PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. J 75 



and that all the boats' crews might be allowed to come 

 to the house and partake of the feast. Though there 

 was a little ceremony in receiving and seating us, yet 

 that almost immediately wore off, and Ching-oong- 

 choo to make every person at his ease took off his 

 hatchee-matchee, and with the rest of the mandarins 

 sat without it. By this piece of politeness we dis- 

 covered that his hair was secured on the top of the 

 head by a gold hair pin, called kamesache, the first 

 and the only one we saw made of that precious metal. 



We afterwards took a short walk in the garden, 

 when I was surprised to find An-yah and Shtafacoo in 

 the dress and hatchee-matchee of mandarins of the 

 second class : whether this was intended as a trick, or, 

 following Madera's example, they preferred making 

 their first acquaintance in disguise, is not very clear; 

 but as they both possessed a great deal of influence, 

 and were much respected by the lower orders of the 

 inhabitants, it was probably their proper dress. 



As soon as Ching-oon-choo permitted us, we took 

 our leave, and were accompanied to the boat by a great 

 crowd of persons, who opened a passage as we pro- 

 ceeded, and were officiously anxious to be useful in 

 some way or other ; and we then parted with Jeema 

 and the rest amidst the greetings and salutations of 

 hundreds of voices. 



On the 21st, one of the officers made an excursion 

 to the southward of Aljbey Point, and was attended as 

 usual by a concourse of boys and young men, who 

 were extremely polite and respectful. They used 

 every artifice and persuasion to deter him from pro- 

 ceeding, said they were tired, tempted him with tsha 

 and declared that they were hungry, but he ingeni, 

 ously silenced the latter complaint by offering his 



