CHANGES AT N A P U A, NEW REGENT. 



215 



CHAPTEU XI. 



CHANGES AT KAPHA, NEW REGENT. BANQUET ON BOARD OF THE SUSQUEHANNA. EXCESSIVE DIGNITY OF THE NEW REGENT. 



STATELINESS OF LEW CHEWANS THAWED OUT BY THE DINNER. GUESTS SENT HOME. BAMBOO VILLAGE. INTERIOR OF LEW 



CHEW HOUSES. MEN INDOLENT. GOSSIFPING AT LEW CHEW. LEW CHEW LOOM. DIFFERENT CLASSES OF THE PEOPLE. 



THEIR FEAR OF SPIES. SLAVERY OF PEASANTS. CAUSES OF DEGRADATION. EXCELLENCE OF AGRICULTURAL CULTIVATION. 



ORIGIN OF POPULATION OF LEW CHEW. FORMER KINGDOMS ON THE ISLAND. RELATION OF LEW CHEW TO CHINA AND JAPAN, 



RESPECTIVELY. EDUCATION IN LEW CHEW. RELIGION OF THE INHABITANTS. CHRISTIAN MISSION IN LEW CHEW. DISTINC- 

 TIONS OF DRESS. PEOPLE SELL THEMSELVES AS SLAVES. CLANSHIP. COIN IN LEW CHEW SUGAR MAKING. NATURAL 



PRODUCTS OF THE ISLAND. 



HEN the squadron returned to Naplia, on tlie 23d of June, it was 

 found that a new regent had been installed. The old occupant, 

 who had so pertinaciously striven to prevent the Commodore's 

 visit to Shui, and who had also so bountifully entertained our 

 countrymen at his own habitation, had, it was said, been deposed. 

 It was difficult to ascertain with certainty the causes of this 

 degradation, but it was not to be doubted that, if true, it was in 

 some mode connected with the presence of our ships at Najjha, 

 and probably resulted from the admission of the Commodore and 

 his suite into the royal residence at Shui. It was not a j^leasant 

 reflection to the officers that they should have been, however 

 innocently, the cause of the poor old man's degradation; and it seemed hard to understand wliy 

 their visit should have led to more serious consequences than those produced by that of the 

 officers of H. B. M. ship Sphynx to the same place. At first, it was rumored that the old 

 regent had been obliged to perform the Jiara-hiri, or disembowelling operation; but the jjainful 

 feelings produced by this intelligence were happily relieved by the sight of the old man in his 

 house at Shui, by two of the officers of the Susquehanna. Dr. Bettelheim (who did not seem 

 to feel any pity for the degraded dignitary) stated that he would probably be banished, with his 

 family, to one of the smaller islands. 



The Commodore, who was quite satisfied with the conciliatory measures that had been pursued 

 during his absence, now renewed his invitation to the regent and trea.surer to dine on board the 

 Susquehanna, on Tuesday, the 28th of June, offering to send boats for them. Tliis invitation 

 was accepted; and the Commodore had reason to doubt the whole story of tlie old regent's 

 degradation, from the fact that the new regent. Sluing Hung Hiun, a member of the family of 

 his predecessor, and a much younger man, did not hesitate to accept an invitation to the dinner, 



