206 RECEPTION BY THE QUEEN : 



waistcoat would not submit to be buttoned, 

 because it had never been intended for so colossal 

 a frame. He welcomed me with repeated 

 ^' Arohas,'''' and led me up to the second floor, 

 where all the arrangements had a pleasing and 

 even elegant appearance. The stairs were oc- 

 cupied from the bottom to the door of the 

 Queen's apartments, by children, adults, and 

 even old people, of both sexes, who, under her 

 Majesty's own superintendence, were reading 

 from spelling-books, and writing on slates — a 

 spectacle very honourable to her philanthropy. 

 The Governor himself had a spelling-book in one 

 hand, and in the other a very ornamental little 

 instrument made of bone, which he used for 

 pointing to the letters. Some of the old people 

 appeared to have joined the assembly rather for 

 example's sake, than from a desire to learn, as 

 they were studying, with an affectation of ex- 

 treme diligence, books held upside down. 



The spectacle of these scholars and their 

 whimsical and scanty attire, nearly upset the 

 gravity with which I had prepared for my pre- 

 sentation to the Queen. The doors were, how- 

 ever, thrown open and I entered, Chinau intro- 



