150 VOYAGE TO THE 



quainted with the English language as Mddera ap- 

 pears to have been, and, besides, he must have been 

 much younger. His objection to answering our in- 

 quiries on this head, and disclaiming all knowledge 

 of any vessel having ever been at Loo Choo before, 

 put it out of my power at first to inform myself on 

 the point, and had not his own curiosity overcome his 

 prudence, it would perhaps have long remained a 

 secret. 



The manner in which the discovery was made is 

 curious : after the sackee* had gone round a few times, 

 An-yah inquired if "ship got womans?" and being- 

 answered in the negative, he replied, somewhat sur- 

 prised, " other ships got womans, handsome womans !" 

 alluding to Mrs. Loy, with whom the Loo Chooans 

 were so much captivated that, it is thought, she had 

 an offer from a person of high authority in the island. 

 I then taxed him with having a knowledge of other 

 ships, and when he found he had betrayed himself, 

 he laughed heartily, and acknowledged that he recol- 

 lected the visit of the Alceste and Lyra, which he cor- 

 rectly said was 144 moons ago, and that he was the 

 linguist An-yah whom Captain Hall calls An-yah 

 Toonshoonfa, but he disclaimed all right to this ap- 

 pendage to his name. Having got thus far, I inquired 

 after almost all the characters which so much inter- 

 ested me in reading the publication alluded to above ; 

 but they either prevaricated, or disclaimed all recol- 

 lection of the persons alluded to, and I found it ex- 

 tremely difficult to get a word in answer. 



At last one of them said Ookoma was at the other 

 end of the island, and another immediately added that 



* The Loo Choo name for wine or spirits. 



