isadoed round, instead of a stone wall. At
length, after walking several miles, we came to one larger than common;
near to which was a large house belonging to an old chief, in our company.
At this house we were desired to stop, which we accordingly did, and were
treated with fruit, &c.

We were no sooner seated in the house, than the eldest of the priests began
a speech or prayer, which was first directed to the _Afiatouca_, and
then to me, and alternately. When he addressed me, he paused at every
sentence, till I gave a nod of approbation. I, however, did not understand
one single word he said. At times, the old gentleman seemed to be at a loss
what to say, or perhaps his memory failed him; for, every now and then, he
was prompted by one of the other priests who sat by him. Both during this
prayer and the former one, the people were silent, but not attentive. At
this last place we made but a short stay. Our guides conducted us down to
our boat, and we returned with Attago to our ship to dinner. We had no
sooner got on board, than an old gentleman came alongside, who, I
understood from Attago, was some king or great man. He was, accordingly,
ushered on board; when I presented him with such things as he most valued
(being the only method to make him my friend,) and seated him at table to
dinner. We now saw that he was a man of consequence; for Attago would not
sit down and eat before him, but got to the other end of the table; and, as
the old chief was almost blind, he sat there, and eat with his back towards
him. After the old man had eaten a bit of fish, and drank two glasses of
wine, he returned ashore. As soon as Attago had seen him out of the ship,
he came and took his place at table, finished his dinner, and drank two
glasses of wine. When dinner was over, we all went ashore, where we found
the old chief, who presented me with a hog; and he and some others took a
walk with us into the country.

Before we set out, I happened to go down with Attago to the landing-place,
and there found Mr Wales in a laughable, though distressed situation. The
boats which brought us on shore, not being able to get near the landing-
place for want of a sufficient depth of water, he pulled off his shoes and
stockings to walk through, and as soon as he got on dry land, he put them
down betwixt his legs to put on again, but they were instantly snatched
away by a person behind him, who immediately mixed with the crowd. It was
impossible f