in China, about seven weeks afterwards. But to return to the subject. The brig proved to be the Favourite, Captain Fisk, from Port Jackson, about 130 tons burthen; having on board ninety tons of mother of pearl shells, procured from the her Society Islands. She intended to make up

voyage

with sandal-wood from the Fiji Islands, and

thence to proceed to China.

On Mr Mariner requesting the captain to give the men who brought him some beads, as a reward for their trouble, and also an axe as a present for Finow, he liberally complied; and the canoe left the ship, with a message from Mr Mariner to the king, requesting him to come on board. As to the wounded man, he was in all probability dead; at least the other two seemed to think so by his not stirring, and they took no trouble with him. By this time there were about two hundred small canoes near the vessel, and several large ones, so that all the people of Vavaoo seemed to be assembled to view the brig, for the whole beach was also crowded. As the vessel was very short of provisions, a brisk traffic was now carried on with the natives by the captain and mate, for yams and hogs, &c.; and orders were given to the crew not to purchase any more trinkets, till they had procured plenty of provisions. About the middle of the day Finow came alongside with his sister and several of her female attendants, bringing off, as a present for Mr Mariner, five large hogs, and forty yams, each weighing not less than thirty pounds, and some of the largest sixty or seventy. These things Mr Mariner begged leave to transfer to

* It is a very common thing among the natives to transfer a present.

the captain, and presented them accordingly. Notwithstanding repeated messages from the chiefs on shore to Finow, requesting him to return, he resolved to sleep on board that night, if the captain would allow him, which he readily did. The women, however, intimated their wish to return, not liking the thought of trusting their persons among a number of strange men; and Mr Mariner found it very difficult to remove their scruples, assuring them that they should not be molested. At length, however, they consented to remain, on his promise to take care of them, and to roll them up in a sail, in which state they lay all night in the steerage, and, as they said, slept comfortably. As to Finow, he was very well contented with sleeping on a sail on the cabin deck; and the weather being remarkably fine, the brig did not come to an anchor, but stood off and on during the whole of the night. At daylight canoes came alongside in great numbers; but from prudent motives, dictated by former disasters, no more than three of the natives were allowed to come on board at a time, six sentinels being kept constantly on deck for that purpose. In the canoes were several chiefs, who came to request Finow to return on shore, as the people were greatly alarmed lest he should form a determination of going to Papalangi (land of white people). They brought off some cava for him, but which he declined drinking, saying that he had tasted some on board (wine) which was far preferable: indeed he considered it so much superior, that the thoughts of cava quite disgusted him.

He made a hearty dinner at the captain's table-ate plenty of roast pork, with which he admired very much the flavour of the sage and onions.

The fowls he cared little about, but partook of some made dishes. The ladies also ate very heartily. Finow handled a knife and fork, though for the first time in his life, with very great dexterity. Sometimes, indeed, his majesty forgot himself a little, and laid hold of the meat with his fingers; but, instantly recollecting that he was doing wrong, he would put it down again, exclaiming, woé! gooa te gnalo! Eh! I forget myself! The natural politeness which he evinced on every occasion, charmed the captain and the officers so much, they could not help acknowledging that it far surpassed any other instance of good manners they had witnessed among the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. And not only in behaviour, but in intelligence, he seemed to excel. His inquiries about the use and application of what he saw were frequent, and indeed troublesome; but then his deportment was so affable, and his manner so truly polite, nobody could be offended. He requested permission to lie down in the captain's bed, that he might be able to say what none of the people of Vavaoo could boast of, that he had been in a Papalangi bed. Permission being readily granted, he lay down, and was delighted with his situation; and said, that being now in an English bed, he could fancy himself in England. Some time after, being left in the cabin by himself, though watched unknown to him, he did not offer to take, or even touch, a single bead, or any thing else, excepting the captain's hat; but which, not choosing to put on without asking leave, he went on deck on purpose to request Mr Mariner to obtain permission of the captain for so great a liberty-so different was he from the generality of these islanders, who, stimulated by eu

riosity, if not by a less honest motive, would not scruple to take a man's hat off his head, unbidden, twirl it about, and be very careless as to returning it, if not reminded by the owner. About the middle of the day, Finow went on shore to quiet the people, who were become very clamorous on account of his long stay. But he returned on board soon after, bringing with him a quantity of cooked victuals, ripe bananas, &c. for the crew; and also a present for the captain, consisting of a valuable spear and club, a large bale of gnatoo, a large hog, a hundred small yams, and two canoes'load of cocoa-nuts.

So delighted was Finow with every thing he saw on board, so high an opinion had he of the character of the Papalangis, and so desirous was he of arriving at those accomplishments which raised them so high above the Tonga people, he could not help several times expressing his wish to accompany Mr Mariner to England. On the third day, which was the day of the brig's departure, his importunities on the subject became extremely urgent, so much so, that Mr Mariner could not refrain expressing them to the captain; but who refused (as might be expected) to accede to a wish which seemed to promise no future good to an individual in Finow's circumstances, arriving in a strange country, without protection, and without patronage. This was a sore disappointment to one who was willing to make such large sacrifices for the accomplishment of his hopes; to one who would have resigned a princely state and dignity, and all the respect paid by obedient subjects to an arbitrary monarch, for the sake of visiting a country, where, as Mr Mariner ex

plained to him, he could expect at best but a very inferior mode of life, compared with what he had been accustomed to. But his arguments were all in vain; Finow would not-could not be divested of his wishes. He thought if he could but learn to read and write, and think like a Papalangi, a state of poverty, with such high accomplishments, was far superior to regal authority in a state of ignorance.

Seeing, however, that his wish was this time at least destined to be thwarted, he made his friend solemnly promise-and before their final separation made him again repeat that promise, and swear to the fulfilment of it by his father, and by the God who governed him, that he would some time or another return, or endeavour to return, in a large canoe (a ship), and take him away with him to England; and in case his subjects should stand averse to such a measure, that he would complete his project by force of arms. Mr Mariner having repeated this promise, Finow embraced him, and shed tears.

It would be very interesting to know what would be the result of removing an individual of Finow's disposition and intellectual powers, from the state of society in which he had been brought up, into a civilized country-into a scene so widely different from every thing he had been accustomed to, where every circumstance would be new, and every object calculated to draw forth the powers of his natural understanding. Finow's intellect, as we shall by and by more clearly see, when we take a survey of his character, was very far above the common. There was interwoven in the very tex