he house plunged in melancholy
reverie, and regardless of everything around me, Toby, who had left me
about an hour, returned in haste, and with great glee told me to cheer up
and be of good heart, for he believed, from what was going on among the
natives, that there were boats approaching the bay.

These tidings operated upon me like magic. The hour of our deliverance was
at hand, and, starting up, I was soon convinced that something unusual was
about to occur. The word "botee! botee!" was vociferated in all
directions; and shouts were heard in the distance, at first feebly and
faintly, but growing louder and nearer at each successive repetition,
until they were caught up by a fellow in a cocoa-nut tree a few yards off,
who, sounding them in turn, they were reiterated from a neighbouring
grove, and so died away gradually from point to point, as the intelligence
penetrated into the farthest recesses of the valley. This was the vocal
telegraph of the islanders; by means of which, condensed items of
information could be carried in a very few minutes from the sea to their
remotest habitation, a distance of at least eight or nine miles. On the
present occasion it was in active operation, one piece of information
following another with inconceivable rapidity.

The greatest commotion now appeared to prevail. At every fresh item of
intelligence the natives betrayed the liveliest interest, and redoubled
the energy with which they employed themselves in collecting fruit to sell
to the expected visitors. Some were tearing off the husks from cocoa-nuts;
some, perched in the trees, were throwing down bread-fruit to their
companions, who gathered them in heaps as they fell; while others were
plying their fingers rapidly in weaving leafen baskets in which to carry
the fruit.

There were other matters, too, going on at the same time. Here you would
see a stout warrior polishing his spear with a bit of old tappa, or
adjusting the folds of the girdle about his waist; and there you might
descry a young damsel decorating herself with flowers, as if having in her
eye some maidenly conquest; while, as in all cases of hurry and confusion
in every part of the world, a number of individuals kept hurrying to and
fro with amazing vigour and perseverance, doing nothing themselves, and
hindering others.

Never before had we seen the islanders in such a state of bustle and
excitement; and the scene furnished abundant evidence of the fact--that i