ing, and whose names we have discovered to be Ookooma and Jeema, came on board again about half past five and staid an hour; they had not received any answer, they said, from the great man, and therefore could not send pilots to the "hoonee gua," or little ship. They were accompanied by a chief whom we took to be a Chinese from his looks, and his appearing to understand the interpreter better than the others. His formal and suspicious manner did not promise so well as that of the others. They came to say that a present of stock and vegetables had been sent to the ships. It was intimated to them that we intended to land the next day, and upon their objecting to this, we said that our wish was to wait upon the Great Man; to which they replied, that no person answering to this description resided here. We then said, that it was right we should return their visit. This argument they combated by saying that they were men of unequal rank to us, and therefore nowise entitled to such an honour; and that we at the same time, would be degrading ourselves by such undue condescension. This having failed, Captain Maxwell told them of his illness: upon which, our new acquaintance, who seemed more earnestly bent against our landing than the others, offered to send a physician on board to see him. Captain Maxwell replied, that his own doctor had recommended a ride on shore; upon which they laughed, and turned the discourse to something else.

In this way every proposal to land, or even allusion to the shore, was industriously put aside; and as it

was our wish to gain their good-will, the matter was dropped for the present. Before they went away, Captain Maxwell, pointing to their pipes, begged them to smoke if they wished it; they were grateful for this considerate attention, but would not on any account begin till we shewed them the example, by smoking with pipes which they prepared for us. They appeared more at their ease after this incident, and after sitting for some time, took leave for the night on the most friendly terms..

18th of September.-Captain Maxwell sent to me to say that he meant to land on a point at some distance from the town, in order to observe the sun's meridian altitude with an artificial horizon. Just as I was setting out to accompany him, I was taken by surprise by two well-dressed natives, who were halfway down the cabin ladder before I knew of their ap proach. One came to superintend the measurement of the Lyra, and the other, who seemed of inferior rank, to explain why some poultry, only then sent, had not come on the preceding night, along with the other presents. I forgot to mention, that a bullock, two hogs, two goats, a dozen and a half of fowls, some candles, wood, and water, were sent to each of the ships. I asked them to sit down, and they were so well satisfied with the Constantia which I gave them, that they remained for some time; owing to which delay, I did not reach the shore till the time for observing the sun had gone by. I found Captain Maxwell with Ookooma and several of the chiefs, and an immense crowd of the natives, all of whom

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had left the town on seeing the boat put off, and had hastened to this spot, either out of curiosity or respect, or more probably to watch our proceedings. At our request, Ookooma, who appears to possess considera. ble authority, made the whole crowd, chiefs and all, sit down on the grass in a circle round us. Their astonishment at our operations were strongly express. ed in their countenances, and, indeed, our apparatus and behaviour must have looked, to perfect strangers, somewhat magical.

In the first place the quicksilver, which to them would appear like melted metal, was poured into a trough, in a fine stream from a wooden bottle; while it was running out the people repeated in an under tone "yi, yi, yi, yi!" but were silent when the glass roof was placed over the trough. The circular instrument and sextant, fixed on stands, next attracted their notice, and they looked on in profound silence while we were taking the sun's altitude. As we were too late for the desired observation, we amused the natives by letting them look at the two reflected images of the sun through the telescope of the instruments. Ookooma was the first who looked, and being quite unprepared for what he saw, started back in astonishment, as if he had unconsciously beheld something supernatural and forbidden. The other chiefs, in their turn, placed themselves at the instrument, as well as several old men who stepped forward from the crowd. Some testified their surprise by a sudden exclamation; others were perfectly calm, so that we could not guess what they thought; and some held

up their hands, and looked as if the whole matter was totally beyond the reach of their comprehension.. When this was over, and there was no longer any necessity for the crowd being seated, they closed round and watched us while we were putting the instruments up. Some of the boys held out their hands for quicksilver, with which they ran off quite happy.

During this time we were about fifty yards from the foot of a cliff, on the brow of which was posted a group of women with baskets on their heads; we were unfortunately not near enough to discern their features, nor to make out their dress distinctly; it appeared, however, to be like that of the men, though somewhat shorter, and without any girdle round the waist.

The rock here rises in perpendicular rugged cliffs of coral, with a number of rude square excavations on its face, which, at first sight, appear to have been worn by the elements, but on examination shew evident traces of art. Most of these caves are closed up by a wall of loose stones, but in one, of which the mouth was open, several human bones were found lying amongst the sand. On removing a stone from a closed cave, a vase was observed in the inside, of an elegant shape; the people signified to us that these were the remains of the dead, but we did not make out distinctly whether the bones or the ashes only were thus preserved. They made no objections to our examining these caves, though they certainly

were not pleased with it. No notice was taken of what Captain Maxwell and I did; but Mr. Clifford, who had remained below collecting words from some intelligent natives, was strongly recommended by Ookooma to go back to the boat; he walked up, however, without opposition, to the cave which we had been examining, and they ceased to importune him. A number of little boys who had observed us occasionally pulling flowers and plants, ran about collecting for us, and after presenting what they had gathered, with much politeness, ran away laughing with an arch expression of ridicule at our curiosity.

On our way back, instead of going directly off to the ships, we coasted along shore in our boats, which gave us a new view of a stone bridge, of one arch, connecting two parts of the town. On the south side of the bridge we passed a space of considerable extent, probably set apart as a burying ground. We saw here a number of large horse-shoe tombs like those used in China, whitewashed, and apparently kept in good repair. Most of the tombs, however, are in the form of small square houses, with low pyramidal roofs; some of these were tiled, others thatched. It is evident that, in what relates to the dead, they follow, in some respects, the Chinese customs.

The whole coast at this place is of coral cliffs, the base of which appears to heve been scooped out by the action of the sea. As this excavation is at some. places higher than the waves of the sea can be supposed to have ever reached, there is difficulty in as