not a rap else, nor did they seem to think it was
necessary. The king's name was Rumfiz, and her majesty was called
Pillow. They were an amiable couple, and remarkably fond of each other.
When I observed that everything in the island was made of coral, I did
not mean to say that there were no trees, for there were a great many
very beautiful ones, bread-fruit trees, and cocoa-nuts, and palms, and
many others. I made the acquaintance of his august majesty after I had
been on the island a few days. I was one evening walking by myself some
little way inland, when I found myself almost in front of the king's
palace. He had been snoozing after eating his dinner to get an appetite
for supper, when he was awoke by hearing his courtiers cry out that a
white man was come among them. He jumped up, rubbed his eyes, and
addressed me in the following harangue:--

"You Englishman, why you come now?--Come by-by, eat supper plenty."

"By this I understood that his majesty was inviting me to supper, which
was the fact. I accordingly lighted my pipe, and sat down under a tree
to smoke, while the king got into his hammock again and went to sleep.
Presently a number of courtiers came and spread mats in the shade near
where I was sitting, and others brought baskets filled with bread-fruit,
and cocoa-nuts, and grapes; and the King R