THE NATIVES AT HOiEE. 2&1 



communicative on this system. He told me innumerable 

 Btories of which I did not comprehend a sentence ; but* 

 nevertheless, I looked as if I did, smiled, nodded my 

 head, and said " Ya, ya ; " to which he always replied, 

 " Ya, ya," waving his arms and slapping his chest, and 

 rolling his eyes, as he bustled along towards his dwelling. 



The cottage was a curious little thing a sort of huge 

 toy, perched on a rock close to the water's edge. If it 

 had slipped of? that rock a catastrophe which had at 

 least the appearance of being possible it would have 

 plunged into forty or fifty fathoms of water, so steep were 

 the hills and so deep the sea at that place. Here my 

 friend found another subject to expatiate upon and dance 

 round, in the shape of his own baby a soft, smooth 

 counterpart of himself which lay sleeping like Cupid in 

 its crib. The man was evidently extremely fond of this 

 infant, not to say proud of it. He went quite into 

 ecstasies about it ; now gazing at it with looks of pen- 

 sive admiration, anon starting and looking at me as if 

 to say, "Did you ever in all your life behold such a 

 beautiful cherub ? " The man's enthusiasm was really 

 catching I began to feel quite a paternal interest in the- 

 cherub myself. 



" Oh ! ' he cried in rapture, " det er smook burn " 

 (that a pretty baby). 



"Ya, ya," said I, " rnegit smook' (very pretty)^ 

 although I must confess that smoked bairn would have 

 been equally appropriate, for it was as brown as a. red* 

 herring. 



