J?77 THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 405 



people between him and me, that I could not per- 

 ceive what was doing. I was afterward assured, 

 that at this very time, the prince was admitted to 

 the high honour of eating with his father ; which, 

 till now, had never been permitted to him ; a piece 

 of roasted yam being presented to each of them for 

 this purpose. This was the more probable, as we 

 had been told, before-hand, that this was to happen 

 during the solemnity ; and as all the people turned 

 their backs to them, at this time, which they always 

 do when their monarch eats. 



After some little time, we all faced about, and 

 formed a semicircle before the prince, leaving a large 

 open space between us. Presently there appeared 

 some men coming toward us, two and two, bearing 

 large sticks, or poles, upon their shoulders, making a 

 noise that might be called singing, and waving their 

 hands as they advanced. When they had got close 

 up to us, they made a show of walking very fast, 

 without proceeding a single step. Immediately after, 

 three or four men started up from the crowd, with 

 large sticks in their hands, who ran toward those new T - 

 comers. The latter instantly threw down the poles 

 from their shoulders and scampered off; and the 

 others attacked the poles ; and, having beat them 

 most unmercifully, returned to their places. As the 

 pole-bearers ran ofrj they gave the challenge that is 

 usual here in wrestling ; and not long after, a num- 

 ber of stout fellows came from the same quarter, 

 repeating the challenge as they advanced. These 

 were opposed by a party, who came from the opposite 

 side almost at the same instant. The two parties 

 paraded about the area for a few minutes, and then 

 retired, each to their own side. After this, there 

 were wrestling and boxing-matches for about half an 

 hour. Then two men seated themselves before the 

 prince, and made speeches, addressed, as I thought, 

 entirely to him. With this the solemnity ended, 

 and the whole assembly broke up. 



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